Dear Family,
We are being blessed in the work. As far as the members, we
have some members that are so great to support us by coming teaching
with us and referring friends, but our Ward Mission Leader has been to
church in about 2 months because he's been really ill, and the Assistant
ward mission leader hasn't been coming recently either (not sure why)
so let's just say that the support could be much better. But I guess
this life is all about learning and growing and I guess that includes
with wards, not just individuals.
The big news... which has probably already been
spoiled by the title, but I'm sure that what is coming next is not what
any of you are expecting. I sure wasn't expecting it...
This has
been such an eventful and surprising week. Last Monday night we got a
call from President Jordan telling us that there was a sister waiting
for her visa for her mission to America that needs to be trained and he
wanted us to do it. So Sister Stoja and I went and picked up Sister
Latham from Hyde Park on Tuesday. She will be here for a month.She is
amazing! She is from Norwich, which is in our mission. She is going to
the Salt Lake City Utah mission (Kaysville and Centerville are in her
mission-maybe she'll serve near family, as well as part of Nevada). It
was something Sister Stoja and I definitely were not expecting, but we
have been having so much fun. I have learned so much from training and
from doing the 12-week program. And to see how much I've grown since
I've been on my mission, and how immersed I am in the work. I love it!
The Lord is so loving. Being in a trio has been funner than I expected. I
figured it would be a bit harder to teach and to find and to work with
members since there is more of us. Some of those aspects are a bit
challenging, but I love it! It really is fun. And I am learning so much
from Sister Latham. She is brilliant. Since Sister Latham had just been
here for a week and President had told me that he really wanted Sister
Stoja to be involved with training her, I was convinced that all three
of us would be staying in Ilford for the next transfer. Well, last night
I got the first call of transfers from President Jordan. I'm follow-up
training a visitors centre sister, Sister Pagofie (I think that's how
you spell it) and I'm staying in Ilford. The funny thing is that Sister
Latham stayed in London for a week before coming to Ilford and was in a
trio with Sister Pagofie so she'll get to be with her again. It will
definitely be a bit interesting to be follow-up training and training at
the same time, but I'm excited for it and I know these Sisters are
amazing and that we will see so many miracles. I am really sad to see
Sister Stoja leaving, but she is going to the blessed zone of Canterbury
(not to Gillingham unfortunately.) and I am so excited for her. She
will love it. Transfers are an exciting time. I am really excited for
this next transfer and all that I will learn, the miracles I'll see, and
the people we can help bring closer to their Saviour.
This week hasn't been the best with our investigators to say the least. On Monday
Amerjeet got sent to the immigration detention centre because he had
issues with his visa and might get deported. Frankin is doing well, but
didn't come to church on Sunday
like he said he would, only for us to find out that he went to... the
Catholic church. I was pretty crushed. But I had a really sweet
confirmation from the spirit that this is the Lord's work and he knows
his children and what they need. Maybe Frankin needed to go to the
Catholic Church for him to be able to recognize that this church is
true. Either way, I'm not worried about it anymore because I know as I
do my very best that I can and must leave the rest up to the Lord. I
know one day Frankin and Amerjeet will be baptised, but it will be in
the Lord's time, not in mine. We did have an amazing experience the
other day though that just really is one of those moments that really
reminds me of how much I love being a missionary and wonderful this work
and the spirit is. We stopped by to see a potential investigator,
Garyann, who kept needing to reschedule appointments and for whatever
reasons we could never get ahold of. She was in and came to the door,
but said that she had met with some other people (I'm pretty sure it was
JWs) and she realized that she just wasn't ready to commit to following
Jesus Christ completely and making the changes that she knows she needs
to. It just made me feel real sorrow for her. At first I said things
about how coming to Christ is a process and we don't expect her to be
perfect immediately, but she jsut basically said she wasn't interested.
So then I just told her how much we loved her and how we respected her
decision and if she ever changed her mind that we are here for her. I
asked her if we could leave her with a copy of the Book of Mormon. It
was amazing to literally see her heart soften and she just changed. She
started asking questions about the Book of Mormon and before we knew it
she was completely opening up to us about challenges she was having in
her life and how she was praying, but just didn't feel like she was
getting answers. The spirit was there so strong as we talked with her
about our Heavenly Father, about prayer, and about faith. We committed
her to read Alma 32 and she was so excited to. She texted us that night
to let us know that she had read it, loved it, and now is really
considering her relationship with her Heavenly Father. So amazing!!! I
am so blessed to get to be a part of God's work. The spirit is such an
amazing thing. I am really learning to understand and appreciate how
everything depends on the spirit! I know that each one of us has the
opportunity to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost constantly. I
pray we will each strive to do all that we can to be guided by it. The
spirit is real. The church is true.
I love you all!!!
Love, Sister Davis xoxox
No comments:
Post a Comment