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| Sis Cummings walking to church |
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| Sis Cummings and Sis Soulier |
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| Sister's apartment |
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| church |
February 29, 2016
God works in mysterious ways, but he always works for the benefit of
our happiness. Sometimes we don't understand where he is leading us or
why he is leading us, but nevertheless he is leading us. This is a
hard thing to understand--a hard concept to grasp. Sometimes we think
our way is better, or that God's way is uncomfortable or won't work.
Other times, we try so hard to follow the promptings from the Lord
that sometimes just end up sitting around waiting for a prompting! It
is so difficult to find the balance of following his constant
guidance, yet still work and grow on our own. Something I found this
week is that these two concepts are divinely intertwined. And that
answer relies fully on the sentence,
Trust in God.
A few of the past days were rather difficult for Sister Cummings and
me. Appointment after appointment fell through and for some reason our
really secure investigators kept cancelling. I remember Saturday was
particularly hard. Our appointment with Ailine to give her a
priesthood blessing fell through, and then Collin (a potential
investigator) wouldn't come to the members house that we planned
because he didn't want to get stuck in rush hour, and even Peter said
something came up when we showed up to his apartment for his
appointment after confirming multiple times with him. It was so
strange and we thought we were going where we were suppose to, but
nothing was working. We had planned our day to the best of our ability
by actively trying to do what the Lord asked, but we're still unsure
of where we were suppose to be. I remember we said a prayer for help
and eventually decided to go back to the chapel in Walthamstow. We
had no idea if this is what the Lord wanted us to do, but we just went
because we really had no where else to go! We went back to a home we
had visited earlier that morning. This home was right next to the
chapel and contained a ward list unknown. When we had visited earlier
that morning, we were looking for a woman named Shafait. Her father
had answered and informed us that Shafait wouldn't be home for a
couple of hours. He was Muslim so we thought there wouldn't be much
luck in trying to get Shafait to the LDS church. Well fast forward to
us coming home from Peter-totally confused as to where we were suppose
to be. We decided to visit by Shafait's one more time.
We knocked on the door and Shafait's mother answered. She ushered us
in and we sat in the living room. To say the least I was really
confused and didn't know what we would say to Shafait because who
knows if she was a fan of not so much a fan of the church. Well
Shafait came in the room, and of all of the things that could have
happened, she started signing to us! Turns out Shafait is deaf and
knows British Sign Language AND American Sign Language. Sister
Cummings and I were shocked!! Thank goodness both of us had studied
American Sign Language at school and that we remembered signs! We had
a wonderful lesson with her and she is amazing. She got baptized back
in 1993 and wanted to come to church the next day. Wow what a miracle,
we all had a common language. Shafait came to church the with next day
and had a lovely time. She definitely wants to come again and again.
This little miracle taught me the first step of trusting in God. I
truly believe God led us back to that house to meet Shafait. In that
little way (I mean we weren't led to find a new person to baptize or
anything) God had shown us that no matter where we go, God has a
purpose for us. Sure Sister Cummings and I could've had a great lesson
with Peter and we would've been doing what the Lord wanted us to do.
There would be nothing wrong with that. However the Lord instead chose
to lead us to a different place. I believe one of the reasons for this
is that no matter where we choose to go, or what we choose to do each
day, God will have a purpose for us being there. As long as we strive
to choose the right and listen to the Spirit, it doesn't matter where
we end up, because the Lord will take care of the rest. This, to me,
is one of the ways we can trust in God.
The other portion I learned was the blessings of trusting in God.
After we finished signing to Shafait, we got a call from Peter. He
said he was now available to meet and wanted us to come over to teach
the lesson. Grateful we would be able to meet with him, we started
toward the underground tube to reach Peter's small home. And this is
were the miraculous blessing comes into play.
Sister Cummings placed her card on the card reader and entered the
turnstile to walk toward the tube. At that exact moment a woman named
Emilia put down her card and walked through the turnstile. We have
been trying to contact Emilia for the past two weeks. We have called
her, emailed her, went to her house at least 3 times and just had no
response. She was on date to be baptized, but we had finally decided
to drop her because we were getting no where. Well little did we know
that the Lord had plans in the works. Sister Cummings exclaimed,
"Emilia!" Emilia turned and greeted us warmly. We talked for a bit (by
that I mean we chased her to the tube in an effort to sneak a few
words in) and found out she was still reading the Book of Mormon! Oh
so fantastic. And she told us she would try to make it church the next
day!
What a miracle the next day brought. About 10 minutes into sacrament
meeting, who comes waltzing through the door?? Emilia with 4 of the
cutest kids ever in tow. She actually made it to church!!! Oh my days
she's amazing. She is a single mom of 7 and is working and going to
college to get a degree. She loved church so much and we have a return
appointment with her! Wow TALK ABOUT MIRACULOUS.
There is no way we would've been able to meet Emilia without this
tender mercy from the Lord! We would've have dropped her much to our
dismay, but would've left it at that! Oh but the Lord has different
plans in mind.
What a blessing. Sister Cummings and I trusted in the Lord by going
about doing good and the Lord provided. Yet another meaning of
trusting in the Lord.
What can I say. Trust in the Lord.
We may not know where we are going, but the Lord will ALWAYS provide.
So who knows if this stuff is helpful, but I love it so much I could
not stop myself from sharing it!
lots of wonderful things to say, but then again, that's just
missionary life! Other than this we laugh and crack jokes and strive
to avoid the delicious bakery.
I swear I will never be a backseat driver again because I am in shock
we have not died from riding in these crazy buses. Bikers honestly
hold on to the side of the bus cuz the roads are so tight. And forget
stopping for pedestrians or for letting people off the bus. Oh man one
of the most frightening moments was whenSister Cummings jumped off the
bus and the doors sudden,y closed! Gah I was stuck in the terrifying
metal unforgiving bus. Frantically I jammed my thumb against the stop
button and to the relief of both of us, the bus driver opened the
doors once more to allow myself to be with my companion. Hey gotta
follow the white handbook right?? Even the bus driver has to follow
that.
So if I don't give an email, you'll know it was the large red bus that
did me in.
One of our favorite things is saying hi to everyone on the street. The
incredulous looks of shock that people give in response are just
priceless! I can just see thoughts turning in their mind, "what? What?
People want to talk to me? People that I don't know? What what is
happening." No people of the world, it's just the Sister Missionaries
trying to teach you about Christ... :)
Question: how many times have I been asked for my personal view of
Trump vs Clinton?
Answer: the fact that I even mention it in my email lets you know how
often I am pestered to state that belief. Oh my days. The best is when
they ask Utah's view on the whole ordeal. Well clearly we believe the
Book of Mormon is always the answer. Duh.
Sister Cummings and I were trying to open a pickle jar the other day.
Alas we were unable to break the sticky jar apart! So clearly we
decided to use this as a missionary moment. The poor man on the street
was so confused why he had to open a pickle jar and then be taught
about the restored gospel. Haha so worth it.
So I've officially given up on explaining what Utah is. And now I am
supporting (or just not correcting) the idea that the only thing in
America is New York City and Florida. Cuz what else would you need in
life? It's true.
Celebrate Leap day to the fullest by doing leap day things. (Wow
thanks for the great advice)
Oh my days and a new investigator informed me that he is going to call
me Sister Soul. YES PLEASE. So that is going to catch on.
Okay life is good. Too good sometimes. I really hope you all have a
fantastic week and remember the Lord is looking out for each one of
you!
Peace and Blessings
Cheers Sister Soulier
Family letter
February 29, 2016
I am so happy to hear you are all praying for investigators! It
seriously helps a ton.
Ailine is doing well, smoking is proving to be a feat but we know she
can do it! We are getting her a priesthood blessing this week so that
plus your prayers should help a ton! We are pushing her date to March
20th.
Peter is doing INCREDIBLY! He said his friends are telling him to not
read the Book of Mormon. We talked about why it's important to read
from it for a bit. At the end of the lesson we asked Peter if he
believed the Book of Mormon was the word of God. He responded with a
big grin on his face, "Absolutely!" Oh he is so wonderful and on date
for March 13th.
Joanna is doing well, she is certainly doing her best to involve the
church! Her life is just super hard, so every single prayer helps!!
Thank you so so much!
Really neat and spiritual miracle...
Wow Sister Cummings and I experienced a major miracle this week. And
the miracle comes in a women named Shomara. She is in her thirties and
has a two year old son. Sister Cummings and Sister Hibbard found her
on the street back in November. Shomara said she was looking for a
Christian chapel to go to. The sisters got her contact info, tried
multiple times to reach her and eventually lost contact. A sort of
typical find on the street, it didn't seem worth pursing any farther.
Well about a week ago Sister Cummings was going through the area book
and found Shomara's number. She decided to call and actually got a hold
of Shomara and set up an appointment. A couple appointments fell
through, but Sister Cummings kept trying and we were eventually able
to meet her on the 24th of February. After a while of missionary
perseverance, we found her house and met up with a member named Sister
Marcia to teach. And what an amazing spiritual experience followed.
At the beginning of the lesson, Shomara expressed that she wanted her
son to grow up in a place with good values and that she wanted the
ability to answer her sons questions about life and such when he grew
up. She said she believed in God but didn't know what to do about. She
said she was searching for a church that had clear truth. She liked
the bible but felt it didn't teach her enough/the right things.
Woah okay. What an amazing set up for us to teach. And teach we did.
We taught lesson 1, of how God is her Heavenly Father and how prophets
show us the right path and about Joseph Smith. During the whole lesson
she kept saying, okay, this makes sense. This feels right. She asked
all the right questions again and again. Absolutely soaking up
everything that we said. And perhaps the most breathtaking moment of
all--when we gave her the Book of Mormon.
At the end of the lesson we showed her a copy of a Book of Mormon. We
testified that this book had been given from God through Joseph Smith
to complete the Bible and that within the two blue covers it contained
every ounce of truth God wants us to know. We told her the book is
true. She slowly took the book from our hands and softly turned it
over and looked up with a hint of tears in her eyes. She said with a
surprised look etched upon her face, "really? This is really God's
word?" We nodded in affirmation. She quietly looked at the book,
"this-this is what I've been searching for. I can't believe it." She
paused and quietly whispered, "this is what I have been praying for.
You actually have the answer."
At that moment Sister Cummings and I could not speak. The Spirit
filled our hearts more than could be imagined. And most importantly,
we knew that the Spirit had filled Shomara's heart.
Leaving that appointment, we could only give a few words of gratitude
to Sister Marcia for coming to help teach. After she left we lapsed
back into silence once again and reflected on the powerful moment that
we had just witnessed. What can I say, God is good.
And I LOVE IT when I get emails or letters!! Thanks lily so much for
your great letter. I open them during the week so please send them
whenever!! I just respond on Monday. But I want to hear EVERYTHING!
Hopefully this is everything.
LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL
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