Where the Lord Wants Me

Monday night we saw Christine. She is doing well! We went to Golden Corral last week with them, one of the only ones in New England, and talked about a time to go the temple. We set a date for June to go, so that will be coming up soon. She has been working on family names, and has come a long way with them! It has been a blessing to have Sister Singleton, a family history expert, in our ward. She knows so much about it and is so capable of helping others to discover the joy that comes from temple and family history work! She has been going through struggles since she was baptized, but is receiving a lot of help, physically and spiritually! We talked about how she has endured and what blessings she has seen. She is awesome! We also went to the YSA FHE. Elder Nagtalon was in the YSA Ward when he served in Lowell, and he said one thing that really helped them gain trust was going to FHE, so we tried it out. They hiked East Rock, which is a big rock formation in New Haven, and we got to talk to them a lot and to build trust. We also hiked in our proselyting clothes, which was an adventure.

Tuesday morning was interviews. I decided to think about the questions I could ask before I went in. It helped to break down what I really needed. He taught me a few things that have really helped. Cleaning is really just like Boy Scouts. Just like a No Trace camp, just pick up after yourself wherever you go. Preparation Day should also be spent to prepare. Playing is good, but there needs to be time set aside to iron, clean, shop, vacuum and other things to make the rest of the week easier. I also realized that I love being in the ground. Being with other missionaries, just completely focused on the work is the best! Our investigators are the only thing we have to worry about, and that is a blessing. Elder Nagtalon really has a desire to be obedient, so I need to be able to take this transfer head on and do my best with the unity we have. It was also a great day for Sergio! We went over and expected to answer questions from his reading, but we had planned to teach the Restoration. He told us up front that ever since we had started teaching him, he had just been asking questions and that he decided that this lesson would be just for us, no questions, and that he wanted us to speak what the Spirit directs us to say. It was quite shocking to us. We didn’t see it, but it was the most humility we have seen from him since he prayed about the Book of Mormon. It is amazing to see people change. Since I have served here, I have seen Sergio grow more and more and he is an example of humility and how learning about the gospel changes us. We were able to share the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Spirit was present. It was refreshing to teach it all together and for him to hear it completely with no breaks. We shared our testimonies, especially on prayer, and he told us that he had prayed. He remembered when we promised him that if he came to church, God would make a way for him to come to church, which he did. We asked him multiple times last week, and he took the initiative to pray about it! Miracles are happening here! We love Sergio and to see him accept the commitments we leave with him makes it all worth it.

Wednesday was a little slow. We didn’t have a lot planned, so it was stressful. When we don’t have anything planned, it makes it tough to decide what to do. The morning was slow, but we got a prompting to go tract by Edet’s house, and the whole way there, I felt anxious. I didn’t want to talk to random people and to get denied. When we got there, I relaxed and we went forward. We ended up finding four or so potentials! One experience that changed the day was when we were walking on one side of the street and I felt the impression to go back and talk to a person in the car, and I felt guilty about not doing it, but I decided to do it, so we went and talked to him, and there was a father with his young son in the car. We talked to them and he knew about the church, and we shared a Book of Mormon with him and a scripture. We didn’t get his number, but he was interested. It just showed me that when we follow promptings, we really do find success. That morning, Elder Nagtalon saw people moving outside and suggested we go help. I was worried they would say they were all set and that it would be weird, but we went over there, and one guy was leaving and they had to bring up a dining room table, and he said we came at just the right time! We have done a lot of missionary work without appointments this week, like this, where we don’t get a return appointment, but that doesn’t mean that our time was wasted. It is a postive expereince with the church for them, which is always good. Wednesday night, we went to Mecha Noodle Bar and Milkcraft with the Taggarts. It was so good!!! I love both of them. When we were waiting, a guy working at Milkcraft waved us over. He told us he grew up LDS and hasn’t been to church in a whille! We got the information for the Bridgeport and Trumbull Sisters and gave them to him! The Lord puts us in the places we are needed. Also, there was a member that Sister Badham, my MTC teacher, asked me to go see. So we scheduled to go see her, and as we were walking up to the front door, who comes biking down the street, but Mike Wise! Mike actually knew her, so to have him there was great! We also set up a time to go see another Less Active, and that Less Active member came to church. We literally don’t do anything, it is truly the definition of being instruments in the hand of God.

Thursday morning we went to Firestone to get a check up on our car that took a while, but it was done pretty timely, so we were happy about it. We were able to see Bill and Robin and talk about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy with them, and we got them on board to come to church on Sunday!! We went to see Sergio and taught him the commandments. We feel he is ready to learn the commandments and he was really pushing to learn them too so he knows what he is getting into. We taught the basic ones: obedience, reading the scriptures, praying, and keeping the Sabbath day holy. We discussed a lot of it and he taught us while we talked. He talked about experiences he had with prayer, scriptures that have touched him since he was a kid, and how Sunday observance is important. He was anxious to learn about the other ones, so we had a brief overview with him and he seemed ok with basically all of them. He is very learned and is graduating today, so for him to be ok with learning more is always good for us to hear.We also had some lessons with Media Referrals and Elder Nagtalon got a crocheted green bucket hat! It was a good night!

Friday was amazing. I am pretty sure I felt complete joy based on Charity. We had a good district meeting in the morning and then after eating, headed out to work! We made a list of all of the media referrals and went to go work in the areas around them. We stopped by one and she wasn’t home, but a guy walking his bike was on the sidewalk, and Elder Nagtalon wanted to go talk to him, so we did. His name was Roscoe and he had just been working out, biking to be precise, so he was really worn out. He was really respectful though. His view is the religion is just a tool of the devil for confusion, which is understandable for him to have that view. He asked what happened to the records of other peoples relating to Jesus. We found a scripture in 2 Nephi 29:12-15 to share with him, and he was happy with our answer. We set up a return appointment with him and were so happy we listened to the Spirit. The gospel is so amazing because there is almost always an answer to our questions. The scriptures are full of answers, we just have to find them. Over the course of Friday, we found about 5 potential investigators that we had good conversations with. It was amazing to see that as we talked to everyone, how much easier it became. I am pretty sure the fear of men comes back every morning, but as we study hard in the morning, drinking from the fountain of living waters, like Elder Kikuchi and Lehi say, the fear of men is driven away and we are able to find those that God wants us to find.