We've
been working with a girl whom I will call Gabby that is a devout
catholic. She is so strong in her faith and we couldn't really tell if
she had any intent because she was too afraid to pray about the Book of
Mormon. She was scared because by praying about the Book of Mormon that
would change her entire reality if it was true. We talked about her and
were trying to decided if we should stop meeting with her. I kind of
felt like she had more intent than we thought because she always has
lots of questions, keeps her commitments, and keeps wanting to meet with
us. It's just a different situation because she doesn't know if she
wants to believe what we're teaching her. We decided that we would have a
lesson with her telling her that we couldn't meet with her anymore but
then we had the thought to invite her to be baptized first so we could
really gauge her intent. So we sat down for the lesson with a recently
baptized member and after talking for a little bit invited her to be
baptized. She then surprised us by saying that if she knew it was true
she would get baptized. We were so surprised! We set a date with her and
are going to keep meeting with her! I really admire her faith because
she wholeheartedly believes the Catholic faith is true, but recognizes
truth in the Book of Mormon and simply wants to do what God wants her to
do. It may be a difficult road with little family support but I have
the faith that God will help her on her path. She is an incredible
person!
We also met with this guy from Egypt
who is converting from being muslim to being a Christian! He said that
He would read the Book of Mormon in exactly one month! Haha it's amazing
to see the miracles around every corner
Serving
in this area has been really amazing because I've gotten to know the
stories of so many amazing people! The member we brought with us to
Gabby's lesson is one of those people! He was just baptized this May
despite a lot of resistance from family. Not only that, any time we ask
him to come to lessons he always readily responds with some of the
happiest and most faith filled/ positive texts I've ever received on my
mission. He's always early and has to bus every where he goes which
takes forever. One day we asked him to come to a lesson and he agreed
even though he had already been out with the elders that afternoon! I'm
just always so grateful to see the example of such faithful people.
There's
another member in the branch who was baptized last Saturday. This
Sunday he bore his testimony and it really struck me. He talked about
how before he met the missionaries he was living for nothing and
struggled with depression and anxiety. After learning about the gospel
he found a reason to live. He also realized his identity as a child of
God. He said that his whole life he had been striving to be mediocre
then he realized that he didn't have to be mediocre. Throughout his
testimony he kept repeating the phrase "don't strive to be mediocre."
That really hit me. God truly has so much more planned for us than we do
for ourselves. He wants all of us to be extraordinary and we have every
reason to be. I heard another quote this week that hit me as well. That
one is "be the person that you've always dreamed of." God has given us
our agency so we can do amazing things! Why just sit and dream when you
can actually become the person you've always dreamed of? Because of
Christ we have the power to become anything. I'm so grateful for Him and
His sacrifice.
The members in this branch are
seriously so amazing! I love it here so much! It makes me unbelievable
happy to just walk around the streets I was once so familiar with. I
love being a missionary! I know that God enables us to do things we
never thought we could before.
Have an amazing week!
