The people here have so much faith; and because of their faith, we have seen so many miracles.
We
have a recent convert in our branch who has a burning testimony of the
church. He bikes 6 miles to church every Sunday...even when it's too
cold for me to walk out to the car; or when the cold sinks through my
coat, skirt, and leggings within a matter of minutes; or even through
the rain. He is truly amazing. This week we were teaching him about
family history work because our branch has a special temple trip next
week. He is so excited to do the work for his family. He is not yet
endowed, so he can only do baptisms, but he has already requested the
full day off of work to travel to the temple (4 hours away), and spend
his day off to learn how to do family history work with us. This week we
met him at the Princeton Library for our appointment. We signed onto a
computer and began helping him set up an account for FamilySearch.org.
As we were setting up his account, it requested his name, we wanted him
to practice each step, so we asked him to fill in this information. He
had only used a computer once or twice before, so it took him 3 minutes
to fill in his first name because he was trying to find all of the
letters on the keyboard. After his name was successfully entered in, he
needed to click the mouse to go to the next step. We had to explain this
too because he had no idea how to use a mouse. It was very difficult
for him. It took us a full hour just to set up his account. I marveled
as I watched him struggle just to move the mouse around and get it to
land on the icon just right before he could click. Sometimes when he was
about to click, his hand would accidentally bump the mouse again, and
he'd have to try again. It was amazing. This work is so important to him
that he is willing to struggle through HOURS of work trying to enter in
the documentation for his family. I have never seen such faith in my
whole life. It is amazing.
Later
on in the week a member wanted to take us out to lunch. We finished our
food at the restaurant and were on our way out when we passed by the
waitress. My companion and I handed her a pass-a-long card and explained
who we were and a little bit about what we believe. To our surprise her
response was, "This is exactly what I have been looking for! Thank you
so much for sharing this with me. Can I get the address for your church
so that I can attend?" We gave it to her, met with her yesterday, and
she is well on her way to being baptized.
Also, our
mission has a goal to contact 10 people everyday. This is a bit
difficult for Hermana Jordan and I. Our area is very large and we do a
lot of driving, so our numbers are usually around 7-8 contacts every
day. One of the first days that this goal was given we were walking to
one of our appointments and passed by a young man sitting next to the
library. We walked by him because we were going to be late for our
appointment, but a few steps after we had passed him, Hermana Jordan and
I felt that we needed to go talk to him. We turned around, introduced
ourselves, gave him a Book of Mormon, invited him to read the
Introduction, and set up an appointment with him. We went to visit him a
few days later and while we met with him, we followed up on his
reading. Not only had he read the Introduction, but he was curious about
his book and so he kept reading. He believes it to be true. He has been
prepared. We plan extend a baptism invite at our appointment later
tonight.
The area we are in has been prepared. The
seeds have been planted long ago and now we are harvesting these
children into God's Kingdom. I am so thrilled for this goal of
contacting 10 people every day. Being a missionary is such a blessing.
It's a joy.
I love my mission, my companion, these people, all of it.
Sending my love back to Utah,
Hermana Childs
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| This is me trying my first platano :) |
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| Volunteering at the Food Pantry |
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