Hermana Childs: Something Special

There is something special about this area. Yes, it's dirty, and not exactly the ideal place to live, but I don't think I've ever felt the Spirit so strongly.

This week, Hermana Jane and I have felt so many impressions of the spirit as we have sought for revelation for our investigators, walked home at night, taught long time investigators, and even contacted! There has not been one day this week when I have not seen the Lord's hand in my day.

Last Sunday, when I walked into the church building, I felt something incredible. The Spirit was there. So strongly. I hadn't even talked to the members yet, but as I walked into the chapel, I was overwhelmed with such a peaceful feeling. I know that the Lord dwells in the church buildings. It is His house. After walking in, it only got better from there. The members are incredible. Many of them are converts and have firm testimonies of the restored gospel. Not only that, but they have an incredible excitement to do missionary work! It's the best!

Later on in the week, Hurricane Arthur hit. We had no idea. We had walked to the very tip of our area for an appointment we had with a less active, when we got there she cancelled on us because she wanted to watch her favorite soap opera instead. Haha. So we rescheduled and left. It had just starting raining just a little and we didn't think much of it. On our way home, it down poured. The rain seemed to come out of no where, and we were still 2 miles away from our house! It was raining so hard that we couldn't open our eyes to see where we were running. When we got to our street there were ambulances, fire trucks and cops that were blocking the whole street. Someone had gotten shot. So we had to take the long way home. When finally inside, we were SOAKED! I have never seen rain like that before. Not until the next day did we find out that it was because of the hurricane ;) I know that Heavenly Father protected us.

The Fourth of July was another really special experience this week. We had permission to watch the fireworks at Liberty Island on the evening of the fourth of July. So, together with all of the missionaries we gathered and enjoyed the most spectacular firework show I have ever seen. We were sitting on the edge of NJ, the Hudson River, and NY. At the same time New Jersey was doing their firework show, New York was doing theirs. The whole sky was filled with fireworks! It was beautiful.

Once again, on the way home, we saw the hand of the Lord. The firework show was a typical party site for many who do not follow the word of wisdom. We were very blessed to be there with the Elders.