This week has been pretty good. We taught 13 lessons,
which, for anyone that doesn't know, is a lot. We have been WAY busy. We
have over 40 investigators right now, which is great, but it makes it extremely
difficult to keep track of everyone and have time to balance everyone's
schedules and stuff. So we've mostly been going through and trying to figure
out who is progressing and who isn't because we're probably going to have to
drop some of the ones we haven't seen or who aren't ready to act, because new
investigators have been coming out of the woodwork like crazy and all our other
investigators that had been long-lost have suddenly been coming back into the
light. It is pretty cool. Unfortunately, still no one has come to church, but
there are a lot of people that have been doing way better and growing lots.
Last night we had a really good lesson with V. We
haven't been able to see her in a while because she had started working another
job and she just has told us a lot that maybe someday she'll change, but she
grew up in her religion (catholic) and it is just really hard to change and she
isn't sure still if she wants to. She knows the Book of Mormon is true, and
that Joseph Smith and Thomas S Monson are prophets and all that, she just
won't change and she compares it to how we both have grown up in our church and
it would be hard to change, and it is hard to argue with that because we have
grown up in the church and we wouldn't ever change, but she just doesn't
understand that that isn't the reason we won't change. The reason we wouldn't
ever change is because this is the true church, and we know it, and it is the
church of Christ with the authority to act in His name, with the true
ordinances of salvation and exaltation. But she just tells us we don't know any
better because we haven't ever been outside of the church. She thinks, because
it is in her case, that it is mostly nostalgia keeping us in the church, but we
all know that it is because this church is the only true church.
But anyways, in the lesson last night, we made some good
progress. We read Mosiah 18 with her, and made sure to point out the principles
that it mentions should be in Christ's church, etc, and I felt kind of weird
because my companion didn't say anything the whole first half of the lesson so
I had to pretty much teach the whole first part on my own and just felt like I
was floundering around and had no idea what I was saying (Hermana McRae told me
later that it supposedly sounded great... The Spirit really does work miracles)
and then after we finished the chapter and we had talked about it a bit,
Hermana McRae finally comes in and just bore like the most powerful testimony
of how much God loves her and how we are only inviting her to do these
things out of love, and that she is a great person but there is more she could
do. And that finally touched her heart and she said she will try her best
to come to church on Sunday, before we even asked her. I could tell she felt
it. Then she made us some horchata afterwards, so it showed even more that
she loves us. She even gave us a giant jug of it to take home. So that was
cool. I was just so glad for my companion's testimony. Pure and simple
testimony is like the most powerful tool. It just instantly brings the Spirit
so strong. I am really grateful I have such a great companion that is so in
tune to the Spirit.
Also, another cool story, we had a few appointments in one
of the trailer parks, and they both ended up cancelling, but we taught a new
investigator for the second time and then we had a bunch of extra time and
there were all these bright pink signs for a "yar sale" with an
address and stuff. I was just kind of joking around and saying,
"I bet that's Hispanic," (I wasn't joking about that part) "we
should go to the yar sale and get a new yar!" And to my great surprise,
Hermana McRae agreed. So we went over and said a prayer and got out and she was
indeed Hispanic. The yard sale had ended already, so we pretended to be sad
about that, but then we explained a bit about our message and she was kind of
looking at us not very friendly-like, but then she told us to come in and was
like, "Are you hot? Want some water?" And we were a bit surprised.
We started teaching the Restoration on some comfy chairs outside and
the Spirit was SUPER strong right from the start. The first point in that
lesson is that God is our loving Heavenly Father, and I got an inspired
question from the Holy Ghost and asked "How have you felt God's love in
your life?" She started telling us how much she loves to pray because she
always feels God's love in her life and He is always there. She was getting
tears in her eyes. It was super cool. And the whole lesson continued like that.
She is SUPER prepared. Like really. And at the end, she promised to pray about
the things we asked her to, before we even asked. It was sweet. She also wants
to come to church and was telling us about how in her church (Catholic) they
didn't have any responsibilities and she wanted a church with more
responsibilities. Callings, anyone?
She was also telling us that we were super sweet and that
some Jehovah's Witness missionaries had come by a few times and that something
was missing from them and their lessons and how different it was when we
taught. She was very sensitive to the Spirit and could very clearly feel a
difference. It was really a cool experience. Sometimes we have to knock fifty
doors to find people, and sometimes Heavenly Father puts bright pink signs all
over with arrows and an address to lead us to people, I guess.
Well, anyways, I love you all a lot! Thank you for your love
and prayers and support! I can feel it every day.
I love this Gospel and I love my Savior! I am so grateful
for the Atonement and I know that nothing here has an ending. We are eternal
beings and we can be together forever someday! :)
Love, Hermana Pratt
Ps if you haven't seen the bible videos, they are great.
Pps you should all go read the book of John. It is great, too.
Enjoy this video, it is great.
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