So the week started off wonderfully. We found 2 new amis.. but for the elders! Ha one of which was a super old man. The elders went to the rendez vous and he wasn't there. They think he's dead because he is ALWAYS there. Poor guy
We started our exchange on Tuesday with Sister Finneran (a girl who I took a french class with at BYU) and Sister Wade. All 4 of us went into the MTC together so that was just too fun. We found a woman that was really just angry and not interested at first.. but of course like the classic missionary story, after talking for like 45 minutes and sharing our testimonies with her, we were able to pray with her and leave her with a BOM. It was crazy because right when she started to hold the book, her countenance just like changed. It was seriously a miracle. She believes that we need to believe more in men than in some superficial God... it comes to find out that she has a handicapped daughter whom we were able to pray for.
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| The Exchange Crew |
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| Great Way to Contact.....Sing and Play in the Street |
The next day we were on the bus and we started by contacting this older woman... then another older lady started talking to me. So we were both talking to someone. THEN this arab man got on and just started STARING at me.. Like super creeperly.... and he came up and in english asked if we taught english. I said no because we don't do that anymore. He said no, no, not for me for my sons, they are at school right now and I know how important it is form them to learn English... Well I figured it couldn't hurt to serve them and I noticed that his wife was sitting next to him with their daughter, whom I couldn't see before. So I gave them my info and started talking again to the former lady. But then he came up AGAIN and this time the lady got off and in my head I'm thinking "there goes my new investigator..." ha but he was like " you're mormon right? You do geneology? Can you help me find my ancestors???" Well it was just kind of a crazy bus ride and I gave him our info and he said he'd talk to his wife and call me.. But it was just super bizzare! Geneology is a GREAT missionary tool and I need to use it more often!
Our one progressing investigators decided to go to Italy for two weeks.. so sad. She said that she never lets people come talk to her about religion but just felt something really good with us.. thats the holy ghost folks. It was interesting because something similar happened last night with another woman who said she was so excited to see missionaries because in Ghana she remembered the missionaries coming to teach her family. Those missionaries may never know that their efforts lead to us teaching her now!
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| My Companion Looks Like an Arab |
Alexandra, the neighbor, is doing well. We haven't been able to teach her but she said that she prayed to God and told him how blessed she feels to have met us. Keep praying for her.
Well Saturday night, after a fun missionary youth activity of ping pong, we started thinking about using those basketball tickets that Darnell Williams gave us the previous Monday (i think i told you about him). When we talked to him he was with his mom who was super friendly and we talked to them about the church. Well he said that there would be two tickets at the desk under our names and that he wasnt sure if he could get us seats next to his mom, but hed try. Well we felt like we should go and at least see if we can even see the mom, and if not, just leave. We trusted the spirit would let us know. WELLL the tickets were for the FRONT row and guess who was sitting there waiting for us.. THE MOM! We walked up and she was like "OH (talking to the wives of all the players) THESE ARE THE SISTER MISSIONARIES that I was telling you all about." We were SO glad that we went because they were seriously expecting us! We were able to talk to 3 families and invite them to the ward activity. We got Darnell's wife's number and were able to share a bit about our message. Ha it was amazing and we really felt good about being there. It was weird because I expected to feel uneasy, but it wasn't like that at all. Such an amazing miracle to me! Ha so it was fun to go to a professional basketball game, even though we didnt watch any of it cause we were too busy talking to everyone.
Also, the family Niamké is doing well! The dad isn't progessing but the boys are so excited. They said that they want to be baptized and the dad said they could!!! Were just working on the mama who seems uneasy about letting them come to church alone. Pray for them as well!
Well I read an article that moved me to tears this week in the Liahona. I've attached an expert from it that I changed to apply more to me. Its from Elder Eyring's "Preparing Gifts for your Future Families". I hope you all can read it:
"There is yet another gift some of you may want to give that takes starting early. I saw it started once when I was a bishop. A young woman sat across my desk from me. She talked about mistakes she had made. And she talked about how much she wanted the children she might have someday to have a mom who could recieve personal revelation and to whom they could be sealed forever. She said she knew that the price and pain of repentance might be great. And then she said something I will not forget: “Bishop, I am coming back. I will do whatever it takes. I am coming back.” She felt sorrow. And she had faith in Christ. And still it took months of painful effort.
And so somewhere there is a family with a righteous mother standing next to a righteous priesthood bearer at its head. They have eternal hopes and peace on earth. She’ll probably give her family all sorts of gifts wrapped brightly, but nothing will matter quite so much as the one he started a long time ago in my office and has never stopped giving. She felt then the needs of children she had only dreamed of, and she gave early and freely. She sacrificed her pride and sloth and numbed feelings. I am sure it doesn’t seem like sacrifice now.
She could give that gift because of another one given long ago. God the Father gave His Son, and Jesus Christ gave us the Atonement, the greatest of all gifts and all giving. The Savior somehow felt all the pain and sorrow of sin that would fall on all of us and everyone else who would ever live (see Hebrews 4:14–16)."
I am grateful for Jesus Christ and his sacrifice. I now that my mission his helping me to become the mother that He wants me to be. I am preparing to give gifts to my future family and Im so grateful for this trying time and that is shaping me.
I love YOU so much!
Soeur Kohlert
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