Hey, Friends! :)
Wow, this week has been absolutely incredible! SO many miracles!!!! These scriptures have been a major theme for this week.
2 Nephi 27:23
23 For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith.
3 Nephi 14:7-8
7 Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
8 For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
So, earlier this week Elder Cubas and I decided to go do a look up in Corona for the YSA. We found them and were able to talk with them for a while. All three of them said they would come back to church this coming Sunday! Yay! After we finished talking with them, we decided to knock on the next street over. Well, as we were about 5 or so houses in, we saw a YSA aged girl walk past us. I had the feeling to talk with her, but I didn't because I had just knocked on a door and didn't want someone to open it without anyone standing there. Well, the girl gets about 5 yards past us when she stops dead in her tracks, turns around, and walks over to us. She comes up to me and asks, "Hey, I was just wondering what church you from." After a bit of a conversation, we got her (Leidy) number, and set up an appointment to meet at the church.
So, the day of our appointment comes and she texts us and asks if she can bring her best friend to meet with us as well. We had the YSA Sisters there with us so we could pass Leidy and her friend, Eslie, off to them. The Sisters brought Zarah, a member from the YSA, with them as well! The lesson went REALLY well! Leidy and Eslie are both Catholic but had never really connected with the religion. They both expressed that they were trying to come closer to God and find a religion that really suited both of them. We taught them the Restoration, and they absolutely loved it! They were both really excited to be able to read the Book of Mormon and start their journey of finding out for themselves if this church is true.
Here's another miracle this week: Mikee was a potential investigator in our phone who the elder I replacee here talked to on the train on July 4th. We have been texting and calling Mikee every once in a while trying to set something up. Well, this week we finally got a response!! She said that she would be super happy to meet with us. So we set up yet another pass-off lesson with the YSA sisters (Mikee is 21). The day came, and Mikee asked us if she could bring her sister, Happy, too!! They both meet us and the sisters at the church and we had an amazing lesson!!! They texted us later that night thanking us for everything and telling us how amazing they felt! The Sisters met with them again a couple days later where Mikee and Happy prayed about a baptismal date and decided to be baptized on August 18th!
Mikee, Happy, Leidy, and Eslie all came to church yesterday and had such an amazing experience! They all love the branch and are super excited to continue meeting with the Sisters! Mikee and Happy went to FHE on their own on Friday and were able to make a lot of friends in the YSA! They are amazing!!!!
So, Sister Elaina Olsen told me about something they are doing in her mission. She told me that they had been praying specifically for someone to find (she gave me the example of praying to find someone in a read hat, or a man in a yellow shirt). So, I told Elder Cubas about it and we decided that we wanted to try in out in our zone. On Thursday, we held District Leader Training Meeting. It was incredible! I was going to introduce this new thing we were going to start doing in our zone, so I decided to focus my workshop on miracles! I talked about how God is a God of miracles and that miracles have not ceased. The spirit was unbelievably strong as we all shared miracles we have experienced in our lives and on our missions. At the end of my workshop, I presented the praying specifically idea and everyone was super down to give it a try. So, the next day at interviews, we pulled each companionship aside, trained them a little bit more in simplified planning, and set our Zone vision (#AskandReceive) in action by having each companionship pray to find someone specific that night (I will attach a picture of what each companionship prayed for below). We also wanted everyone in the zone to be able to see the miracles that everyone is experiencing, so we set up a group Facebook Group Messenger with the zone for everyone to share miracles. That night -- and every night since -- our phones have exploded with miracle after miracle!!! It has been truly amazing! Heavenly Father is truly a God of miracles! "Ask, and ye shall receive"!
Here are a few of the miracles shared in our group message:
Elder Smith and Elder Afoa (Prayed to find a man who lost his daughter):
"We found our man! He lost his children his two daughters, to family services. Not one daughter but two! He is cool and he lived in Samoa for 13 years and his wife is Samoan. He knows some Samoan so it was cool for Elder Afoa!
Miracles do happen! It works keep praying!!!!!!
✔️️"
Elder Nixon, Elder Meliza, and Elder Serna (Prayed to find a family of 10 that morning, prayed to find a family of 7 when they prayed with us):
"We found a family of 10!"
"We also found a family of 7"
WHHAAAAAAAATT!!!! Talk about Miracles!!!!
Elder Heiner and Elder Adams (Prayed to find people in purple shirts):
"We were on our way to do a look up tonight and got on a train FULL of people in purple shirts! We were able to talk with a few of them and get a few numbers."
Hermana Amaro and Hermana Stubbs (Prayed to find a grandmother with a little child:
"Yesterday during planning we asked to find a grandma with a little kid. When we were sitting on the front steps of the church she walked by. But we didn't notice until we started walking shortly after. We saw her and were amazed! We talked to her but she didn't speak much English she was Chinese. We still gave her our card and said that we have English classes at the church. Miracles happen!!!"
Sister Reynolds (Mission President's wife):
"Last night as I said my prayers, I told Heavenly Father about my day, where I was going and what I would be doing . I then asked who should I look for. The impression I received was to look for a man in a white type shirt. That same impression came to me again this morning as I said my prayers. So I'm at the grocery store this morning, and I'm looking all over for men in white type shirt, then I see a man in a white coat from the meat department. So I go over to the man and ask him a question about meat, but it didn't really go anywhere. So I went about my shopping and I turned down an aisle and there he was again putting frozen meats into the freezer and he recognizes me and we start talking. I was able to get his information and give him a Book of Mormon and I told him that the missionaries would be contacting him. I also gave him my phone number if he had any questions . Miracles are happening!!!!"
Elder Cubas and Elder Snell (Prayed to find a family of 4--Dad, Mom, Son, and Daughter):
"This is sooo awesome! I love how the Lord is blessing us all. So yesterday before leaving Rego Elder Snell and I knelt down and prayed and specifically asked Heavenly to help us find a family of four. A man that is looking for the truth with a wife and two kids. We prayed that the kids would be from ages 8-10, however what ever the lord had planned in his will if they be a different age. As we got on the bus we met this Hispanic guy with his wife and he said that he has two kids, but their ages were 14 & 23. Still was a family of four. Unfortunately we lost their contact, but if it's the Lords will we may see them again. Love you all! (in a mission appropriate way)."
Sister Panoussi and Sister Kim (Prayed to find a woman in a green shirt interested in family history):
"We had prayed for a woman in a green shirt interested in family history. At the end of the day we met a woman in a punk & white stepped shirt that filed out her pedigree chart with us and set up a return appointment. On her phone case there was a picture of a green t-shirt. Sister Kim said after she left that on her button she'd pinned to her bag there was a man in a green shirt. "
Sister Borges and Sister Romney (Prayed for a lot of things haha):
"At interviews Sister Borges prayed for a girl wearing a beach hat. Yesterday I prayed for a dad who was looking for peace for his family (the thought came to my mind to pray for a referral for the Spanish elders but I didn't specifically say it). Then today we prayed for a girl with a cat. Today we were door knocking a street and we knocked a door of this lady who showed us she had a book of Mormon, although she was actually pretty rude and wasnt interested. We turned around and there was a cat on her porch. A few minutes later we saw a Hispanic dad come out of his yard and heard a little girl behind him. We went over to talk to him and the little girl was wearing a beach hat. He is interested in learning about eternal families and wants us to come back. "
Hermana Amaro and Hermana Stubbs:
"Oh my goodness this is crazy! We just prayed at the bus stop because we forgot to pray for specifics this morning. So we sat down and prayed here at the bus. So we wanted to pray to find a less active. Then this lady walked across the street. And I had yhe feeling to talk to her but then we said the prayer. Hma Amaro prayed to find someone in a flower blouse. When we ended the prayer I was like wasn't the lady who walked across the street in a flower blouse? She was standing by us...and she was wearing a flower blouse!!!! How crazy. So we talked to her, and she said her name was Milagros which is miracle in Spanish!!! Wow, it was an instant answer! Love this challenge that we are doing "
I am so grateful for Heavenly Father and the faith the amazing Zone 4 has displayed in asking for miracles. I love this work and I love the people I serve and serve with. I wouldn't trade this experience for the world. I love being a missionary and am so grateful for our Heavenly Father who truly is a God of miracles!
I love you all so much and wish you all the most amazing of week! I hope you had a wonderful July! Can't believe it is already over!!! Crazy!
Love you all!
Elder Snell
Pictures
1) Just doing some weekly planning after a super exhausting service project!
2) #AskandReceive
3-4) Just preparing ourselves for a great 7 hours of church! WHOOT! I love Sundays!!! :) :) :) :) :)
No comments:
Post a Comment