Hermana Tanner and Draper at the Houston Temple
10/21/13
Hola Familia! Como han ido?
What a week it has been! Temple
being one of the obvious highlights, but also awesome new investigators,
investigators at church (which is huuge), reactivations of members, and more!
God is truly hastening his work and I am so grateful for all the miracles that He
is working in our area!
Well to start off, having
investigators at church really is a huuge step in their conversion, and also
the commitment that seems to be the hardest to keep. We have been working a lot
with one of our investigators and she is so solid. She loves to read, she loves
to learn, she is very humble and prayerful, the only problem is that she
watches over an elderly man, 24/7, so she basically can never leave unless she
has someone to watch over him. Well for this she hasn't been able to come to
church, except for the one session of General Conference that she went to. When
we had a lesson with her this past week we felt that we needed to talk to her
about fasting, and how powerful it can be in helping us receive guidance,
because she is at a point where she has to make a lot of big decisions for her
life. We invited her to pick a day and said that we would love to join her, if
it was okay with her. She said Sunday, and how perfect is that? We explained
how fasting makes you more in tune with the spirit and one of the best places
to receive revelation through the spirit is at church. We invited her to
commit, and she said she would try to find someone to cover for her... well...
when we called on Saturday to see she giddily said to us that she could come!!
So we arranged for one of our members to pick her up, and the whole day went
wonderfully; the talks in sacrament meeting, the sacrament, Sunday school, and
especially relief society. Everyone was there welcoming her and I think she was
a bit overwhelmed with all the love that she felt there! The lesson was on how
this is the Kingdom of God and how it has been prophesied of from the beginning,
and that was perfect for her to hear with her biblical background. All in all,
it was incredible and when we asked her how she liked it she said "me
encanto"… (literally=it enchanted me... basically=I loved it). Also at
church there were two less active members that we have been working with, and two
other past investigators that just showed up because they felt they needed to! There
are so many amazing miracles that just leave us wondering how God does it??
Also, this past week we received a referral
from the English elders. We stopped by, and they were super busy, but set up a
return appointment for yesterday. When we went by it really just felt so right.
The family is incredible, and after getting to know them a bit, the mom just
opened up to us about all the trials that they are going through right now, and
how they have been trying to confide in God, but what an answer to prayers it
was for us to find them at this time... wow. Well we shared a brief restoration
lesson, but really just focused on what a blessing the gospel is for families,
and how these trials are blessings to help us grow. They have truly been
prepared by God and I am so excited for our appointment with them later this
week!
Oh also, a few days ago we were
knocking doors during power hour (our mission finding hour from 6-7 every
night) and literally the house that we said… "last door"... she
opened and welcomed us right in. She is eighteen and was there with her family
and her boyfriend, and they were so awesome. We only talked with the two of
them, because her family was busy, but it was amazing! She had just spent the
last year in Mexico for her senior year at a private school raised by nuns...
but when we explained the restoration she was so open. Both of them said it
only makes sense that God would have a prophet today! Also, her boyfriend said
that him and his mom used to always go to this one church and they loved it,
but recently his mom said that she just didn't feel the spirit there anymore,
and so they have been looking for another church... he said that he likes to
read in James because it explains that God will guide us.. (yes, I kid you not
he said that…) and so when we explained Joseph Smith he related really well.
They are just so awesome and open!
I apologize if none of my emails
make sense, I just type what goes through my head, and I never have time to
read back through it to make sure it is logical, but I just hope you get
something out of this, especially that God is hastening His work and it is all
because He loves us. He desires for every single one of His children to return
to Him, so He is giving us as many possible resources to do it! Clearly we all
have our agency, and we respect the decisions that others make, but we also
invite absolutely everyone to know that there is a more excellent way that God
has provided!
I love this gospel. It is so true. I
am grateful that I have the privilege to watch it transform the lives of
people, including my own. I know that it is through the Atonement that we can
reach our full potential. We can literally become like our loving Heavenly
Father, because that is our goal after all. I know that nobody is perfect, but
that's the point; our perfect brother is there to help us through it all.
I love you all so much! Have an
awesome week! Replace fear with faith, because God speaks!
les queiro demasiado,
Hermana Draper
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