Friday, March 7, 2014

MIRACLES ON MIRACLES ON MIRACLES...

 THE ZONE
THE HERMANAS FROM THE ZONE
2/24/14
Well my dear family and friends...
I AM SO GRATEFUL I AM STILL IN KATY. Seriously. This week. Get ready, this is going to be a long one... but I'll try to be concise and make it worth it :)
Well, let's start with Monday. So just after writing you we went to HEB to get some groceries. As we were in line a lady came up to us and said "I just feel like I should buy your groceries". Wow! Turns out her niece just left for a mission in Mexico and she hopes that people down there will take care of her. Tender mercies!
Well then later that night we had the ultimate miracle. So there is a family here that I seriously love with all my heart. Hermana Tanner and I found them knocking on one of my first days here in this area, and we have been working with them on and off ever since. There is a lot to the story, but the thing is that they love it when we come... but then never keep any of the commitments. We were getting to the point where we felt like maybe we needed to drop them, but we had never had the chance to introduce them to members so I was scared they would just fall of the map completely! (trust me, we have tried so many times to bring members, but every time we have something set up it alwaaays falls through.) Well this last week in our planning session we felt that we should invite one member in specific to come with us. I was a bit hesitant because this member is a bit... bold... but nevertheless we followed the spirit and she happily accepted. I wish I could explain HOW perfect the lesson went. The spirit was so strong and the member just seemed to say all the right things. I think they finally realized that we are really serious about this whole thing, and why it is so important! Also, uncoincidentally this member was in charge of the relief society activity the next night and invited the mom and grandma, and then the daughters to mutual… and they came!! And they loved it!! And they met a ton of members. Wow. Members are so critical in lessons. I am so happy we could bring her! Then the next day we had an awesome lesson with Hermana Cano. We introduced her to the ward missionaries so they can teach her the after-baptism lessons, and we had a brief restoration lesson. As we talked about how God is our loving Heavenly Father she explained how in these few months after her baptism, she has felt his love more than in her whole life and how she feels it stronger every day and she keeps reading and praying. I am so grateful I have had the privilege to see that process! It is so true. Her entire countenance has changed from when I first met her, and I think it has a huge part of her realizing her divine nature as a daughter of God. Tuesday we also had the most incredible homemade pupusas with Hermana Merino... I love food way too much.
Alright, Wednesday we had decided to try a referral one last time. We have been trying to get in contact with them for months now, but every time we go they never have time. Well, in our nightly planning we prayed and asked Heavenly Father that if we are meant to keep working with this family, to let us at least enter and share a brief message. Well... with a heart full of prayer we knocked on the door. No one answered. We knocked again. And the mom answered the door! Hairnet, apron and flour on her cheek. She was right in the middle of decorating a cake for a client, but before we could say anything she said "would you like to come in?". Hermana Townsend and I just looked at each other in awe. We just explained a bit of our purpose and why we had been stopping by, and she accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. We only had a moment, but it was a clear answer to a prayer that this family is ready. Then that night we also had an awesome lesson with a less active/part member family!! We have been trying to get in with them for a very long time. We had only met with the husband once, who isn't a member, because the wife wasn't to open to receiving us. Well, we kept trying to set up appointments, just to show that we cared. Anyway, we called them last week to see if we could visit and she didn't answer, and we decided not to leave a message even, because we don't want to bug them! Well she called us back the next day. She called us back!! And she asked if we could come and share a message about eternal families. Well of course we can! So we went on Wednesday and the lesson went great! They are super intimidating, but super sweet at the same time. Well we had shared some scriptures from the Book of Mormon, so at the end we asked the hermano if he would be willing to learn more. He accepted! We left them with homework to read the intro, and set up an appointment for Friday. Well we went back, and the Hermana had just pulled in from work, and hermano was still working. (It was 8 o'clock... these people are always working..) Well she welcomed us right in and just starting asking a million questions. She then opened up about how she was baptized at thirteen but her family went inactive shortly after, so she never really understood too much about the church. But now she has a four year old and she really wants to make sure she raises her right, and so she is super determined to become active in the church. We ended up teaching the restoration, and she loved it and ended up remembering more than she thought. She committed to read the Book of Mormon every day, and also come to church. And guess what? She came on Sunday! And stayed the whole three hours and loved it and felt very welcomed in to the ward. It just reminded me of the scripture in 3 Nephi 18:32 "...shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them." Every one has their own time, and we just have to be there to support them when they reach it. Well Thursday started out with an awesome lesson with one of our newer investigators, the one with the one year old and twenty one year old! Well she has been reading a little bit in the Book of Mormon and so we asked her if she has had a chance to pray about it and she said "well I don't doubt that it is true". Oh. She was raised super Catholic… and she believes whole heartedly in the bible, but she said she believes that Joseph Smith was called to be a Prophet. She asked why she should ask, if she doesn't doubt. Yeah, I know! Well we just invited her to pray then for a confirmation of the truth, rather than in form of doubting. She closed with the most incredible prayer asking to confirm that she was in the true path, and the spirit was really strong. She explained how she was grateful to have grown up with a part of the truth, but right now if excited to learn the fullness. Well then later that day we had a lesson with the ‘missionaries’ sister. As we started she said that she hadn't been reading... and we didn't quite know what to say. We kind of just sat there for a moment as we waiting for the spirit to let us know. As they say in preach my gospel "wait for a question from heaven". Well rather than chastising her, we just asked her how she felt when she read. From there the lesson went nicely as she testified of what she knew she should do. Later on she asked us "how do you answer if someone asks you how you know the Book of Mormon is true?" Well, we read Moroni 10:3-5 and said you just say you've read it, prayed, and the Holy Ghost testified. We then asked her is she knew the Book of Mormon was true. She sat there for a moment then said yes! That she believes she has received an answer that it is true. Wow. Well then later on we were talking about baptism and she said that she just felt like she didn't know nearly enough. We had left her with the baptismal interview questions and they really freaked her out. And she thought she would show up to her interview and then would shamefully send her home and tell her to study more. Well. Somehow we came back to the question she asked earlier and she said it was because she was talking with one of her friends about the church and her friend went off about how we worship Joseph instead of Christ, or something crazy like that, then Juana just went off about how actually he is a prophet… which means this... and because of that we have this... and that… and this... and she just bore her testimony about the restoration. We sat for a minute and then said "you just passed the interview". She just broke down crying, I think she startled herself when she realized how much she really does know! She agreed to pray about a specific date for her baptism. It was incredible. We just can't do this on our own!! I am so grateful that we have the spirit to teach these lessons. Well then on Friday we had a bit of an adventure. My dear Manuelita had signed up to give us dinner. Well we got a call from her during district meeting. Then we played phone tag all day long. Eventually the relief society president called us and said that Manuelitas house caught on fire, but she still wanted to give us dinner so we need to call her. Well, we finally got in contact and she told us to meet us at her house at fuve. Seriously. This woman. Well we get there and there are signs all over how no one can enter because of the hazard. Well she pulls up and tells us to follow her. We follow her to her daughters house! (who isn't a member...) In midst of the chaos, she had decided to make tamales! She also gave us the most amazing tortas… seriously... again with the food. I love it way too much. And she explained the whole story about how she was showering when the fireman knocked on her door, because her neighbor had called 911. Her house was on fire but God saved her!! (through her neighbor's phone call). So she was standing out in the middle of the road in a bathrobe, and she said in that moment she gave herself to God. She seriously has gone through the ringer lately, but no matter what happens she has the confidence that it is all happening for a reason, and that God is aware. Because the crazy thing, is Manuelita didn't call the relief society president to call us. No, the president felt like she needed to call her, and just called her out of no where to see if there was anything she needed. If that doesn't show that God is watching over His children, I don't know what does. Well then we had the miracle of sharing the lesson... and her daughter joined us for the message!! We talked from Helaman 3 where the trials make the people stronger and such, but then we just asked her daughter what she had heard about the Book of Mormon. She basically taught us the restoration, and we asked her if she believed it was true, and she said yes. Okaaay. She said she is so incredibly busy with her kids and work, but when she has time she would love for us to come and talk with her more. Wow. Everything happens for a reason!!!
Alright, I told you it would be a long one, but I just couldn't keep all these experiences to myself!! I am truly so incredibly grateful to be here. It is the most humbling calling you could ask for, because I know that it wasn't Hermana Draper that brought about any of these miracles… but I am grateful to know that the Lord can use me as an instrument.
I hope you all have a wonderful day!! I love you all so much. Remember to replace fear with faith, God is so much more aware of your needs than you can even imagine!
les quiero,
Hermana Draper


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