Hi Family! This past week has definitely been an interesting week. Full of ups and downs. The high of the week was Sherry's baptism that was New Year's Day. It was so neat to participate and feel the spirit. What a way to ring in the new year, I'd say. I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and the bishop in that ward said that I did very well. He also said that he turned to his councilor and said these are the type of missionaries that we have. :] I'm glad that it went well. Sherry, Sister Farthing, and I were all really nervous in the beginning so we had to step out and say a prayer. Sherry was just confirmed yesterday before the sacrament, so she's officially a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! Happy Day! I feel like Alma when he said that his joy is full because of bring some soul unto Christ.
The rest of the week so the interesting part. We went from 8 investigators to 1 with Sherry being baptized and now Katie being baptized this Saturday. Mathi, the Indian man, is progressing and it's amazing the changes that we're already seeing in him! He's read the Book of Mormon already twice in English and once in Tamil. He said that he doesn't think that it's the word of God- the same as the Bible. He's reading it again because in our lesson I asked him how he was reading the Book of Mormon. Was he just reading for the facts or listening with his heart? He admitted sheepishly that he had been reading just for the facts and we invited him to read with his heart and mind- to really focus on how he feels when he reads the Book of Mormon and we know that the Holy Ghost will manifest if he's sincere and prays with real intent. It was a powerful lesson. We are so glad for him and we hope that his family will join us. His wife and him are going back to India in April, so we're hoping to continue teaching him until then. His wife, Elfonz, is a very strong Catholic and they don't really speak English that well, but we get by.
It's sad that we had to drop a couple of investigators and got dropped by some investigators. It's been a faith promoting week for sure. I've been reading in Alma all of this week and the missionaries examples are faith building. I've gotten so many inspirations on how to teach people from applying how the missionaries teach. Reading the Book of Mormon has never applied so literally in my life. The Book of Mormon is filled with missionaries and how we bring people unto Christ. It's our own little handbook along with Preach My Gospel. I love it. The 30 minutes that I spend reading in the morning is my precious time that I have between myself and the Lord. My testimony of the Book of Mormon has never been stronger. I absolutely love the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is the keystone to our religion and without reading it, we will never be converted. The less active people that we teach have a testimony, but they haven't been converted partly because they haven't read the Book of Mormon all of the way and took Mormoni's challenge in 10:3-5. It's really sad. I am so thankful that reading from the Book of Mormon was such a part of our family. I forgot to say congrats on finishing the Book of Mormon again!
We fasted and prayed yesterday for 9 new investigators this week that are prepared- that are the elect. Our past investigators were not the elect at this time. Which is really sad and we do still think about them, but they're not going to be our focus. I have the faith that we can accomplish this. We asked our Bishops and Ward Mission leaders to add this to their fast as well. I know that once we have the strength of the ward and they are putting in effort then we can accomplish this. We are going to work this week as we have never before. We've gone through our Area Book and prayerfully considered which formers we're going to go by and which past potentials are now ready. Craziness. The reason why 9 new investigators is because the Mission Standard is 10 investigators at all times. I know that their are people that are ready and we just need to find them. "The field is white and ready to harvest." I'm excited for this week and what it will bring.
For Christmas, I gave myself some green pants that I can wear on P-Day and a leopard prink cardigan :)
Love,
Sister Collins
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| Sis. Collins and Sis. Farthing |
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| Their new pants |
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| The missionaries in their District |