Lauren's Best 18 Months: Monday, February 24th 2014

We saw a lot of miracles this past week. On Monday night both of our lessons canceled- with Sierra and Valerie, but we prayed and we got them to reschedule for later that night. We went and visited some potential investigators and we were able to have great experiences with them. We had found Mark while tracting in the Proving Grounds a couple of weeks ago and when we went to his house, he was just pulling up. He invited us in and we were able to talk with both him and his wife. It turns out their son and recently gotten baptized into our church and she remembers how good she felt at his baptism. They told us we could come back any time and they were super friendly.

We also visited our Recent Converts house, where Mercedes is a non-member. She's the one who told us she wants to be baptized, but she'll tell us when she wants to hear our "lectures." We had put her into our plans not really knowing why and a little scared because she had already kind of told us to only come when she wanted us to. We get there and she's worried because her son Robert, who's the Recent Convert, hasn't come home and he hadn't called yet and it was getting dark. We read her a comforting scripture and we said a prayer that she would be comforted and that Robert would be home soon. She asked us if we would call later to make sure she was alright. As soon as we go down the street a little ways we see Robert there riding his bike home. We pull over and call Mercedes telling her Robert was going to be there soon. She exclaimed, God does answer prayers and I did feel comforted after the prayer! She told us to call her on Thursday so that we could come back. It was a huge faith booster for her. That was the reason why we were there. Her fellowship called us on Wednesday and told us Mercedes wanted to start taking the lessons and we set up an appointment for Thursday! We taught her on Thursday andFriday. Thursday's lesson was a lot of her just talking about her concerns. It was kind of painful because we can't understand Spanish and she was just jabbering on in Spanish and Brother Thompson was translating. We did resolve most of her concerns. On Friday we actually taught her the Restoration and found out her main concern was that she did not know Joseph Smith was a prophet, but she knows the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. She committed herself to read and pray about Joseph Smith and to read the Book of Mormon. She also said she will pray about baptism. So we have a new investigator who is so prepared. She's been coming to church for the past 2 months and I'm so glad I got to be here to see how her heart has been softened by us and the other ward members.

Tuesday night we were able to teach the Activity Day Girls about how to be a missionary. That was a lot of fun and now we know more of the kids better in our ward. I'm still trying to know all of the kids by name. I know their last names, but I don't know some of their first names. It's great to be so involved with the youth because they are the ones who are going to help us have the most success.

This past Wednesday I went on exchanges with Sister Holcomb. Yes, the Sister Holcomb I trained. It was kind of weird to be companions again! So many memories brought back. It seems like so long ago, but at the same time like it just happened. I can't believe she's almost done with her mission in September. Crazy! We saw miracles on the exchange. I let her lead since when we were together I was the one leading mostly because she was so new!

On Thursday we had Zone Conference and it was a great training. I love it when we have these meetings so we can learn to become better missionaries. After the meeting we had a lesson with our other Recent Convert, Infinity. She had brought a friend to the BYD last Sunday, Jocelyn, who after BYD downloaded the Gospel Library and she wants to be baptized! It's too bad she's out of our area, but missionary work is the same wherever. Jocelyn's father is Atheist and he doesn't want Jocelyn to join the church because he doesn't want to drive her to church. We're going to work with the missionaries in her area to see if they can find a fellowship since Infinity has been picking her up for church. We'll see!

On Saturday I went on exchanges with Sister Caron. She is awesome! She is a convert of 3 years, she was baptized when she was 19 and she's been out for 5 months. We had an awesome day in her area. I had prayed the night before that I wanted to hit all of the key indicators for our exchange that day. By the end of the day we had accomplished my goal. The power of faithful prayers when you back it up with action. I think that most exciting part of the day happened after dinner. During dinner we had gotten a referral from one of their members about this lady who's having a hard time. We go to her house and it's all dark and as we were going to leave, a car pulls up. It's this lady, Carol. She's been having some financial problems with raising 4 kids, one 14 year-old and three 12 year-olds. Her husband had left 10 years ago. Her life has basically hit rock bottom. We got to talking with her and she asked how one could join our church. We said that was perfect question and that we were missionaries who teach people about that. She said there was no coincidence that we were there. We ended up giving her a church tour right that night because she had been wanting to see what it was like, but had never been able to go inside. We invited her to be baptized and she said she'd absolutely would! She's excited to read the Book of Mormon and she's looking for a way to change her life and to become a better person. I'm excited for Sister Caron and Sister Trump and their new investigator! It was a wonderful night! The miracle of exchanges.

This next Sunday is when the Gilbert Temple will be dedicated. I'm so excited to be a part of it and no, we don't actually get to be inside the Temple. I don't even know if President Monson and/or President Eyring is going to meet with us missionaries. It would be really sad if they didn't! I hope they're planning on it! Also this Saturday is going to be the Cultural Celebration and we get to watch it also. I can't wait to do a session in the Temple! What a wonderful time it is to be here right now. I know the Lord knows each one of us and we're where we're supposed to be for a reason. Oh and this past Monday night as I was praying before going to bed, I hear Sister Beach scream. And there it was. A killer scorpion in our room on our windowsill. Luckily one of the sisters we live with smashed it with a rock (the only way to really kill them) and the other one had a black light so we checked out entire house to make sure there weren't any others. NASTY little critters. I'm so happy the Lord answers prayers and cares about each one of us so that we can find those we need to! The Church is true! I love it, live it, and know it.