Big Lift

It's been a pretty incredible week. We've seen a lot of miracles, big and small. 

We went on two exchanges this week, and they were both incredible. I learned so much this week about how I can improve as a missionary. The first exchange we went on was part of the Big Lift, which is when every missionary in our zone goes on an exchange at the same time. Sister Winsor and I went on an exchange with Sister Lundholm, one of the Traveling Sisters, the female version of assistants to the president. Sister Lundholm is pretty awesome. I had a really rough morning right before the Big Lift started. I kept trying to role play with Sister Winsor, but I kept getting stuck and I was getting very frustrated with myself. But I knew that it was just the adversary working on me, I could tell that he wanted me to get frustrated with myself and give up because he was trying to keep something amazing from happening.

And there were several miracles that night as we started the Big Lift, but the most incredible one happened the next morning. We had an appointment with a man who was a referral from the MTC. He lives way out in the far reaches of our area, so we got a member to give us a ride. He lives in the middle of nowhere, in a boarding house type place. One of his friends had been given a Book of Mormon and a restoration pamphlet and he had shared them with him. He said he had read parts of the Book of Mormon and he'd been very inspired by it. He'd also read the restoration pamphlet several times. When Sister Lundholm asked him what his favorite part was he immediately opened to the page on the First Vision. He said he believes that Joseph Smith did see what he said he saw. He also said that he's been trying to be baptized in the church that he attends now, but that for some reason or another it hasn't ever been able to work out. But he really wants to be baptized. Sister Winsor invited him to be baptized on September 7 and he accepted. It was an incredible lesson. I realized as we were speaking with him that I was witnessing the beginnings of a testimony and that was incredible. We were all so happy when we left. 

However, he called us on Saturday and canceled the appointment we had made to go see him that day. He has several health problems and he said he wasn't feeling well. He also said he felt he'd jumped the gun by deciding to be baptized, but he said that he still wanted to meet with us. I don't think he really understands the magnitude of the restoration. He believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but he doesn't really understand what that means. I think he still thinks of us as just another church. We'll hopefully be meeting with him tomorrow and I still think he can be baptized. 

We were able to talk with [the family I mentioned last week] and they promised they were going to read the Book of Mormon and that they'd love to talk with us again. I don't think they fully understand what as missionaries do. We're going to try and go over the restoration with them the next time we go over. 

Also, we had a pretty amazing experience yesterday. We met this woman who invited us into her house and we started talking with her. After we'd been talking for awhile Sister Winsor asked her if we could sing her a song, so we sang her I Am A Child Of God. She loved it, and asked if we'd write down the words. Sister Winsor pulled out her notebook to write them down, and then remembered that she'd already written them down earlier that day. So that was pretty incredible. 

I'm excited to hear how school goes. We're working hard out here, and eventually I know we're going to have success. I love you all. 

Also, we're still talking with [the older woman whose friend is a recent member].  Sister Lundholm challenged me to invite her to be baptized when we were there on Thursday, so I did even though it was a little rushed, since just as we were starting to share our message with her she told us she wasn't feeling well and needed to go lay down. So I just kind of asked her as we were going out the door, she told us she's already been baptized. So next time we'll go over why she needs to be baptized again!  And the referral in Eutawville hasn't been answering her phone, so we're assuming she's not really interested. We've met a couple other really good leads this week, I'll let you know if anything develops with them.