Monday was preparation day, and then the Fourth of July. We had the
privilege of having a barbecue, s'mores and a small firework show with
Joel and Marilyn Jessop. It was one of the most peaceful and joyful
evenings of my life, what can be better than this?
This week we decided to try something called inspired tracting. The
way that works is we pray about a few options and ask where we need to
be, we ponder as the spirit speaks to us and then we discuss as a
companionship. Most often we feel prompted to go to the same place.
This week we received revelation to go to a certain street called
Whispering Willow Way, which had two investigators on it. We parked in
front of the investigators house and were about to go inside but Elder
Angle felt a prompting to walk around the block first and he shared
that with me. As we were walking, I felt a distinct prompting to stop
and knock at a house. When we knocked a young man answered the door.
We chatted with him for a while and found out he was a runner. We also
learned that his family was not religious at all. Right around that
time his mother walked out from the backyard and we got to speak with
her. She was not interested, but she was very kind. She said she
wouldn't read it but she would put it on the coffee table so her
children could read it if they wanted to. As we left, the spirit
confirmed to us that we had been right where we needed to be and done
what we needed to do. I tell this story to emphasize the importance of
two companions who are both listening to the spirit. If one of us
hadn't been listening, we would not have done what God needed us to
do. Joshua 3:5
Remember that family we helped, move in? Well we stopped by again this
week and had a wonderful experience with them. We had planned to teach
the restoration lesson but agreed to follow the spirit if it told us
not to. Well, after chatting with the father and his two sons for a
bit we began to teach. It was so cool because he was familiar with the
LDS church and let us know he was interested in joining! He had the
opportunity before but did not accept because he didn't have a
testimony yet. What a miracle! The Lord has truly been working in his
life. We hope and pray the wife will be as receptive when we get to
teach her. Please pray for the Walkers.
We had the best lesson with Andy and Michelle this week. We focused a
lot on prayer and revelation. Michelle is ready to go, but Andy has
some hard things he has to work through before he will be ready. He
feels that he has received spiritual confirmation of some things in
the group at are contrary to the LDS church. The spirit guided us in
saying two things we feel are very important for him. First we
explained that satan likes to keep us focused too much on the past and
the future, because we have control of he present and he wants to
distract us. How important this is! Based on this principal we gave
him an analogy called, "The Lego House." In our life we build our
"Lego House," in other words, our beliefs, and when we receive a new
piece of revelation, or a new Lego, we have to disassemble our Lego
house to fit it in, to make it better. Andy has a lot of faith and he
is working very hard. We are so proud of him.
We taught Clint, Martha, Audrey and their 20 kids this week. It was
such a great lesson! We taught the Plan of Salvation and all the
children were participating the whole time, asking questions and
answering them. It was really cool. After the lesson, the kids wanted
to play games while the members we brought with us, who had converted
from the AUB talked with the parents. We played red rover and
dodgeball. It was a really cool opportunity to grow closer to the
family and hopefully have a long lasting impact on the children.
The day after, we had a lesson with a woman named Amy. Amy has been
coming to church with her kids for a long time but hasn't wanted to be
baptized if her husband didn't come with her. However, this last week
she decided it was time for her to start the interviews. When we had
the lesson with her she told us she was having a "gut-wrenching"
feeling. She has been seeking revelation as to what this is. It was a
cool opportunity for me because I felt the spirit tell me to promise
her she would get an answer this Sunday during sacrament meeting. What
joy I felt when she found us afterward and told us she had received
her answer, she will, one forward without him and she feels he will
eventually follow. There is nothing sweeter than these kind of
experiences.
Both Will & Kara and Joel and Marilyn are still progressing rapidly,
though I have not the time to tell you about their wonderful lessons
this week.
I love each of you, I hope you know that.
Love,
Elder Thomas
FIREWORKS!
Dodgeball with the kids
Deer in a member's yard because it's Montana
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