Week of Miracles

THIS HAS BEEN A WEEK OF COMPLETELY NOTHING BUT MIRACLESSSS!!!!!!!!! It has honestly been so amazing. I didn't even know that there could possibly be so many miracles in 1 week. So as I attempt to describe all of the awesome, crazy things that have been happening, you prolly won't have any idea who I am talking about, but I'll do my best to explain.

So on Monday it was almost time to go home for the night, but we had like 15 more minutes, so we walked downtown a couple blocks to do some street contacting. Well right when we came out of our driveway, there was a guy up the street from us taking out his garbage. I wanted to go talk to him, but I had kind of a funny feeling, so we stood there awkwardly in the street debating of whether we should go talk to him or not, but then Sis Roundy said he might be drunk because he was kind of singing to himself and then he went inside. So we decided to just go down to main street and contact. Well, almost right when we walked into town we passed a lady and said hi to her, and then she turned around and asked what organization we were from because she saw our nametags. We found out her name was Melissa, and we talked with her for nearly a half an hour. We attempted to set up an appointment with her, but we had to just leave her with a Book of Mormon and our number. When we walked back we realized that we would have missed her if we hadn't waffled in the street for 5 minutes haha.

Then you'll never guess what happened on Tuesday. We had gotten a call FROM A MEMBER that he wanted us to come over at a certain time so we could go visit his neighbor and teach her. Well we were running a little bit late that day, and went over there and she wasn't home. So we talked for a while with the member and then went back over to try again, and she was there! We didn't get a return appointment, but we definitely had a good discussion with her. We would have missed her completely if we hadn't been running late, because we would have probably missed her again and just gone home. Later that day we visited with a 92 year old man named George and had a WONDERFUL lesson with him about the plan of salvation. The Spirit was so strong, and he was also a member referral with the member present, and he has been really progressing. Then later we met with another one of our investigators named Chris (who was also a former investigator and member referral with the member present for the lesson). One of the first things he said to us was "So you know how last time when we met I said I didn't have any problems for Christ to help me with? Well I got one yesterday." He then told us of a trial that had just popped up that was really serious, and how he had been keeping his commitments to read and pray. We talked with him about what he had been reading, and he took notes through the whole lesson!

On Wednesday we met a young man named Lukas. He had been a former investigator, but had been dropped a year or so ago. Our bishop mentioned him to us and we found him, gave him a call and set a time to meet! The only problem was, we didn't have a member yet to go with us. We called and texted a couple of people, but then literally a half an hour before the appointment a Bother Hockenjos said he could go with us! IT WAS SUCH A BLESSING!!!! The lesson was awesome and Lukas connected with the him so well! Honestly, Brother Hockenjos probably did 3/4ths of our job that day. They just talked and got to know each other and discussed the Gospel and their histories with it and everything, and then us sisters had some time at the end to ask some questions, and committed him to be baptized. WHAT?! Then we had dinner with a member, and at the end she took a picture of us to send to our parents (hopefully you got it Mom).

So Thursday was crazy. We had to schedule in two dinners. One was a member (which was sooooooo good! and she made us the best chocolate cake I have ever had) and then right afterwards we were going to meet at a diner with another member and less active. Well the first dinner wasn't that far away, so we were going to walk, but then it ended up raining alllll dayyy lonnng. But it was ok cuz it was my first NJ rainy day so it was cool. But anyways, Thursday is our walking day where basically the mission has a car fast and can't drive. So she was kind enough to pick us up and then afterwards she was so nice as to drive us to the diner. Which was a miracle, because if we hadn't had dinner with her before, we would have had to walk an hour in the rain to get to the diner which was in a different city. So we get to the diner, and guess what? The less active (which we found out later wasn't really a less active per say) had brought her niece with her who was not a member! We found out that her name was Tracy and she was part of a different church where she really liked it, but mentioned a couple of times that she didn't always feel all the way filled up with the Spirit when she would study the Bible sometimes, like she knew that there was more that she could be experiencing. So (as I ate my dinner appetizer of fried zucchini spears) we had the BEST discussion about the sacrament! the spirit was so strong as we read from the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi 18 about how the people were filled when they took the sacrament. At the end of the night we had an appointment set up to go and see Tracy again and give her a big Book of Mormon! And her aunt is going to be there!

Friday we had a loooong training meeting that was SO AWESOME!!!! I am learning so much here! And they feed us good lunches at those meetings, so that's good. But then we went to the doctor for Sis Roundy and ended up missing one of our appointments with Chris because they took so long. But the awesome thing is that the member that was going to go with us is named Brother LaConte, and he is a recent convert. He still went to the appointment and got to talk a little bit with Chris even though we weren't there! When we finally got out of the doc, it was too late to meet with Chris, but we did get to go visit a handicapped member with Brother LaConte, and then he took us out to dinner and we got to talk about some gospel principles with him.

Saturday we had the best comp inventory ever! I love having problems come up, because then after being able to work them out Sis Roundy and I are even closer than we were before and have the spirit even stronger! We also had an appointment scheduled with a new investigator named James, but just when we arrived we got a call from a referral we had been trying to contact. So we stayed in the car and talked to him for a minute, and even though he didn't want to meet with us, we got to bear our testimony to him and invite him to keep searching. Right when we were ending the conversation, James pulled up in to his driveway! If we hadn't gotten that call when we did, we probably would have just left when he didn't answer the door! Also, when the member pulled up, we watched her get out of her car and then see her friend from the ward and go talk to her and give her a hug. We didn't get much time with him, but the sister member we brought with us knew James' grandmother who was a member! The spirit was present and we had a great lesson! Then right after that we went over to Chris' house and got to meet his little 3-year old boy named John. He was so cute! We had Brother LaConte with us again, and had felt prompted to center the lesson on Sabbath day observance and then invite him to come to church. The lesson was a little bit rough between John being loud with his toys and going off on random tangents, but it was still good. We discovered another miracle in that lesson though! So Chris told us that he had been a smoker like a week before we had first met, but with the money problems he had been having, he didn't have enough money to buy them, so he had just stopped smoking!!!! Its so amazing that not only did these trials bring Him closer to Christ, but they also helped him stop smoking! WHAT?! After that we went to another RC who lived in a really sketchy hotel, so it was a miracle that we got out of that place alive haha.

Sunday we had ward counsel at 7:30am, then church at 9, then coordination meeting for an hour right after that, we were there for a while, but it was worth it. We also had George and Stephanie (another one of our AWESOME investigators) come to church! Lukas and Chris were supposed to come to, but they didn't show up. But its ok, because the Lord blessed us with two new investigators at church! A mother and her handicapped daughter just SHOWED UP in sacrament meeting! The mom's name is Ann and her daughter is Kristin, and they had apparently been former investigators, but they connected really well with the members, and we have an appointment with them! After all that crazy church, we went home and stuffed ourselves full of top ramen, and then got a call from a member in our family saying that if we didn't have anyone scheduled to feed us that day to come over and eat with them. So we had two lunch/dinners. I have never been so stuffed. But then we went over to Stephanie's house to talk with her about church and teach her about the plan of salvation, and she said that Sis Cummings (a member mom she is close to who gave her a ride to church) said that their family likes to keep the Sabbath Day holy by keeping their church clothes on, and Stephanie really like that. So guess what. She kept her church clothes on all day to keep the Sabbath day and she said she felt really good all day long. She loved church, and when we taught her the POS, she said she felt like she was understanding everything way easier than she had been before. It was AWSOME!

OK!!! Well I'm sorry I practically barfed up my entire week to you all, but it is such a testimony to me that this is the Lord's time that I am borrowing. He perfectly orchestrates everything to help His children. He truly is in the details of our lives and this is His work!!! I love you all so much! Keep being so awesome! and thank you SO MUCH for your prayers!

Sis Baine :)