Well
things are going great. I live in a big town called Platte
City! Everything Is like a mansion! But luckily the people are extremely
nice here and I get to go inside and see what the inside of these
mansions look like ;).
There are a ton of people here to teach, the
problem is getting into their houses. One of the biggest things we need
is member missionaries. The more that the members invited their friends
over for dinner and have us over, the better it is for these people
to hear the gospel. They are able to speak to us freely and not to
mention we have a member there with us so not only are we bearing our
testimony about the gospel but their friends are too. That's how we get a
lot of our new investigators.
We currently have a family of 5 who are
on date to get baptized January 11th!! I am so excited for them and I
know that they will make it to the day. We were teaching them lesson 2,
the plan of salvation. And the part about families being together
forever just really struck them! They knew that it was true and they
knew they wanted their family to be together forever. When we asked
Sister Vanwinkle (That's the familys name) if she and her husband would
be baptized, she said yes. Then we looked at her husband who was
grinning from ear to ear!! We asked him what was on his mind and his
reply was "I have known this church was true from the moment you sisters
walked in. I just was waiting for my wife to understand it so we could
go through it all together." It was such a miracle not to mention she stopped smoking that day we invited her! So in church she was so
excited to show us her patch she went and bought to help her live the word
of wisdom fully. The entire Vanwinkle family is so supportive of each
other and each day they are growing closer and closer together!
So
another investigator that I have, his name is Deverne Johnson. He is
such a kind man who just wants to make sure everyone is comfortable in
his house. His wife is a member and she's been married to him for 40
years. It wasn't til now that he began to study anything of this church.
He even had two children who went on missions and asked him to read the
Book of Mormon. It wasn't till us, the sister missionaries came to his
door and told him to start reading that he now began. He reads an hour a
day and if he forgets he decided this himself, if he forgets, he reads
for 2 hours! How cool is that!? He still is struggling with understanding
and recognizing the spirit. But with constant prayers for him I think
he will begin to feel it stronger and stronger. He just is a little bit
stubborn in that sense. He loves music though and I know he feels the
spirit when we sing together at his house. I even had the privilege of
playing their piano! They love Yanni and so I played one song for them
and they were so happy, not to mention I was so happy to just be able to
play Yanni!!! Well these are my investigators so far! But we are
working on finding more. We go to a lot of members houses and less
actives and we teach them our lessons for practice and as they gain
trust with us, they have been referring us to more of their friends.
Missionary work is great! And the members of this ward here in Platte
City are wonderful! Just remember that you can be a missionary from
home! That is the biggest thing I'm learning out here. We need more
people who are willing to be missionaries from their own house. Being a
missionary with a badge is great, but being a missionary from your own
personal house is the best thing ever. The missionaries will love you
more too if you become a member missionary. So keep striving to lead by
example from your own homes. You'll receive the same blessing a
missionary in the field receives if you truly try to be a member
missionary.
Love, Becca
