Trials and Tribulations

Good afternoon family and friends! Sorry this letter didn't get to you yesterday. I forgot to say last week that we were going to the temple this week so Pday would be a day late. And I really can't focus today for some reason so this might be really random and short... But it was a very good week so let's get started! :)

LA Temple - April 15, 2013

Tuesday the 9th started out and everything caught on fire and the world ended twice (sorry, that was my ZL Elder Gracia... I moved away from the computer and he got a hold of the keyboard...) Anyway, Tuesday was awesome! We had a really good lesson with our investigator Anthony. We talked about baptism, General Conference and the Book of Mormon. Anthony talked about how he's starting to gain a better understanding and testimony about modern day prophets. It was cool! Plus he talked about how he's leaning more toward baptism!!!! We are so excited for him. He's really progressing in the gospel and I can see a difference in him from when we started meeting with him to now. He really wants to change his life. He even asked us to text him the things that he needs to do in order to get baptized if he decides to take that step.

Later that day we had a tour/lesson with a potential investigator that Sister George met when we were at Citrus College the day we were together waiting for our trainees to get here. Her name is Deborah. She's super cute and TINY!!! We started out by giving her a tour but she had so many questions that it led straight into the Restoration so we just stopped the tour and had a lesson. She's super smart and really wants to know the truth. Sadly we can't meet with her this week because it's Spring Break... It was just a really good lesson.

Then Wednesday the 10th we met up with the Elders to finish a service project that we had been doing for a couple in the 1st ward where the husband had surgery a few months and it turned wrong and he has to have surgery again. It was just tons of fun. I really enjoyed it except for the fact that it was super hot!

During weekly planning session -- being silly

And then the rest of the day was pretty chill. We went knocking (Sister Staker wanted to go knocking so I told her to look at the map and choose a streety and we'd go there...) She chose the street Fountain Springs and things were going good! We knocked on four houses and decided to go to a members house to say hi. Sadly she wasn't home but as we were walking away she saw this house across the street and she said, "Let's go to that house." I said ok but as were walking up to the house, I noticed on the car a license plate cover that was from Azusa Pacific University. APU doesn't really like Mormons that well so I was a little scared but we went up anyway. And it turned out to be really good! The door opened and this guy says "Mormon missionaries!! How are you doing this beautiful day?? What message do you have for me today?" And we talked for a minute on the porch and then he invited us in. So he brought out an employee that was at his house so that we could come in and we ended up having an hour and a half long conversation. He asked us a lot of good questions and we tried to answer the best we could. There were a lot of things that he asked that we couldn't answer but we wrote them down and are learning about them so we can answer his questions this week when we see him. It was a very cool experience and we are excited to go back to see him this week!

Thursday the 11th we had a really good zone meeting! We learned a whole ton about teaching repentance and it really helped to know what to talk to investigators about. I just really loved it! I learned SOOO much!

That night we got a phone call from Sister Hyer that said that she needed to talk to us about something that had happened with Aunty Pam and Amanda. So Amanda wasn't supposed to go on trek with the stake because she was going with her parents out to Chicago to see her brother. Well, Amanda ended up going on the trek and her parents went out to see their son. I have to make this short but I want to tell all details. Anway, Aunty Pam and Uncle Bill were out in Nebraska after a baseball game and they were needing to go to dinner. Well, as they were on their way to dinner, Aunty Pam sees this sign that says "Mormon Trail" and she asked Uncle Bill if they could go but they didn't have time. They got to this restaurant but it was closed. Aunty Pam didn't say anything but all of a sudden Uncle Bill said, "Ok, where's that Mormon Trail??" And they went back. I wish I could explain it better but Aunty Pam told it so amazingly! I could not hold back my tears. It was a good experience for Pam and gosh, I wish I could have been there. PLUS!!!! Amanda had to move her baptism day UP to June 8th instead of June 22nd. So it was just amazing to have these miracles happen!

Sister Staker during weekly planning
 

Then Friday the 12th we had another lesson with Anthony... We taught the Word of Wisdom and it was hard for him to understand why we have such a commandment. But he made a commitment to us and to the Lord to stop drinking anything in the W.O.W. and also, Sister Staker was able to commit him to baptism. She started but wasn't able to finish so I finished and we committed him for May 5th! It was awesome!



LA Temple - Christus Statue

Then Saturday the 13th we had a couple way good lessons with a couple less actives. We talked about trials and tribulations with both of them. It was just amazing because the spirit was so strong in the last lesson. It's a sister who was super active but hasn't been to church the last couple months. We went over to see how she was doing and you could tell that she was not doing well. She was on the verge of tears most of the time we were there. I shared a thought/quote that I have in my scriptures about the atonement of Christ and it was just super powerful! It was interesting because I didn't really know why we were going to her house. I didn't know what we were going to say. But the Spirit really helped us we were meeting with her. I didn't feel anything super powerful telling me what to say but I have noticed that the way I receive inspiration is very soft and hardly noticeable. I struggled with knowing how I feel the spirit for the longest time but now I know that it's ok if I don't always feel the spirit super strong, as long as I try my best to say what I'm supposed to say. It was just so wonderful!

Well, I hope that this email made sense. There was a lot of talking today while emailing and I couldn't really focus so I don't know what was said...

I love you all so very much!

Love always,

Sister Rachel Wheatley and Elder G.