Why do we have a word of the day? Why
not!? HA! Jokes we have a word of the day because we are helping
prepare Sister Yu for the TOFL test so she can go to BYUH! This is
serious business! This morning we sang the alphabet song like 10 times
(: I used to sing it with Sister Fuentes when she was learning English
too...ah good times!(: I love singing.
This week was SO
eventful! Last Wednesday Sister Yu and I had lots of time on the square
to contact! When we walked into the Assembly Hall I saw 3 women sitting
on a bench near the front looking at the Organ. After immediately seeing
them the thought came to my mind, "Hey, go talk with those women." So
we made this awkward route to where they were sitting (my companion was
looking at me like, "Why are we walking this way?" haha) and started to
talk with them. Well they were from the Netherlands so they speak Dutch,
BUT they did speak English pretty well, so we started talking! Anyone
who has ever served a mission can relate when I say that this experience
was one of those times when you don't remember anything you said but
you know the spirit was there and they all ended up wanting a copy of
The Book of Mormon! Wow! I would go in to more detail but I honestly
don't remember most of it except for the end when I told them we could
give them a Dutch Book of Mormon and they all wanted one! It was so
wonderful! I told them my friend was serving a mission in the
Netherlands so hopefully someday they'd meet him! Hopefully they come
your way Elder Fowkes!
The next day we went to take a tour
texted out at EF desk. We met these two men who seemed to be a little
down and one of them was acting a little strange. We introduced
ourselves and asked what brought them here but they said, "Oh we're just
passing through." I started to keep talking when the one man cut me off
and said, "Ok, there's a purpose we're here. We're on our way home from
our brother's funeral. I'm a member and my brother here is not, can you
please teach him about eternal families?" So we did. We took them to
the model of the Temple and explained work for the dead and the sealing
ordinance. We them took them to God's Plan for His Families presentation
after that. They were both crying a lot. At the end we began to talk
with the brother who was not a member and told him that we KNOW Temples
really do have the power to connect us to our families forever. I
started to invite him to learn more and meet with local missionaries
when his member brother cut me off and said, "She wants to have the
missionaries come over to your house and teach you the lessons, but you
have to let them in the door!" Hahaha! His brother said he wanted to see
missionaries and said that we could call him and continue to teach him.
They were both so great, and very sincere humble people. We're excited
to talk with him again this coming week!
Mandarin Meeting
was last week so I got REALLY lucky and was able to go on exchanges with
Sister McQueen! (Exchanges with Sister McQueen are rare now because
she's the A.P.) But when our companions went to Mandarin meeting she
gave me this cute squeal and said, "Ok! Want to go on the square? Let's
go teach someone together!" Hahaha we were so excited to finally be
companions for a little while!!! While on the square we met this young
man who was visiting from Macedonia! He was here visiting his girlfriend
(who is a member) and was looking into coming here for uni. We got
talking with him, and he's pretty familiar with the church which is
neat! At the end we asked him if he would like to be in contact with
missionaries and he said yes! We will be calling him later. I told him
that I knew one of the only 4 missionaries in Macedonia so hopefully he
comes to find you Elder Gierisch!
Our amazing investigator from Ireland got baptized
on Sunday
morning!!!! We're so happy for him, and he is so happy! Sister Merrill
was on the phone with him this morning talking to him about the
possibility of him serving as missionary (he's still young). He's just
has so much faith and so much desire to serve the Lord! We love him so
much!!!
For Relief Society we had a special guest from the
Public Affairs Dept of the church come speak to the mission! His name is
Michael Otterson and he is actually a convert from Liverpool! He shared
his amazing conversion story with us and talked with us about how to
respond to those who do not share our beliefs and who's primary focus is
to tear down our beliefs. It was an amazing meeting and the spirit was
felt so widely! It was also felt strongly
on Saturday night when we attended the General Woman's Meeting! I just love Elder Uchtdorf, he is fantastic!
Well,
big news this week, an event that we are now calling The Flood of 9/28
just took place this last Sunday...in our apartment! HA! We returned
from the square
Sunday
night to find our kitchen sink had overflowed with water coming up from
the pipes. It had flooded all into the kitchen and dining room! WOO! It
was eventful...and nasty. So we called the plumber and he came to fix
it. As he sat and worked on it we talked with him about the gospel (he
was a member). We hope that our gospel discussion helped him continue to
feel that he was keeping the Sabbath day holy by helping us out! Haha
and we gave him a Lion House roll as a peace offering! He was a nice
guy. The next day we were given the time to do, what the mission calls,
Operation Deep Clean! So we were able to scrub the floors and walls and
everything and completely sanctify our apartment! It was THE BEST! So
thankfully, we survived the flood of 9/28.
One more
story! Just a couple hours ago I was on the square with Sister Marambio
and we were taking a Spanish tour! Yay! Well, some of the guests in the
group did not want to hear about religion at all, but there were two who
were very very interested. They asked lots of questions and they really
liked the Temple. (: At the end while Sister Marambio had just finished
explaining the Book of Mormon, just as we were supposed to finish the
tour, I had the thought "Ask him if he wants a Book of Mormon!" So,
although they didn't speak English, I blurted out "Do you want a free
copy of The Book of Mormon?" He looked at me confused and Sister
Marambio quickly translated what I said, haha! And...he said yes! Not
only that, but he said Sister Marambio can call him and continue to
teach him more! It was exciting!
So yes...always follow the
promptings of the spirit! I've noticed that when the spirit speaks to me
it's usually just appears to be a "thought that I have" so in the
beginning of my mission I would think, "Ah but what if he says no?" ect
ect...but then in about my 4th transfer I realized...this isn't MY
thought, this is the spirit prompting me, so I MUST just do it anyways!
Now, every time I act on those thoughts, good always comes of it.
Those
were some of the main highlights and experiences this week! I love you
all and I pray for you daily! Missionary work is the greatest! AH! I
just love being a missionary!
Ok, bye now!(:
Sister Davis
My companion, Sister Yu and I at the General Woman's Meeting!
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