Dearest family-
tons happened this week!
We had a few really cool experiences this week- we went to man home in the ward who is very active but his wife had a stroke and is now a vegetable- and he still loves her and talks to her and takes her out- his love for her is inspiring and pure. he is a noble man- well we went over to see them and his 30ish year daughter answered the door- she is not an active member anymore. Her dad came home with his wife in the wheelchair and they let us in. I know his daughter has had a very hard life- i could just feel her hurt from talking with her- it really broke my heart. well we started giving our lesson after talking with her a bit- about general conference- that is when she let us know she is methodist and happy there- we said we respected that and just read from the bible in Ephesians where it talks about prophets- we were testifying of prophets and then she just started crying and telling us all her feelings on hierarchy within the church- we listened- and as we did the Spirit really helped us to discern her needs that she wasn't verbalizing and we were able to expound in such a way that she had personal understanding and she softened- we then began talking about the Book of Mormon and invited her to read it- again tears came and she expressed that she had before but didn't understand the necessity- again the spirit helped us discern her unspoken needs and address the root of her needs and she understood, listened and softened- i then felt overwhelming love for her- i expressed that to her and said, "i know God is aware of you and your pain and he has been along- i want you to know I know God loves you and you are a special daughter to Him bc I can feel a portion of His love for you and it is immense." i actually cried expressing that to her- which i rarely do in lessons in front of people- but i could feel she has been through a lot and feels no one is watching over her- so after that was said- she burst into tears- we read Ether 12:4- she said she would read the Book of Mormon again and just start there.
Thats when i looked over and saw her faithful father- with tears in his eyes- his wife a vegetable beside him- and my heart just broke he looked at her and said, "Jamie when I'm at the altar of the temple, i miss you there." and then this faithful old man started to weep! it was truly heart wrenching to witness the pain within a family divided in faith- at the eternal level- at the close of the lesson, we asked him who he wanted to say the prayer, and this faithful man took the hand of his drooling wife and said, "sweetheart, would you like to say it?" I was shocked- both of us were shocked he asked her when she could barely speak- but i know he was in pain and probably needed to hear the voice of his wife and faith she could do it, so we just bowed our heads and waited. She started gurgling and making noises- but then as it went on- full lines could me made out, she said, "thank you for what we have learned this day father, please let hearts be softened and minds be opened. In Jesus Name I pray amen." i will never forget that. I was trying not to sob!! her husband was so proud and excited by her words- we hugged them all goodbye and jamie just kept crying- i know we will see her again.
We also have a new investigator named Philip- he is currently living in the shelter, older black man- i love him DEEPLY- he is so prepared- a a member found him after praying for a missionary experience- its a cool story. he has no teeth and is really hard to understand! haha i need to take a picture of him- he is so cool. also we went to see a family that just moved in that's having a hard time- they have 3 kids 2 little boys 4 Markesh and pedro 5 and then a 1 yr old little girl- their living conditions are- heartbreaking- they got baptized 2 months ago before moving to tally- we went over there to teach them the Plan of salvation and when we were there we got news that they were being moved to the homeless shelter in 4 hours- the parents were frantically packing, i wasnt sure what to do at first- i asked what i could do to help and the 4 year old Markesh said, "pray." I then saw the kids were afraid by the commotion- so we went and had a private lesson with them in the corner while the parents packed.we prayed with them and taught them how to pray- then Markesh said he wanted to pray- he said one of the most REVERENT prayers i have ever heard- it touched me to my core. i love those kids. he is a special spirit. they came to church this sunday and sat with us, i sat in between the two boys and gave them mints and drew pictures of Jesus with them and just focused on them in sacrament, helping them be reverent and listen- oh i love them so much!! after sacrament pedro the 5 yr old ran to me before leaving and hugged my legss then looked up at me and smiled his adorable smile and said, "i love you sista b." yeah- i cried. I love him too.
I am studying virtue right now. I am reading the stories of the women of the Bible in addition to the BOM each morning to help me learn from their examples of virtue- i am learning a lot. I just read ruth today. well much more has happened but for the sake of time I will close there. I have a testimony that god is in the details of our lives. He answers prayer. i have seen that a lot this week- he hears our prayers i know it.
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