Gaerwen Week 7

Wow, this week has been eventful. To start off, our friend Moruf is doing really great. We met with him for the 2nd time this Wednesday and I am so impressed with the progress he is made. We taught him the plan of salvation and he had a question on why God would give us agency. Oddly enough, Moruf answered the question himself. He says, "I know, it's because God loves us". Every aspect of the plan of salvation, even the part where we experience opposition, is evidence of God's love for us. It is once we have this eternal perspective that we see our trials as opportunities to grow and to turn to Christ.

Our friend Martin is not doing so well. We went over on Wednesday to read the Book of Mormon with him and his Mum answered and said that Martin was stressing too much about the church. She requested that no one visit anymore and even gave us back his book of mormon. I was so sad to see Martin make that choice but we are praying that his heart will be softened and that he will reach out the missionaries when he is ready to do so.

Sister Mueller and I also had a fairly scary experience Thursday night. We were traveling back from a thanksgiving meal at a member's home and took a tight turn too fast and ended up having a head-on collision with a railway bridge. We got to spend a few hours in the A&E (accident and emergency) in the hospital just to make sure nothing was broken. Sister Mueller actually did fracture her wrist but both of our chests are ok (they though that with the airbag and the seatbelts that we may have hurt our sternum or ribs). We've spent the last few days just resting in our flat because of soreness and bruising but all in all we are doing alright. So many people have told us that it could have been a lot worse so I know we were being protected that night. We're planning on jumping back into things tomorrow, which should be exciting. Also, I'll attach a photo of our car after the accident. It looks pretty nice.

Well that's all for this week. This is the Lord's work and it has been amazing to see the miracles wrought by his hand.

Gaerwen Week 6

This week has been so amazing! The work here in Gaerwen is going so well and I can really see the hand of the Lord in all that we do. Yesterday, we found out that Sister Mueller and I are both going to be staying in Gaerwen for another 6 weeks (Sister Mueller's last transfer). I am excited to be able to work with her again.

Our friend Martin is still doing really well. He is still working on word of wisdom challenges but he says he is getting better every day. He is also reading the Book of Mormon and praying almost every day. The other day, we went over to his home with the Elders in Porthmadog and gave him a blessing to help him quit smoking. They blessed him that he would be able to have the strength necessary to do the things that are required him. It was such a spiritual experience because it affirmed to me that we can be strengthen and supported through the atonement of Jesus Christ, no matter what our challenge may be.

We also had a really good lesson with our friend Alex. This week, we taught him the importance of reading the Book of Mormon and praying. The lesson went so well because we brought a ward member along who served a mission where Alex is from. Our member friend, Fred, shared Helaman 5:12 with Alex and bore his testimony that it is only when we are built upon a solid foundation that we can be safe in this world. It really helped Alex to understand that reading his scriptures is a way to help build that solid foundation. I know that if we do the small and simple things, like reading and praying, that we will have the foundation we need to withstand the storms of the adversary.

The last Monday of every transfer we have something called miracle Monday, where as a mission we try to find 150 new friends. This Monday, our mission President also put a focus on working with returning members. There were a few returning members that some of the active members had suggested we visit so we took yesterday afternoon to visit them. It really was a miracle because two of the returning members we visited just happened to home on on Monday in the early afternoon and had time to talk. One of them invited us back and the other said she is going to attend church on the 2nd. Things always seem to work out the way they're supposed to.

Gaerwen Week 5

This has been a week full of ups and downs but I am grateful for the experiences we have that help us to grow.

One of the positive experiences we had this week is that we were able to meet with  our friend Alex again. We met with Alex last week and taught him the restoration. This time we taught him the plan of salvation and he again had such a sincere desire to learn and understand. We brought our ward mission leader along and he bore such a strong testimony of the importance of praying and coming to know for himself. Alex said that if he knows it is true he will be baptized! He is going to pray this week to ask if it is true.

We also had a success with a less active family we are working with. The last few times we had gone over to their house we had followed up with them about praying and reading and each time they said they hadn't. We weren't seeing much commitment from them so we weren't sure if we should continue to meet with them but we felt we should go over one more time. The lesson we had with them was so good! The Dad had read the first few chapters of the book of mormon and was trying hard to understand them. We were able to read a chapter from the book of mormon and show how the book of mormon clarifies and adds to the bible. I felt the spirit so strongly in their home and I know that the Lord was bringing to our minds scriptures and words to share that would help this family at this time. Both of them committed to read the book of mormon and pray about it this week.

Unfortunately, our friend Martin is no longer on date for the 24th of November. We are still working with him to be baptized but he needs a little bit more time to prepare. He is still willing to learn and follow Christ and he has felt the Spirit testify to him. We are excited to set another day for him to work towards.

This week we also have transfers. I will find out if I'm staying or leaving Gaerwen so that should be exciting.

Gaerwen Week 4

This week has been good! This transfer has gone by so fast! We are getting to know the area better every day and I am learning to love the people here in Gaerwen.

Our friend on date for baptism, Martin, is doing well. This week we talked with him about the commandments and he accepted the ones we taught him so easily. Something that he understood so well is that when we are baptized that we are making a life-long commitment to follow God. Thankfully, we received the Holy Ghost as constant companion to help us and to uplift us. He is learning about the rest of the commandments this week, which I think should go well. I excited to continue to work with him

Another miracle we saw this week is with a man we met from Nigeria. His name is Alex and he was so prepared to hear the Gospel! We taught him for the first time last night and he spoke about how he is looking for something to follow but just doesn't know what it is yet. He had loads of good questions about church and the Book of Mormon, which our fellowshipper answered so well. We asked if he would be baptized if he came to know if the Book of Mormon is true and he said yes. We haven't set a specific date yet but we are hoping to soon.