Gaerwen Week 16

This week has been good! We saw a lot of progression with our friend Bijan. He has been attending church fairly regularly and has now read to 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon. As we discussed the gospel with him, he reconized the difference it has made in the lives of his family. We helped him to recognize that these changes came from the gift of the holy ghost and he expressed a desire to have this gift! We are hoping we can set a baptismal date for him very soon.

We also saw a miracle with a less active part member family in the ward. The mother and father both used to attend church but have since become less active. One of their children, however, has been attending with her aunt, who is also the YW's president. We spoke with the father about teaching his daughter. He seemed open to the idea (which was surprising because he expressed often that he wasn't coming back to church) and he said that he would like all of the lessons to be taught in their home and for him to be present. His heart was definitely softened. We spoke to Chelsea (his daughter) about it and she has a desire to learn more. We are hopefully meeting with her this week.

I was reading Jesus The Christ this week and I loved reading about Christ's miracles. In each case, you can feel his love for the people and his desire to do his Heavenly Father's will. As I ponder on Christ, I am alwas grateful for the example that he was and the sacrifice her made. The scriptures truly testify of him and we can learn more about Christ as we study the scriptures.

From Letter to Mom:  I was thinking about something hard that i did this week and the hardest challenge for me at the moment has been staying positive even if we don't see success. I was reading about Jesus Christ in "Jesus The Christ" and in each miracle that he performed, it was according to the faith of the person. The change for me came when I realized that it is sometimes necessary for us to have trials so that our faith can be increased. As I've tried to stay faithful, I've been reassured that the promised blessings will come.

Our door approach is not very unique. We usually start by introducing ourselves as missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. If people don't recognize the church, we'll tell them that a nickname people have given us is Mormons but we help them to understand what the full name of the church is. We then ask them questions to get to know them better, such as if they believe in god or if they are religious. From there, we seek the guidance of the spirit to know what further questions to ask and what principles to testify of. Hopefully, if their hearts are softened, they will allows us to come back.

Traffic in Wales:

Gaerwen Week 15

This has been a great week! Our week started with exchanges with the STL's in stoke. I was with Sister Paschen and I loved working with her. We also had Zone Conference in Crewe, where we focused again on how we can become more consecrated. We discussed about how we are each here to act, not to be acted upon and that, because of this, we each can choose our responses regardless of the circumstances. I feel this is especially important when we are given trials. Through the plan of salvation, we know that all trials will help us progress. So, when we are given a trial, we can respond positively, knowing that it will help us to become more like our heavenly father.

I also wanted to share a miracle we saw when finding this week. Last week, we had met this girl named Livia who said we could meet this Friday afternoon. We had called her a few times but had never gotten a response so we weren't sure it would happen. We were stopping by people's homes in Caernarfon earlier that afternoon when we knocked on the door of a person that the neighbors had told us was a man from Canada that was a member of our church. We had knocked on his door a few times but hadn't met him yet. We knocked on this man's door, expecting to see a religious man from Canada, when Livia answered the door. It turns out that she lives at that house and that one of her roommates was this man that the neighbors thought was a member of our church (we found out he actually isn't). Sister Colinares and I couldn't help laughing for a bit because the odds of us knocking on her door were so minimal. We were able to talk with Livia for a bit and set a time to meet in the next week. It was definitely a faith building experience and it showed me that God is very aware of each of us.

Well, that is all for this week! Sister Colinares and I are doing great and enjoy it beautiful Wales

(The longest town name in the world)

Gaerwen Week 14

It's been a great week! We have seen many miracles and I know that God is very active in this work. Sister Colinares and I will only be together for 6 weeks but I am excited to be able to work more  with her.

To begin, our recent convert Moruf received the priesthood yesterday! It was a very special experience to be there and to hear the blessing that he was given. We have been talking with Moruf about the temple and he is very excited to attend. He is going to meet with the family history specialist and hopefully take some of his own ancestors to be baptized in the temple. It is amazing to see the joy the gospel can bring into our lives.

We also saw miracles this week in regards to being led to those that we needed to speak to. We were driving back from Caernarfon on Friday and I really wanted Subway for dinner. There is a Subway in Bangor (where we live) so we parked close to town and started walking in. As we were walking, we stopped and talked to this man on the street. It turns out that he knew one of the people we were meeting with and had attended church in Gaerwen several years ago. He knew one of the members of the ward quite well because he was the bishop at the time. He said that he had a few things to sort out but that after he did he would be interested in coming again! We thought it was quite odd that we happened to be there at that time but sometimes the Lord uses unusual methods (AKA our stomachs) to guide us to those that are being prepared.

I have also really enjoyed doing the new Come Follow Me program. This past week as we studied about Mary and Joseph and Elizabeth and Zacharias, I was thinking about each of their responses to the news of the Savior's birth. With Zacharias, he doubted that Elisabeth could have a baby in her old age. Because of his temporary lack of faith, he was struck dumb until the birth of his son. Mary's reaction was quite different. She immediately trusted in the Lord and his timing, even if she didn't understand why or how it would happen. As we fully trust in the Lord, especially during times of uncertainty, we can also know that "With God nothing shall be impossible". 

Letter to Mom:  A typical day starts with exercise, planning, getting ready, and studying. We finish our studies at 10am and if we have time we will also do companionship study right them. We find in the afternoons, usually by going to a specific area and stopping by people's houses that have been promising and street contacting in between. We've spent a lot of time in Caernarfon recently because there are a lot of families there. We then (hopefully) have appointments in the evening because it is dark. We eat tea maybe once or twice a week with a member. I always forget to pass around the tea list during church (and it's kind of awkward asking people to have us over for tea). Hopefully we can get more with the new year.

Gaerwen Week 13

Happy New years! Things are still going well here in Wales. My new companion's name is Sister Colinares and she is from the Philippines. This is also her last transfer on her mission so I will most likely be staying in Gaerwen for another two transfers, which I am very happy about because I love this area!

We have seen a lot of miracles in our area recently. A recent one was just last week when we were planning on calling by a few less actives in the Carmel area on Saturday. We were planning on starting at a house that was a bit farther away but as we were traveling there we passed another less active's house. We felt inspired to stop at their house and we were able to catch him at home. His wife and daughter were also there (neither of which are baptized) and they agreed to have us over! The prompting of the spirit will never lead us astray!

I've also really enjoyed the new come follow me program, especially with the greater emphasis on strengthening our families. I remember Gordon B Hinckley once saying that his greatest fear was the deterioration of the family that was occurring as the world got more wicked. I know that the prophet does receive revelation because this is exactly what each of our families need in order to withstand the spiritual whirlwinds that are sure to come.