July 8, 2013

Family!

 

I have been so excited to email you guys this week. We've had a couple really cool experiences I've been wanting to share with ya! How was the 4th by the way? Ours was pretty good. I mentioned to Dad that there is an elderly couple in the ward, the McCauley's, who take such good care of us. They have us over for dinner every week, and they invited us to their BBQ on the 4th. I'm going to get a picture with them so I can send it to you...they are so cute. Mom, thanks for the full update! It's good to hear how everyone is doing. Tell Joseph he can write me two sentences for all I care, just write me!

 

I got to go on exchanges this past week which was pretty cool! I went to another city called Butler for the day, and got to teach a few lessons with another sister. It reminded me of how much I love to teach! Although in one of our lessons the guy got offended because we were talking about how we need to be baptized by someone holding the priesthood. He felt his baptism was enough, and he was about to get up and leave the lesson when my companion started bawling....awkward. I didn't know what to do for her! She went on about how much she cared about him, and I think that softened his heart a bit. Or he just felt bad leaving at that point...I'm not really sure, but he stayed. Anyway, an interesting but overall positive experience. I figure things like that are going to happen, and there is not much we can do about it.

 

K, now for the cool experiences! Early in the week, we had been preparing to invite a member's husband to start taking the lessons. The plan was to go over to their home with a member, who had made them dinner, share a spiritual thought, and then invite him to take the lessons. The morning of, we were trying to think of the best message we could share in order for him to feel the Spirit, but we were really struggling. We got opinions from a couple people who knew him about what we should share, and people were telling us different things. Anyway, we prayed a lot about it, and we felt that we needed to share a message on faith, despite the different messages other people told us we should share. Once we prepared our message, we felt really good about it, and went to their home. Once we got there, Don (the husband) was only there for a few minutes and then had to leave somewhere. In my mind I'm thinking, "NOOO we felt so good about this! Why is this happening!" Anyway, we decided to share the message with Sister Cooper and her granddaughter anyways. As we were sharing the message, I noticed that Jackie, the granddaughter, was intently listening to us and seemed to be really taking in everything we were saying. After the lesson, I found out that Jackie has been inactive for quite some time and has been in drug rehab. At that moment, my companion and I realized that the message we were so set on teaching Don, was actually meant for Jackie. I was overcome with gratitude that Heavenly Father knew exactly what would happen, and knew exactly what we needed to share with her. It also strengthened my faith that the Spirit really does communicate with us what to teach, and we just need to trust it! I am so grateful for that experience.

 

Another highlight, Barbara has moved her baptism date to July 27th instead of September! I am so so excited for her! We had a lesson with her this past week that I think had a great impact on her. Before hand, we had just been praying that she would be able to feel the Spirit during the lesson. We brought a member with us that used to be Catholic, which we thought would be good since Barbara has been Catholic her whole life. Anyway, this member was awesome!! She was able to relate to Barbara and testify boldly that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the full truth! The Spirit was so strong, and Barbara was able to recognize it. As my companion and I shared our testimonies, Barbara  shared that there was something beautiful about us (not just the way we looked) that she could not really explain. She saw a light in us and in the other members of the ward that she wanted for herself! We explained to her that what she was seeing was the Spirit, and that she COULD have that for herself all the time!! Now, she's made it a goal to attended the temple by September to take the names of her parents and other ancestors. (She's big into family history) I am so thrilled. Although one person is getting baptized, so many people on the other side will be affected as well. That is truly amazing to me.

 

I think that is all for now! We've been doing a lot of tracting, which can be discouraging, but we got a couple potential investigators that we have a lot of hope for. I'll keep you updated! I love you all. Thanks for all the support!

 

Love,

 

Sister Denney