Little Miracles Happen Every Day

From Brooklyn Winn Teaching in Argentina This week we taught one of our investigators who is getting ready for baptism. We were talking about goals. We always need goals to look to, they guide us and then we know where we want to go. She is worried about change which is normal. Being humans, we do not like change and our mind and our bodies react... She is so worried about not being happy and not having the peace. Then I said something that had an impact on everybody. I said, ¨Where we are is where Zion is,¨ that is the truth. We have the gospel and if we are happy that is where Zion is. If you want to live in Zion, live it now!” The lesson was really powerful and this week we are going to goals. She is going to put her own date when she wants to get baptized. She has changed completely. I have learned from her [that] all people can change no matter what you situation is. If you are not happy, you can become happy. You just have to do the changes in your life. This week we walked out the door with more faith then we thought we had. I told my companion earlier that day that we were going to find a miracle. That morning we [made] goals to contact. As we finished saying a prayer, a thought came to my mind that we had to go to the street Belgrano. That was not in our plans, but we headed out to street Belgrano. As we were walking we saw a man working, First we passed saying, “Hi, good morning.” Then I stopped; I knew we had to give him a pass along card. We began talking to the man and we found out that his mom is a less-active person in the church but he has lots of interest in the church. He has lots of good questions. We plan on teaching him. When we have a desire [and] exercise our faith, miracles really do come and they are there. There are little miracles that happen every day in our lives, we just have to find them.

The Lord was Pointing the Way

From Karsten Hinckley Teaching in Thailand  These past two weeks I have just been so happy! I can say that we have worked really hard to deserve the happiness that we have right now but that would not be right. All of the success that we have had is from the Lords hand in the work. We cannot have done anything these last two weeks if it wasn’t for Him pointing the way. We have seen so many blessings and miracles these past two weeks. Thank you for your prayers for our investigators.  We were teaching one of our investigators sister Rung. She is Christian already and just this last week in one of our lessons she told us, “Okay, I'm ready to be baptized." That made Elder Taylor and I feel like a million pounds had just been lifted. On Sunday we sat down with her and she told us some things that had been on her mind. Her daughter is handicapped and people will make fun of her daughter for being the way she is. We expressed that we were sorry for other people and their negative words. She also went on to tell us how her daughter had not learned about Jesus before. We had only met her taught her once and Sister Rung was very happy. She cried as she told us the many things that had been on her mind. She told us," Here is where I feel I am finding my answers." She is progressing greatly! She has such a strong testimony. She has a friend that is a member here, who was once a member at her old church. That friend has been able to help her understand the Gospel. Elder Taylor and I have high hopes for her. She has a date for the 29th! Sister Nii passed her baptismal interview last Wednesday which made Elder Taylor and I very happy! We know that she is ready because she has told us. She tells us that she wants her children to come as well. She has a daughter that wants to come as well! I love that! After she passed her interview, we sat down with her and Sister Yuki and talked about the temple. We showed them a temple video that a member made about the temple and they felt the spirit. It was amazing to see their eyes as we watch the video. They are two people that are very ready to be baptized. One of our investigators the other day was telling us how she didn’t read the Book of Mormon but watched You-tube and looked on Google instead. "I did it because it was easier than reading", she told us. I flat out told her," Sister you will not know or gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon by using those things, they have to benefit." I think it hit her a little bit. The past few lessons have been really hard with her because she will just ask for blessings. It kind of doesn’t set well with us. We've tried to help her understand how prayer is more than asking, it is a communication between us and Him. We need to make a good relationship with Him. Well about two days later, on a switch off, she changed!! I was almost thrown off. She told us that she had actually prayed to Him and had a conversation. We taught the gospel and she accepted a baptismal date! She said the best prayer I've ever heard her say! I didn’t know what to think. All I thought was, “You are starting to understand!” I know that at times it will take a while for someone to understand, so don’t give up on them. Sunday! It was the best Sunday that Elder Taylor nor I have ever had on our missions. We had over a 100 people at church which never happens. We had many less active and investigators. The speakers were so good! The lessons were great! To top it off we had 2 baptisms! Almost all of our investigators saw the baptism. Sister Yuki and Sister Nii both bore wonderful testimonies! We had such a good week! All thanks goes to Heavenly Father and you for your prayers. The Church is True!

It Was No Coincidence!

Natalie Willes

Teaching in Arizona 

About a week ago I clicked on a referral for someone named Lawrence who wanted to meet with the
missionaries on Mormon.org. I gave him a call, and he is completely prepared! When I checked his address, I saw it said Temecula California, and that's in the Carlsbad California mission where my twin brother is serving! 

So I thought that was awesome, but what was the real miracle happened today when I called him and asked if the missionaries had stopped by and he said they had, and he had a baptismal date for May 29th! Excited, I congratulated him and asked, "Who are your missionaries?" (just out of curiosity) He then said, "An Elder Willes and an Elder Abraham." I then felt the Spirit so strongly at
that moment because I felt how interconnected God is in our lives. Seriously I want you all to think of all the referrals in the world: all of the missions, missionaries, towns and countries in the world and my twin brother is teaching the same person! 

Heavenly Father is amazing and I know He is in every detail of our lives, including the referrals we take. It's no coincidence that I got that referral. I know that everything we do is part of God’s plan for you and I here in the center. "For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round." (1 Nephi 10:19) he thought that was amazing, but alas, he had to refer Lawrence to the young single adult missionaries, but still he and I got to teach the same person. That almost never happens.

Natalie and the other missionaries serving with her were able to meet US Senator John McCain when he toured the temple grounds last week!

An Unexpected Miracle

From Karsten Hinckley

Teaching in Thailand

One day while we were at the church making phone calls before we go home we get a text from someone who wanted us to call them back. What happened next was an unexpected miracle. I call the number and a lady answered. She asks, “Is this the Elders?" "Yes", I reply "Well I’ve been looking for you”, she said. This lady goes on to tell me that she is a less active and how she wants to get reconnected with the church again. I asked her how she got our phone number and what she told me I couldn’t believe. Someone that this lady teaches English to held out our inviting card and asked her if she knew who we were. I remember the lady this member was talking about because we ate lunch together one day. After that we could never contact her and her husband again. Anyways this less active member took the inviting card and wrote down our number. After about a week or so the spirit prompted her to call us and it went from there. 

That was only the first miracle. We met with this member one day for dinner. She told us her story with the Elders before us."One day I just prayed to God to have Him send me the Elders and the next day at the grocery store checkout line she saw the Elders. The next time is the time that I met you. I prayed to God because I needed the Elders again and a week later my student showed me your inviting card which I snatched up." This lady is amazing! We sat down to talk with her for a while. She told us soo many things! She is very well educated. That first day she called I felt prompted to tell her to watch conference because it would be on that day so she could watch it. She said," It was great to watch conference again. It has been a long time since I’ve seen conference." As we were talking with her she had mentioned to us that she had been to the temple before and the spirit told me to tell her, “You should prepare to go back to the temple." Well I told her that and she said that was the best advice she has ever gotten. Before we left we gave her a Liahona which she thought was great as well. 

The second time we met with her she told us about a dream that she had. In her dream she saw her father and her grandfather. They were just standing there in their Sunday best. She said, “What I got from that dream is they were trying to tell me that they have already received the gospel and are waiting for me to go do their temple work for them." She told us every since she has met with us she has been less stressed with work and knows the Heavenly Father is guiding her life more. Meaning she can feel His presence in her life more. I think that is great she understands the feelings she gets. Another thing is that she understands what she needs to do as well. She knows she has some problems with commandments but right now she is trying to do all that she can to start keep those specific commandments again. One thing that we told her the first meeting was," Heavenly Father still loves you." She was thankful we said that because she said," I knew that I was always to love Heavenly Father but I forgot that He loves me too." This whole experience has taught me that someone you invite can help others find you. If we didn’t invite that first lady, the less active member may have never found us. This member needs your prayers.