She Felt Like She Should Walk Down This Road Instead

Alicia Garn

Teaching in New York, USA

We had two really cool miracles here.

Yesterday my companion felt like we should look up this one potential investigator and, while walking up to the door, we stated talking to this lady walking her dog. It turns out that she used to meet with the missionaries and she said she would meet with us again! She said she had felt like she should walk down this road instead of going the way she had planned. It was such a cool experience!

And then yesterday we got a media referral but we didn't have time to call.  So we called the person who referred her this morning and she was just telling us about her friends background and the situation leading up to this point.  I could just feel that her friend was prepared by the Lord to receive the gospel. It just feels good to know that I am worthy to have the Lord work through me to bless the lives of others.

~Sister Alicia Garn

God is in Charge

From Karsten Hinckley

Teaching in Thailand 

We had a baptism!! Oh boy was I happy for this brother. His name is brother King. He is great! Every time we taught him, we asked him to go home and pray about what we taught. He did and each time he said he got an answer. 

After he was baptized, he gave a short testimony. He said that he knows this Church is true. He has prayed about it and knows it even by coming here. I can tell that he was prepared. God has prepared those that will receive us. I know it! Have faith in Him because He is in charge. We are just His servants or His instruments. I am excited to see Brother King progress in the gospel!

I do have to say that those people I helped baptize are doing well. Some of them have been to the temple. Some of them have great callings and are progressing right along. God is going to do so much work through those who I helped baptize. All the glory goes to Heavenly Father. All I did was His work. I love each and every one that I have been able to help.

The Lord Will Change Their Hearts

From Cambree King

Teaching in Honduras 

We went to bring Jeimy and Astrid and Ivan to church and, after fishing through all of the excuses of no clothes and whatnot, they just said they don’t want to come. They [told us] we can go visit them every day if we want, but they don’t want to come to church. It was pretty hard to listen to, but we can’t change the desires of their hearts. At lunch, we took some time to pray as companions and we just plead that the Lord would let the Spirit touch their hearts and help us to know what we could do so that they understand why they need to go to church. 

At night, we went to teach them and, without even asking, Astrid said that they will never ever miss another Sunday in their lives. They said they promised to be in church no matter what happened. We were super shocked and so I asked Astrid why. She said the whole hour that they would have been at church she just felt something in her heart. Jeimy said the same thing and they said they knew everything we had taught was true. I was literally amazed. That’s the lesson I learned this week: That if we have faith in the Lord and put our trust completely in Him, He will work the change of heart in the people.

Finding Those Who Are Truly Prepared

From Emri Haynie

Teaching in South Korea

My companion and I had just finished talking to a lady when my companion was putting something in her pocket and a random passalong card fell out of her pocket. It landed in front of this other lady, who was standing by us. She picked it up and was like, “What is this?”

For thirty minutes on the street,  we taught the restoration and then moved to a cafe to teach more. She just accepted everything we taught her. She goes to church, but wanted to learn more about ours. We taught the restoration, gospel of Jesus Christ, and committed her to be baptized all in the first meeting. She is so prepared and so ready to learn everything. It's been amazing to see her progress and watch her act on her faith. There truly are prepared people out there, we've just got to find them. 

All We Have To Do Is Act

From Bralan Bean

Teaching in Peru

This past Tuesday we had changes here in our mission ....before changes we decided that we wanted to go to Polvo Azules which is where you can buy clothes, shoes, cameras or whatever for really cheap. Anyway, we were there looking for a camera for Elder Gonzalez. As we were looking, I saw that a shoe store had a lot of Jordans that are really hard to find in the United States, so of course Ii had to check it out. They were really Jordans, [they]  just had a little flaw and that is why this store had them. We looked for a while, gave her a pamphlet, and then left. As we left to go look at other things, I told my companion that we should go back to the store to see if we can get her to give us a deal on these shoes. So we went back. and when we did she explained to us that the things we had told her and the pamphlet we gave her really had an impact on her. Then she told us that the night before she had a dream where she was in a font of water, she was fully submerged, and in this dream she saw two young kids wearing suits, that looked just like us. Elder Gonzalez put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Well hello, hermana, we are right here.” It was really funny, but she was definitely prepared by the Lord to hear our message.

Another experience I had ....We were playing soccer as a district, I saw a kid a little ways off playing basketball. I went over and started to play with him, got to know him, shot around, and then I started to talk to him about the gospel. He is currently looking for a church; he wants a better relationship with God. He asked how he could be a part of our church, and why baptism is important. I took him off to the side; we sat down, and I taught him about the restoration, invited him to baptism, and he accepted. He as well does not live in our area, but in the end I was an instrument in God’s hands. He knows I like to play ball, [so] He put me in the position to where I could use my talents to bring to pass His purpose. God will place people in front of us. He knows how and where and when we can help people, all we have to do is act.

Guided to Go Exactly Where They Needed to Be

From Ethan Harris
Teaching in Alaska, USA

(More of the miraculous blessings he saw as he taught in Alaska last week...)

Because of the amount of woods and that being the main source of heat for Alaskans, we do a great deal of chopping wood (which is both strengthening me and wearing me out). We have been doing service for a man who has not had anything to do with church for over 30 years and he just loves us. Me and my companion felt that we should continue to help out and provide service, even though he wasn’t ready or interested in us teaching him anything. We are amazed at how, by first building a relationship, his heart was softened. He said that it’s been a while since he’s been around the Church and that he would like to come to Church and have the doctrines and principles retaught and refreshed in his mind. We also had the Elders Quorum involved in the service and this man didn’t know what to do because he was overcome with gratitude!

 We cover a island called Hoonah but, due to anti things going around, we will not be there for a while. Matt is an investigator that we teach over text and phone because we can’t see him in person due to the fact that he’s on a island. He came to Juneau for a day,  so we gave him a chapel tour of our brand new stake center. Another miracle… he brought his Ukrainian friend who, ten years previous, was an exchange student in Utah! He also has a desire to be taught and come to church!!!

 We also had a lesson cancel which always is not fun to deal with, but then we were inspired to see a inactive member. We arrived and the man was sick and needed a blessing of healing and also of comfort due to his marriage situation and other trials that he’s going through. Despite the let-down of a cancellation, we were guided to see him and that’s exactly where we needed to go.

 There has been many other blessings! I know that the Lord is mindful of each of us despite our own thoughts or doubts. He is there, He lives, and He loves us! And I know that the Lord is preparing hearts to receive this message as it reads in Alma 16…

The Lord did pour out his Spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word which should be taught among them at the time of his coming— That they might not be hardened against the word, that they might not be unbelieving, and go on to destruction, but that they might receive the word with joy, and as a branch be grafted into the true vine, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord their God.