Yes, there was a tornado here in Colorado, but it wasn't anywhere near me! Instead, we experienced some CRAZY storms: pouring rain and hail. The best part of it was that I wasn't outside when it was happening. The first time, we were in an appointment and it stopped right before we left and the second time, we were in the car. The Lord provided!
Despite the insane weather, we had an amazing week. We were able to find SO many people to teach. Sister Mata'itusi and I set a goal to find a new investigator every day, so that would mean 7 new people to teach. However, we didn't find new investigators on Monday or Tuesday, BUT from Wednesday through Sunday, we found eight new people to teach!! Isn't that amazing?
One of those, Annette, was found through a member referral. We were at a district meeting and President Toombs showed up! He challenged each of us at our dinners with members to practice sharing the gospel. Example, we share a message about how God if our loving Heavenly Father, then invite them to give a copy of the Book of Mormon to a friend, or invite their friend to hear the missionary discussion. We would then pretend to be the friend or neighbor and the members would invite us to church, to read, to hear the discussions, etc. So Sister Mata'itusi and I accepted the challenge. That night, we went to the T family's home for dinner and shared a message about how the Gospel blesses families. Well, while we were talking and about to help them with their missionary work, Brother T turns and says, "Ya know, why don't we go up there right now and let you meet her!" Sister M and I are all for it--jumping for joy!
So we get up there, we intended to just say hi, give her our number, and see if we could do anything for her, but instead! She invites us to sit down and we shared the first lesson with her--the Message of the Restoration. She was so excited. We invited her to be baptized and she said something along the lines of "Absolutely! I've been waiting for this!" IT WAS INCREDIBLE. The entire time I was just trying to stay in my seat.
Another miracle that happened was that we met with Zoe again this week and President Toombs came with us, which was exactly what we three needed. President Toombs was able to testify so powerfully and help Zoe understand the plan of salvation. She even came to church on Sunday and it was just wonderful! We are praying that she will continue to understand the necessity of being baptized by the priesthood authority.
We also met an absolutely incredible woman, Dana. She is phenomenal. She has been looking for a church and she really has the desire to come closer to God. Her hold up is that she feels like some churches are really superficial--more hypocritical than spiritual. She wants to go to church for God and not for anyone else--which is the way we all should be. She is super receptive to the message of the Restoration and she understands that they way she will come to know if this message is true is through prayer! Score!
That's all I have time for today! But I love you all!
Love,
Sister Hardy
Holy Hail
While on exchanges, Sister W and I came across a Buddha and so we rubbed the Buddha, mostly because Sister W told me to. I don't believe in that kind of stuff, but we had pretty amazing day. We met this family from India and they were SUPER receptive.
FANTA GOT BAPTIZED! Week of 27 May through 1 June
Yes. It happened! After years of the missionaries teaching Fanta, she got baptized on Friday!!! It was amazing!!!! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera back at our apartment, so I don't have any pictures to send!! Next week though! But the baptism was great!
This week, we met with Zoe a few times and she even came to Fanta's baptism! We are still trying to work through helping her understand the Restoration of the gospel. She received some hard news this week from back home in Liberia about her mother. When she told us about it, we brought a woman named Elisabeth with us, who is also from Liberia, and she was exactly what Zoe needed! She was able to help Zoe see the peace that the gospel brings. Later, Zoe was telling us about how a woman in the ward, Evelyn, who is also from Liberia, called Zoe and noticed that something was wrong and went over to Zoe's on her own. Man! I love these people so much!
We went over the Restoration of the gospel with her yesterday, and she still had some hold ups. We asked her if she has been praying about the Book of Mormon, and she said that she hasn't prayed about it. She's been reading about it, but not praying about it. So we invited her to pray about it and she said that she would. Pray and reading from the Book of Mormon is key. Stay tuned!
We found a lot of new people to teach this week! We met Bernard, Nikka, Connie, and Rikki.
All of these people are amazing! The way we found Connie was a miracle. We were stopping by an investigator's house, but she wasn't home. So we were on our way out of the apartment building, but we felt the impression to knock on a specific door and met Connie and her daughter Gina. Connie is amazing! We shared the Restoration with her and while we shared Joseph Smith's experience, she was amazed! She said that she is going to pray and read to find out for herself. YES. She is so fun! We love her! She is genuine and honest. We appreciate that so much.
I want you all to know that I know that this gospel is the Lord's gospel. I know that the message we teach and share with those we meet is true. I haven't a doubt in my mind about it. I know that Jesus Christ lives.
Love, Sister Hardy!
