Our Peace of Heaven: Dec 30: Otra semana cheio de milagres!

Tudo bem, familia e amigos?

It was another week full of miracles! On Christmas day alone we were introduced to two new people who are interested in learning about the gospel!

The week before last it sometime seemed like we were fishing and fishing, searching and searching, with very few results, but this week I feel like Christ has told us "try casting the net on the other side of the boat" and our nets have come up full! I am amazed at how many people we have met and who have shown interest! It is wonderful to be able to teach more people about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Back on the 16th December, towards the end of our day (it was already around 8 o clock or so), Sister S thought we should try to go visit a less active member of our ward (she sometimes suddenly turns onto streets -"someone lives here!" or "we are going to visit this person!"- to both of our surprise!) As we walked up to the house it was very dark, but we noticed a truck parked in the driveway with the driver's side door opened, and a man sitting inside smoking. We decided to talk to him! He came out of the car and threw his cigarette over his shoulder. And we got to talking with him. He had a long white pony tail and matching mustache and beard, and looked a little rough. He let us borrow his phone so we could pull up a mormonchannel.org message (the reason behind the season). The video never loaded properly and was having problems, but we talked with him about God and Jesus Christ and his beliefs. He had been in the navy for 30 or so years, and traveled to countries all around the world, and had seen a lot of terrible things that made him question God. He considered himself an atheist. He asked us several questions that seemed to question all the things we tried to testify to him of. I felt a strong desire to talk with him and to listen to what he had to say. By the end of the lesson, we got his phone number and asked if we could set up an appointment to meet. I could tell Sister S was trying to end the conversation and leave, but I felt like we really needed to make a return appointment and maintain contact.

In the car and later that night in the apartment, we found out that the two of us had had very different feelings about the situation. She had felt uncomfortable and felt that he was only interested to keep arguing and make us question ourselves. She didn't feel good at all about meeting with him again. On the other hand, I had felt that we had been guided to meet him and I had felt the Spirit as I spoke to him. I felt like I already cared about this man a lot and knew he needed the gospel. I wanted to meet with him again. So it was kind of an emotional/difficult night because we both respected the other's perspective and were trying to find out what to do. We prayed about it together and decided to talk about it more later.

The next morning as I began my studies with prayer, I realized that the most important thing was for me to be unified with my companion and that I should support her. As I did my personal study for the next hour, I kept thinking of the man we met and felt it would be good to teach him. After personal study, we began companion study. Sister S and I always share what we learned during our personal study with each other. I was so surprised and overwhelmed as Sister S began by saying "I think we should teach M." I had concluded that I would tell her that I supported her decision and that if she didn't feel comfortable we didn't need to go teach him. She had studied a conference talk from priesthood session called "Bind up their wounds" (I later studied it and I really recommend it!). I admire her humility so much! As she explained to me what she learned and felt, she expressed that she wanted to learn to have more charity, and she expressed gratitude for the way I had seen M in charity. Wow!! That is humbling to hear that from my companion! She is incredible! And she is so diligent and always doing whatever she possibly can to be a pleasing servant to Jesus Christ. But I learned so much from her example of humility and her willingness to be corrected. I hope I can be more like that!

We then contacted M through text message and rescheduled the appointment to a better time during the day. We were so surprised by his following texts! He had watched several of the videos from the mormonchannel.org website that we had opened on his phone. He also said he was looking forward to our appointment and enjoyed the conversation we had had the other night.

Last Friday we had our return appointment with M! We met at a park by his house and a member of our ward, Brother J came. M was in his black leather jacket with a silver dangling earing in one ear. As Sister Salisbury and I had prepared for our lesson with him, we had felt impressed to focus on the Book of Mormon and how it can answer the questions of our souls, and to read 2 Nephi 2.

As we sat on the park picnic table, we started with a song and a prayer, and as he asked questions, we were able to lead into 2 Nephi 2 which happened (thank goodness for the Spirit!) to contained the answers to those questions!

M asked several big questions throughout the lesson, and it was difficult to tell what he thought about the message we presented. When we shared Moroni 10:3-5 he would ask questions to clarify and make sure we were serious about the promise we were making. "So you are saying that if I do this, this, and this, then this will happen?" And we were able to boldly testify "yes!" And Brother J was a huge help! Also, M had already read the 13 Articles of Faith and several other church resources and had questions about those! "Why is it that it states young people should not date until they are 16?"
By the end of the lesson, after the closing prayer, M opened up to us a bit more. He said "I have to tell you, normally I never would of given you a second chance. But there is something about you two and the way you present your message that intrigues me. I have talked with a lot of people. And I can tell that when you truly sincerely believe what you say. Most people cannot say they believe in something with that sincerity. So I really appreciate that."

What an amazing man! We have a return appointment with him! And we are meeting in the church building (he actually agreed to that after telling us he hadn't stepped foot in a church building for 20 years! -Intentionally!). And he agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. And he is serious about it!

I know that Jesus Christ loves us!! He loves every one of these people we meet so much. M reminds me of the man from Peru that I met on the bus in Hawaii who gave me that rock with the rough edges on the outside and the pure bronze color on the inside. Jesus Christ truly sees people differently than we do. He doesn’t see the rough edges on the outside, He sees the inside and the potential there for greatness and purity!

I know that the greatest happiness and peace in our lives will come from obeying the covenants we make with the Lord, through both baptism and the temple.

I love you all!
Have a Happy new year!!!
-Sister Greenall