Busy!!

What a whirlwind week this has been!!  I just have two stories that I want to tell you that are incredible.

The first one happened on Friday.  As a quick side note, Sister Hazen and I don't have much time in our area.  On the days we're at the Visitors' Center we only have about 2 hours because we do companionship study and dinner with a member.  The other days we have district meeting, or weekly planning, or it's p-day, or we have church and all of those meetings.  So we don't have a lot of time.  But it's AMAZING to see how the Lord makes our time effective when we are in our area.  Here's the story. 

On Friday, we did all of our weekly planning, and organized our car book (with all of the maps, and member's numbers/addresses) and then left our apartment to go to our area.  On our way down the stairs we ran into Tite, the man from Camaroon that we had met the first week I was here, and given a Book of Mormon to.  We talked to him a little bit, then went to check on some formers.  Molly wouldn't talk to us, but as we were about to climb in our car, Don (a man we'd met a week ago, gave a Book of Mormon to, and had a good talk with) pulled up in his truck.  We talked with him some more, found out that he was recovering from a motorcycle accident, and had a prosthetic leg.  There's this "I'm A Mormon" commercial I'd just watched about Jarem Frye and so I was able to share that with him...and I wrote that on the back of a Restoration Pamphlet, which we invited him to read.  He wouldn't set up an appointment with us, but just the fact that we were able to run into him was a blessing. 

Then we were going to check on Bethany, a 14 year old the spanish elders found.  She wasn't home, but her Mom was.  We found out her Mom knows the Bishop and his wife, and is interested in the church! How awesome would it be to teach a family!  Then we went tracting and met a lady who told us she was atheist, but as we listened to her, and responded to her cynicism with a message of hope and peace and family, she just broke down and started crying about how she needs that comfort in her life.  Miraculous. 

Next we went to check on a referral, but he wasn't home.  But...we ran into an old investigator who had dropped us, and a less active member who had divorced his wife and left the church.  I know those people were placed in our path, or we were placed in theirs, and it was like Heavenly Father just wanted them to have that little reminder. 

We also met this couple, Barb and Mike, who work at a nursing home and we shared Mosiah 2:19 with them.  And there's more.  (This was such a crazy day!  Everywhere we went we were able to talk to people who were open and ready!)

After Barb and Mike, we felt like we should check on some of our potentials. We had met Nancy a week ago, as she was out walking her dog, but she was not open.  However, when we pulled up to her house, she was out watering the flowers and we just started talking to her.  I could tell that something was a little off, and although I'm not usually pushy or intrusive, I kept asking her about her day.  Surprisingly, it didn't really take her long to open up.  (Mom and Dad, you'll appreciate this: Nancy's a nurse, and her husband is an engineer.  Haha.)  So she'd just had a really long two days at the hospital, and Mitch (her husband) was recovering from surgery.  We kept talking to her, and eventually our conversation transitioned perfectly into church.  She'd been raised Catholic, joined the presbyterian church, and wasn't happy with either.  I felt inspired to tell her about home and visiting teaching, and just as I was about to do so, I heard those words coming out of Sister Hazen's mouth.  It is so exciting to know that our companionship is unified! We led into the message of the restoration, and she was so attentive.  After we told her the Joseph Smith story, we had her read Moroni's promise and as she did so, she just started to cry.  She said that was exactly what she needed to hear. It was such a special experience for all of us.  She had read the whole pamphlet we left with her the week before and we learned before we left that she knew a family in the ward! It worked out so perfectly.  We're going back to teach her soon. Pray for her!!!

  

And the other story.  This happened yesterday and it's experiences like this that make all the work and heartache worth it!  I was in the Visitors' Center, and I was suppoed to be doing my New Sister Training, but this family walked in and I felt like I should talk to them.  So naturally, I did.  :]  I found out they (all 7 of them) were from France, and their beautiful family was just on vacation, actually on their way to the airport when they saw the temple.  They understood English, but didn't speak very well.  Fortunately the VC has a ton of resources in French.  And we went to all of them.  I wish I had more time to go into detail, but basically, here's what I showed them: Christus with the narration in French.  The Book of Mormon exhibit and I had them read the promise in French.  One of them asked, "Don't you have a prophet?" So I showed them President Monson's testimony.  Then I remembered an "I'm a Mormon" commercial that was in French (The Babins, in case you want to watch it), so I showed that to them, all the while bearing testimony of the things I was showing them and praying that the Spirit would speak to them becuase I wasn't abe to.  After the "I'm a Mormon" commercial, the Mom said, "I have two question.  One, how do I become a Mormon?"  AHHH!!!  I almost started crying.  She filled out a referral card and later that day I sent the missionaries to their family.  Her second question was worded like this, "In you church, one man, many women?"  Hahaha.  I'm glad I got to clear that up before they left: one man, one woman.  Now go be baptized!

I love you all so much!!!  I pray for you often.

-Sister Welch