March 11, 2013

March 11

Hello Family!

How are you all doing? I hope that you all have had a wonderful weekend. It sounds like it is finally starting to warm up for you all. I bet you are enjoying that very much. I am grateful for you all and want to let you know how much I love and appreciate all that you have done for me and for all of the wonder examples that you have been. You are all so amazing and I wanted you to know how much I love and care about each of you.

Oh some crazy news. In July they are opening up a new mission in Rancho Cuca Mongo. President Becerra has been asked to send over 14 of his BEST missionaries. When I heard this announcement  I had this feeling come over me that I maybe one of those missionaries. I don't know if it is just me thinking that or the spirit, but I did feel like I would be going over there. We will find out in a couple of months I guess. Sister Allan also told me that when she got to the field that Sister Becerra said that one of the four sisters that is training this transfer has been successful and has a love for people that no one else does and that she will be going over there. Well, only leaves two of us. Sister Carrell and me. Who knows maybe we will be in the new mission together. That would be fun. I won't know anything probably till right before July. Just thought you all might like to hear that exciting news.

Well this week has been a better week. We had some great things happen. We were able to visit with Leslie this past week. She hasn't been feeling very well and has been falling down a lot. We felt prompted to go and see her Monday night to see how she was doing and to share a message of comfort with her. She was really happy to see us and she told us that it had meant a lot to her to know that we were thinking of her. We shared a scripture with her. This scripture is found in Alma 37:6-7. It is one on my many favorite scriptures. It talks about small and simply things are made great in the eyes of the Lord. We told her that Heavenly Father loves her and that he is making something great out of her and explained that at times it may seem hard and we don't know why we are going through the trails that we are facing, but to trust in the Lord because He knows what we need to become that great person He needs us to become. I felt the spirit so strong as I was bearing my testimony of that and I know that Leslie felt it as well. She thanked us for sharing that scripture and that it had helped her out. We plan on seeing her tonight and reading with her  Mosiah 4 and talking about the Atonement and the blessing we can have from the atonement in our lives and also mentioning about how she can be together forever with her family especially her parents. Family is super important to her and we feel so strongly to teach her about that. 

We were also able to meet with Kelsey. It wasn't a long visit because she is super busy with school work and projects. We did however talk about the movie the "Testaments" that we left with her a couple of weeks ago. She said that she loved the movie and is excited to read about it in the Book of Mormon. We explained the movie and answered her questions that she had. She then started to ask us about prophets and we were able to bear testimony that there is a living prophet here on the earth again and that we will be able to hear from him in April. We explained what General Conference is and she said that she would love to watched it with us. That was really excited to hear from her and I hope and pray that she will be able to find time to do that. 

We were able to visit some less actives in the ward and they were super nice and welcomed us right in. Linda, joined the church when she was in college when her boyfriend was on a mission. When he returned back from his mission things didn't work out and they went their separate ways. She fell away from the church and married a non-member. She said that she would love to come back to church and that she misses the feeling that is there, but she doesn't want to be there with out her husband. Family is important to her and she said that she will only go if her husband will and right now he is not interested. It breaks my heart to see families like this. I pray for them and hope that her husband's heart may soften so that they can enjoy the blessings of the gospel together has a family. The Baisley's in our ward, our an older couple and the wife is also a convert. She said that she stopped going to church because she didn't want to get up a speak in front of everyone and that she didn't have a testimony when she got baptized. I guess the missionaries that were teaching her said that she didn't need to have a testimony before she got baptized and that it would just come to her. Well, she never gain one and didn't see the need to go to church. This made me sad to hear that those missionaries didn't care if she had a testimony or not. I think that it is so important that they know and feel the truth before anything happens. If they don't then they are not ready to be baptized. I hope that as we continue to visit them that we will be able to help Sister Baisley develop that testimony that she has never had. 

We were able to give a church tour to a guy named Mesbah on Thursday. We got a little worried because Mesbah was here with us and our member hadn't come yet. We were praying to know who to we could ask to come help us and there happened to be people in the building. We were able to grab a member from a different ward. Everything started to fall back into place. The tour went well. It didn't go as planned and Mesbah I don't think is all that interested in the gospel, but did want to know what we do. He asked a lot of questions and we were able to answer most of them. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and Joesph Smith. We sensed that he is made at God right now and that he doesn't want to give God any credit for anything such as sending us into his path. I honestly feel like we were lead to him that day at the park and to him that is hard for him to understand. We bore testimony of how much God loves him and is watching out for him. We also invited him to come to church, but her didn't come. I hope that his heart may be soften and that he will want to learn more about Jesus Christ and how he can have that peace and happiness in his life.

Our biggest highlight of the week is Mark! Mark is a new investigator that we picked up on Wednesday night. Mark is a wonderful man and is dating one of our ward members. Mark is so ready and knows a lot about the gospel. We had a really good lesson with him yesterday and taught him the Restoration. To much of our surprise he actually knew a lot and we did follow up on his reading and praying if the Book of Mormon is true and if Joesph Smith is a true prophet of God. He said that as he reads and prayers he feels so good and is happy. He stated that he wants to read all the time because he loves the Book of Mormon already and it just makes him so happy that he wants to continue reading. This makes me happy to hear. We asked him why he was wanting to meet with us so that we could discern if he was doing this for himself or for Kate. He told us that he wants to do this for himself and knows that it is true. He says that the more he reads and prayers the happier that he is and he likes that change and wants to continue to see the blessings from God. It is so neat to hear his testimony and to see it grow. Mark is an incredible person is has said yes to being baptized on March 30, 2013!! We are excited and know that Mark is a true blessing from the Lord. The Lord truly blesses His missionaries that work hard and diligent.

This is all about the exciting things that happened this past week. I look forward to another great week. I know that God lives. I know that I am turning into that great and powerful missionary that the Lord wants me to be. I can feel myself change as I am seeing my investigators change too. I know if we put our trust in the Lord he will truly guide us and help us to know what to say to his people. I am so glad that I am able to be out her serving the Lord and to be His spokes person. I know that I am not the one teaching and that it is the Holy Ghost that is teaching through me. I know that every time I open my mouth that I will be filled with the words that these people need to hear. I feel Heavenly Fathers love for all of his children and I want to help them all feel that love that He has for them.

I love you all and I hope you have another wonderful week. Keep those smiles on. I love you!

Sister Ackley

Pictures: Sister Fogavai and Me(sister allan didn't want to be in the picture with me), Sister Turner and Fogavai. We did a booth together on sat.