Monday: So, Sister King and I were feeling pretty victorious. We took a picture with the Assistants and held up two pieces of paper that said "Thank" and "You" on them and made a little card so we could thank everybody who helped with the fireside, because it was such a huge success! Then, to celebrate some more, we headed over to one of my favorite places- Chili's. We ate some yummy pasta, and then Sister King drew a funny picture of us on her to-go box. Our waiter said that she should go into animation or something. I do have a pretty talented companion. Maybe I'll have her illustrate some of my books!
Tuesday: We volunteered in downtown Houston at a Citizenship workshop. Basically, we met with people who are in the process of becoming citizens of the United States and helped them fill out applications. Its the first time that I'd ever been to downtown Houston, so it was a pretty big deal for me.
Plus, it was at the YMCA and there was this really cool cornerstone that read "Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone" so we had to take a picture with it!
Then, we did the citizenship workshop. I helped two ladies, because the process is super long! The first woman was born in Morocco, so that was neat. She was such a nice woman.
Then, we had a miracle. I was helping a girl with her application, and mentioned as we were chatting that I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She said, "Oh yeah, some missionaries from your church used to come by my house all the time and read the Book of Mormon with me, but they don't anymore." In my head I was like, "NO WAY!!" and did a little dance inside. However, we were right in the middle of the application and couldn't really talk about it! Inside, I prayed that we'd have time at the end. So, we finished her application and before we both left, I said, "So, you said that some missionaries like me used to come to your house?"
"Yeah, they used to come read that book with me all the time. But then I moved, and I lost my phone, and I got a new phone, and a new number, so I don't have their number and they don't have mine... And then I moved back, but they don't come over any more and I don't really know why."
"Oh wow," I replied. "Well, would you like for them to come over again?"
"Yeah, I would!"
"Well, if you write down your name, phone number and address for me, we could get in contact with them and send them over. If thats alright with you, I mean."
"Oh, sure! That would be cool. Here."
She wrote down her information, thanked me profusely for helping her, and left. Sister King and I left shaking our heads.
Only Heavenly Father could work out a miracle like that! Seriously, of the 25+ helpers that she could have sat down with, she sat down with 1 of the 4 missionaries who were volunteering. That, my friends, was no coincidence. Of course, she isn't in our mission, but we called in the referral, and the Houston East Mission now has a great referral to go check out!
Then, on our way back, we were trying to find somebody on our list that we didn't recognize named Afton. We went to the address listed and it was her grandma, Betty! Betty isn't a member of the church, but we had a really good religious discussion with her. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and committed her to reading it and studying it with the Bible, and praying about it. She told us that she would, of course, love to study it, but to not expect her to change her faith.
That was another miracle, not a coincidence.
Wednesday: We had an appointment with Che (shay) who is a recent convert who moved here from San Antonio. We read Enos with her, and got to know her better. She seems really sweet. I can't wait to get to know her better!
Then, we went to "The Mission" like we always do- that Christian group that meets at Lonestar campus. Before, we had a lesson with Evan, a guy who goes to the group that came to our fireside and is interested! We answered some of his questions about our basic beliefs, and he liked and agreed with everything we told him. He told us that he is very interested and wants to be part of something bigger. He loves the organization of the church and wants to learn some more! Halleluyer! Then, we listened to the sermon. It was pretty good, and the sermon was all about the lost sheep and the prodigal son. It was pretty neat. Afterwards, we talked with a lot of people. While Sister King and I were talking with somebody, this guy named Joe was walking by and looked at me and stopped. He interrupted our conversation by saying, "Excuse me, but I feel like God really wants to bless you two today, especially you," pointing to me. "Is it alright if I bless you both right now?" And Sister King and I looked at each other and had a silent conversation. We both know that Joe doesn't have the Priesthood, but that his intentions were good and that he has faith and is genuine. We really didn't want to offend him, so we turned back.
"Uh.. sure," we answered.
Then Joe began. "Dad, I just want to thank you for this day, Lord, and for these missionaries, Holy Spirit, and thank you, Lord Jesus, for all that you've given us, and please bless that... yeah. Um, please, uh... yeah. Yeah! Yeah...... yeah.... yeah." And I peeked at this point and noticed that his arms were stretched out towards us, like he wanted to put his hands on our shoulders or our heads like they usually do when they heal people. But he wasn't doing that. Joe laughed, then said, "Sorry." Sister King and I looked up. "I just really feel like God wants to bless you specifically," meaning me, "so I'm gonna just focus on you if that's alright."
"Go ahead." I didn't feel bad about it. We bowed our heads again.
"Uh, yeah." Was basically what he said. Joe was really stumbling over his words. After a minute, he gave up and told me what he thought. He said, "You know, I feel like God just really wants to use you to bring other people to Jesus!" Which I already knew because I'm a missionary. He went on his way, and I thanked him for his kindness. Because Joe really was trying to do a good thing, and he really is trying to do what God wants him to do. I don't want anybody to think that I'm making fun of Joe, or that I'm discrediting his honest and genuine efforts.
But, that was a really cool experience for me. I knew that he didn't have the Priesthood, and that he had no authority to bless me. Therefore, he couldn't. And maybe it made him wonder why he couldn't do that, and maybe Joe will ask us some questions soon, and maybe one day Joe will have the real Priesthood and will be able to truly bless people.
After that, we visited a girl named Tasha, and had to trade out Sheldon for a car that is red that we have dubbed "Doofenshmirtz" or "Doof" for short. Sheldon had a scrape that needed to get fixed. So we have Doof while we wait for Sheldon.
Then, we had dinner with Elishann and had some seriously delicious fajitas. Mmm-mm. Good! Then, we tried to find people and were a bit unsuccessful.
Thursday: We went to the temple, and had a really good lesson in the visitors area with Frank. We answered his questions and kind of went everywhere. From Priesthood to friends, we pretty much covered it all. Frank felt a lot of peace, and a lot of the Spirit.
Then, I happened to run into someone I knew from back home- Jason Thomson! I took a picture with him and his cute family and he sent it back home to y'all. Hope that was a nice surprise!
Then, Sister King and I got a call from one of the other sisters who was having a hard time, so we went over to their apartment and talked with her. Even though I'm technically not a Sister Training Leader, I sometimes feel like one because I'm Sister King's companion and I get to help her out with all of that stuff. Anyways, I think it was good that I was there because I was able to help too. Well, I think I helped. Hopefully.
After that, we had an AMAZING lesson with Sandra! She told us that she never goes anywhere without her Book of Mormon! Then, she told us an experience she had last week. She was very upset and didn't know what to do, and everyone in the house was asleep. She saw her Book of Mormon next to her, and picked it up, opening it to a random page. This was the first verse she read.
"Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go unto thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." Alma 26:27
Sandra said, "I don't know if this is right, but I took that to be God speaking to me and it really comforted me and helped me." We told her that she'd understood that right, and talked with her about how God answers prayers. We also gave her a "letter" from Heavenly Father, which she loved.
We ate dinner with Alissha, and then went to get milkshakes at "Chill..." with Ashley, a recent convert. That's where I saw the awesome and hilarious quote about the unicorn. Had to get a picture with that!
Then, we ate-slurped?- our milkshakes, and had a good discussion about temples and Patriarchal blessings.
Friday: We had a very good district meeting. One thing that stuck out to me was "Fasting is giving up something we need for something we need more." We also talked about putting off the natural man, and praying for the strengthening and enabling power of the Atonement.
After that, we came home, ate lunch, and called some people. We had another interesting conversation with Betty, only this time it was over the phone. Then, we had to go to the mission office and drop off a bill from the apartment people.
We had dinner at Genghis Grill with Colten, someone I actually know from Montgomery. It was some good Mongolian food! Yum! Then, we came home and planned.
Saturday: We went over and visited with the amazing Janae! She is so funny, always making us laugh. We went upstairs to see some new outfits she has, and there was a nasty roach in her room. She said, "I sprayed it with febreeze to kill it, so I think its dead." But neither Janae nor I wanted to touch it, so Sister King was left to get it out of the room.
IT WAS NOT DEAD. It started Zombie crawling around the floor, super slowly. I didn't even see it start to move, but Sister King screamed, so I screamed and so did Janae, and I protected Janae out in the hall by hiding behind her. Sister King trapped the foul beast with a cup and flushed it down the toilet. Janae started singing, "Hail to the conqueror!..." or something like that. We were talking with her about styles, and Sister King said, "Janae, what do you think my style was before my mission?"
And Janae just got this super confused and troubled look on her face and said, "Uh.. Gangam?!" And we just about died laughing. The funniest part? Janae doesn't even know what Gangam style is! It was SO funny.
Then we were driving to another appointment, and saw something. One of our members was walking down the side of the road, in the opposite direction of their house and did not look okay. We flipped a u-turn and pulled over in front of her. We asked her if she was okay and she got in the car. After talking with her for a while, and calming her down, we took her to the church building. We sat in the chapel, and we had to go by the Spirit a lot to know how we could really and truly help her. I kept getting the prompting to go play the piano, and I kept saying, "But I don't even play the piano well!" But, we should never ignore the spirit. So what did Sister Shell do? She went and plunked on the piano. The first thing I felt like I should play was "Go the Distance" from Hercules. That made her smile, and think of another song that really helped her. Then, we all gathered around the piano and we sang "Lead Kindly Light" as I played the top hand. And folks, I have never been able to sing and play the piano at the same time. But Saturday, I could. Then, we sang "Be Still, My Soul" and "Nearer, My God, To Thee" and took her home.
That was a miracle filled with the Spirit. It was no coincidence that we happened to be driving down that road. It is no accident that I was able to play the piano a bit. I know the Lord was helping us help that member.
Then, we had a lesson with Frank, who brought his friend Antonion because Antonio was bored. We read a war story from the Book of Mormon, at Frank's request, and then, had a really good discussion and read a few other things we felt that we should share with Antonio. It went really well.
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| Sister Shell, Frank, and Sister King |
It was so amazing to be part of that historic event, and know that my own mom and sister were watching it right along with me. It is amazing to be part of this church and be so united with my sisters.
Sunday: Well, Frank brought Antonio to church and another investigator, Bryce, brought his roommate Diego! So that was pretty neat. Testimony was pretty great. Then, the third hour, the stake patriarch came and talked. THAT was so cool. He focused a lot on lineage and its importance, and our responsibilities.
Then, we had dinner with AJ's family, and tried to stop by some people. Not a whole lot of luck, but it was fun to try.
Overall, it was a good week, and it was full of coincidences that were not coincidences. I suppose I should say that it was a week full of miracles. As always.
com amor,
Sister Shell
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| Funny saying at "Chill" that is so appropriate for Sister Shell |
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