It feels like the most eternal week of life because we've had so much to do! And, as usual, the weather has been acting up. There have been a couple tornado threats, but nothing too serious. Now we're just constantly under flash flood warnings. It's rained more this month than it ever has in the month of may ever. The ground is incredible saturated, streets are turning into rivers. I've attached a really bizarre picture of a guy kayaking down one of the streets in our boundaries. :)
To follow up on last week's email, once we concluded P-day, we got to go to visit Vania and her husband, Rob! They had put their kids to bed, and when we got there, they had baked cookies and had a stack of bibles/notebooks/Book of Mormon all piled up and ready to discuss. We brought Sister Gillespie, the Bishop's wife, who has a very similar family dynamic (i.e. 4 billion children, husband in the military, Mormon/practically Mormon) and it was a wonderful discussion. She had so many questions! Questions about the trinity, about life after death, about the prophet, about families, about all sorts of things. And there's still something so satisfying about being able to address every single one of people's concerns in one way or another, to the point where they find peace and comfort in what used to be their trials and concerns.
After we left, their kiddos got sick, and the storms hit, so we're going back again tonight. I'll follow up next week. But Vania's best friend from Utah, the one that introduced her to the church, is also moving here to Oklahoma today! So that should be a remarkable help in her search for answers. The Lord is wonderful.
The storms and craziness also kept us from visiting with the other family we met last week, but he's asked us to come back tomorrow, so that we will!
But the miracles don't stop there.
Last Sunday, we had a couple just randomly show up to church, he confessed that he was a member that hadn't been to church in a while, but his wife wasn't a member and had taken all the missionary discussions. Back then, she was undergoing surgery that wouldn't allow her to endure baptism, but now she can, and she wants to! Pray for the Andersons! :)
One more sweet little story. On Thursday, every single appointment we had fell through. Luckily, it wasn't much cause for discouragement because we had planned for some flexibility throughout our day and planned backups for all of our appointments, as we usually do, but even those fell through.
So eventually, we went through the ward roster and started trying to find families we'd never met before. We wound up at a house looking for a family named the Harrys. We, instead, found their brother who said that the diligence of their home teacher had encouraged and inspired him to go back to church for the first time in years.
After we left, we realized we weren't too far from his home teacher's house, so we thought we would stop by to thank him for magnifying his calling so well. When we got there, he told us that he knew where the family we were looking for lived, but that he wasn't sure exactly what house. So his wife showed us on a map the street to look for and told us to pray about it and then tract. "You're likely to find a family even if it's not the family you're looking for."
So we got up and left and as we were getting in the car, their cute little daughter Emeri ran outside. She's about 5 years old, so we ran out to make sure she didn't run into the street and asked her if she wanted to pray with us. She said yes so we knelt on the sidewalk and she said,
"Dear Heavenly Father. Thank you for my family. Thank you for the missionaries. Please help them find a family to teach the gospel to. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
It was the simplest, most precious prayer I'd heard, but it was so powerful. We thanked her and drove to the destined street. We both picked three house and decided to knock on the house that overlapped. The woman who opened the door explained that she and her husband had several children and they would all be interested in hearing about what we had to share with them, but that she wanted to wait until they could all be there together. So we plan on going back this week to visit with them.
I know that the Lord answers our prayers. He has answered all the prayers to help us find families to teach, He has answered the prayers of those we teach who are searching for the truth, and I know He answers your prayers. It may not be in the way or in the time that you want, but constant prayer helps us align our will to God's will, ultimately helping us to identify our answers. God knows what's best for us. He knows when someone is ready to receive the Gospel, or when we need to feel His love for us.
I love you guys. I hope you have a terrific week.
Last week, we went to the Science Museum. So here's Sister Garner and myself. :)
Love,
Sister Best
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