Hello lovely people!!
It is a beautiful fall day here in Johnson City. This week has been truly great! The work is coming right along and the Lord is truly blessing me in so many ways! It's amazing what a difference good weather makes on my outlook on life. The sun truly makes a huge difference when it is shining so bright! How can you not smile when the sun is out?
Today I had to wake up early because Sister Mac and I helped the Elders move someone. It was hard to give up the one day that we are allowed to sleep in to do service.. (Did you know that missionaries actually aren't supposed to do service on P-day.. just a random fact)... anyway, just from sacrificing that time this morning, we have already seen blessings.. I will get to that later! :}
So anyway, on to this week! Tuesday was a wonderful day! Sister McLelland and I were out tracting and we felt prompted to go to a certain apartment complex here in JC. Well we weren't really sure why we needed to be tracting there because Sister Mclelland had just barely tracted there the transfer before I got here. We had tried to stop by a media referral that we had reaceived for someone in that complex a few weeks ago weren't able to catch anyone, so we had actually dropped them. Well we felt like we should check on this referral again and it turned out to be AMAZING!!! We met B! She is in her early 40's and has a 13 year old autistic son. B found out about our church online and was really drawn to the fact that we are really family oriented, also that we typically stay out of politics. She actually had come to our church the Sunday before we met her, but she said that she couldn't find the "main worship service" so she left. We were shocked!! She is so legit!! We taught her the message of the Restoration and she LOVED it! When we got to Joseph Smith she said. "I've been wondering about him, will you tell me more?" Of course we said YES! She then said the same thing about the Book of Mormon and when we gave her one, she said that she was excited to read it! We invited her to church this week but she had LASIK done on Friday and she wouldn't be able to see or drive. But we set up an appointment to teach her again on Friday! We explained how our church is the same no matter where you go on earth and that if you go to any LDS church, you will see the same structure. She loved that because she is going to be moving to North Carolina in December. We are hoping to commit her really soon!!!
Another miracle that happened this week is that we were able to meet with Christina!!!!! I can't even tell you how excited I was! She called us on Friday night and said that she really wanted to see us because her husband was going to be out of town. We drove to the hospital, where she works, and met up with her and Brother Jones who is an anesthesiologist there. We were able to have a wonderful conversation with her and we were able to teach her more about the Book of Mormon. She has actually been reading the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. She said that she wished that everyone would read those books because so much of what is in them is in the bible too. She said that she is going to get divorced and that she has to wait to meet with her attorney on Dec 1. We were bummed about that becuase one of is will be transfered that day, but we are glad that things are moving forward for her. The abuse in her marriage is really bad. My heart breaks for her.. she has been living with an abusive alcoholic for the last 13 years. She has the greatest testimony of the Restored gospel that I have ever seen!! She even calls herself a Mormon. She told us that she will never give up her Mormon faith for anything and that we can count her as one of our converts!! She is so awesome! She said that she wants to be baptized the day that she is legally seperated. It is so sad to see her struggle so much, but she needs to do what is best for her and for her kids. I just love her so much!!!!
Today while we were moving, B called us!! We had tried to stop by to see her yesterday, just to visit and to see how her surgery went, but she didn't answer the door. She said that she felt so bad about not answering, she thought that we were Trick-or-treaters. LOL! She told us to stop by again this week so that we can read from the Book of Mormon together! I set up an appointment for Wednesday. She also said that we could come over on Thursday too if we wanted. So we might be able to teach her all of the lessons this week, which would be FANTASTIC! I am so excited! I really feel like she will be baptized this transfer!
So as you can tell this week has been amazing. The Lord has really opened the windows of Heaven and poured out many many blessings. I am so grateful to be here! It is the hardest/best thing I have ever done! I love life! I love you all!
Have a wonderful week!!!
Sister Shaylyn
P.S. Read Alma 5!! You will like it! I promise ;]
