Let's start on Wednesday night shall we?
There was about 2 hours left before we had to be home, but we had no one to visit, so we started to try and do follow-ups on people we had left harvesting blessings with a while ago.
Now I also can't remember if I told you about Patrick? If not here is a short synopsis:
I OYM'd him by myself a few weeks ago and ended up giving him a harvesting blessing. He said the only reason he accepted one is because just the night before he was thinking about how after the last time someone blessed his house everything had gone wrong so he thought that it was actually a curse and the blessing that I was offering could reverse that...(weirdo).
He was a nice guy though and so we had tried to stop by a few times after that, but no one was home.
Wednesday night when we stopped by there was a group of Hispanic people outside and so we asked if Patrick was home. One guy went and got him and when Patrick walked out, he looked very shocked and said:
"Girls, right now is not a good time. I am actually moving out right this second so I have to go finish packing, but if there was ever a day that I needed to pray I can't think of a better one than today."
That's all he said then went back inside. (That was miracle #1...that we caught Patrick the same day that he was moving out.)
So, we walked away and no one really said anything because we were all a little shocked.
Then we saw two men at the end of the street and Sister Pack told me to go OYM them and I said "let's pray for Patrick first!"
So we did. Right in the middle of the street, 3 houses down from Patrick. We asked Heavenly Father if he would watch over Patrick and to put people in his path that could help guide him to where he needed to go.
After the prayer we all kind of stood there and wanted to turn back and help him, but there was nothing we could do (since he is a single male) so we just continued throughout the rest of our night.
The next day we had to do "weekly planning" which is a three hour long planning session that includes companionship inventory. With the three of us together we get off track frequently and this week it was really rough.
We were being disobedient out of laziness so I said "I think we should take the car, go get lunch and then pound out planning after."
Sister Pack jumped up real fast and said "let's go!" (That was miracle #2 because Sister Pack hates to take the car and we normally have to beg.)
We got in the car and started driving still not knowing where we were going. Sister Pack really wanted to go to Five Guys and that was the plan until I noticed that Sister Anderson wasn't too excited. Turns out Sister Anderson hates Five Guys.
So I said that I want everyone to enjoy our special lunch, but Sister Anderson insisted that it wasn't a big deal and to go to Five Guys.
All of the sudden I said "turn left!"
Which Sister Pack did while screaming "WHAT, WHY?!"
I told her that we were going to Jersey Mikes (Side note: we LOVE Jersey Mikes and eat there frequently and there is one in Seattle! Get a #9, Mike's way.)
We walked into Jersey Mikes and not two minutes later did we hear "well, look who it is!"
It was Patrick! (miracle #3) He was in line right behind us!!
We ended up having lunch with him and he told us that he has nowhere to live and only has money for a hotel for the next two nights.
He asked if we prayed for him and I told him what I did and what I said about putting the right people in his path, which then I testified to him that I know we are here to help him.
He said "you know, I think you're right. It would be one thing if you came in after me because I would think you were stalking me, but you didn't...."
I told him that we weren't even going to go to Jersey Mike's and he told us that he took a way he NEVER goes which added 5 minutes to his driving time! Totally cray!
We went home freaking out!!! Planning was very difficult after that, but we eventually got it done before we had to go to the Edwards home (remember Dakota and his Dad?)
When we had gone over to the Edward's on Tuesday we invited Dakota to pray about his date so that we could start preparing him for his baptism on the 27th. We might have told him that he can be baptized at any time, especially sooner if he wanted too. :)
We also challenged Shay and Skyler (Dakota's younger brother and sister) to pray about the church and baptism.
So, Thursday was our day to follow up with all of that. We were so excited to go over there especially after our miracle in the afternoon we were praying for one more that night.
When we got there we asked how their prayers were. First, we specifically asked Dakota and he said that he talked to his dad and prayed and all is good to go for the 27th!
We were so happy for him! We then set up a schedule. (We like to meet with them almost every day before their baptism because Satan is a hater.)
We then asked Skyler and Shay and they both said that they felt really good about everything, but wanted to continue to pray about baptism (Shay had only been to 2 lessons and Skyler 1.)
We said that we understood and encouraged them to continue to pray and not to be afraid of the answers they receive.
We then taught an awesome lesson about the Atonement! We were doing a "team-up" with Brother Danely from our ward which was perfect! He shared a personal story which Brother Edwards could connect with and the spirit was so strong!! EVERYONE was in tears. We left and were so grateful for that family and for the spirit which we felt. (Miracle #4.)
Now here comes miracle #5 the biggest of them all...
We got out of our lesson late and still needed 20 more OYM's so we went to a park when we received a text from Dakota. Sister Pack was driving and asked me to read it out loud. This is what it said...
"Hi sisters! It's Dakota. Can I ask you a question?"
We were freaking out. We prayed right there and then that Dakota would be strong. That he would remember what we said about Satan and recognize the adversary in his life.
We responded back and said "of course! What's up?"
It took him a while to respond. I still had the phone and said "oh Dakota texted back... AHHHH OH MY GOSH! I AM GOING TO START CRYING!" which I did. Of course, Sister Anderson and Sister Pack were freaking out and screaming at me to read it out loud.
He said "My uncle and aunt are down until Sunday night, and I was wondering if this Sunday evening would be a possible time to have the baptism?"
I am crying again just writing about it. We were ECSTATIC! We were in the middle of the parking lot jumping and screaming and crying and hugging each other.
What a miracle.
He was baptized yesterday afternoon! :)
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| Nat, Skyler, Dakota, Brother Postoien, Shay, Sister Anderson and Sister Pack |
He had me speak on baptism and Sister Pack speak on the Holy Ghost. The whole room was packed. The spirit was so strong.
When I got up to speak I started to cry and told Dakota that when we are set apart as missionaries we are able to feel the love that the Savior and Heavenly Father have for all those we come in contact with and that I have never felt His love for someone so strongly as I did right then.
Brother Postoien the Elders Quorm President (the one who initially visited them and invited them back to church) baptized Dakota. He was sobbing the whole time.
I can honestly say I have never felt anything like that before. No one in that room could deny that the spirit was there and that Dakota made the right decision.
I am so grateful that I am here. I am so grateful I have the opportunity to witness miracles every day. I am so grateful that I am able to be an instrument in Heavenly Father's hands in bringing his children to the truth.
I love this gospel. I love this mission. I love all of you.
Thank you for all of your prayers for Dakota! Satan worked really hard on him the two days before he was baptized, but he never looked back and continued to stay strong.
Sister Nelson
(email received July 22, 2013)
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| "This is what all ice cream trucks should be. We love this truck so much that we stop to get shaved ice everytime we see it. Brilliant idea!" |
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