[NOTE:This entry should be read by saying "Yeah" for every exclamation point (!).]
Dear Family and Friends!
What a glorious time it is to be a member of the True Church of God!
GENERAL CONFERENCE IS THE BEST!!! (that's right, say "yeahyeahyeah" just like Sister Chavous would)
Hopefully
you all saw it and were able to enjoy and apply the inspired messages,
too. Because there were SO many great things said that we can all
benefit from! Plus, there is nothing like watching the first Session on
Saturday morning right after your investigator passes his baptismal
interview and sitting next to you is your recent convert who is eagerly
taking notes to find out GIRLS CAN GO ON MISSIONS AT AGE 19!!! So
awesome.
Jaclyn is doing great! She may be trying to prophesy
for people every once in a while, but she is very involved in the world
and excited to get married in the San Diego Temple one day!
Speaking of California, one of the members of the Branch here (who
got baptized 15 months ago) got his mission call to California Los
Angeles! Way to go, Alex!
And yes, we had ANOTHER BAPTISM this week! It was incredible!
Alvaro Mendoza came to church last week. We taught him for the
first time on Monday (the elders taught him twice before) and taught him
the Restoration and The Word of Wisdom (the only thing he didn't have a
problem with was coffee!) and he accepted the challenge. We saw him
everyday and taught him all the other lessons by Friday. It wasn't until
Friday that we found out he would need to have a second interview, but
we called President and he said he could come Saturday Morning. Although
the Branch wasn't really accepting of him getting baptized so quickly,
President Anderson said he was ready to go. So with a lot of stress and
working with the other sisters, we got the baptismal program all set
(jointly because 2 others got baptized at the same time!). After
Conference on Sunday Morning, Alvaro was baptized! Afterwards, we asked
him how he felt and he said, "Real good man, I feel like a burden's been
lifted, you know?" So, although he had no idea this was a Mormon Church
when he wondered into it last week, he found exactly what he was
looking for and so much more. Like the path to Eternal Salvation. The
Atonement is real and works. You just have to know how (and have the
authority) to use it!
Here's the harvesting experience I shared with President this week:
"This week our zone was working on all getting 20 blessings. We have
never gotten over 16 but we were determined. On Wednesday, we started
the day off with 0. We had some lessons scheduled for that day and knew
we had to harvest a lot, but we found ourselves at 5 o'clock and still
no blessings. With a lesson that could easily run long at 6, we were
determined to find people to bless. We stopped by a less-active with no
answer and decide to knock the doors of his neighbor. The first door we
knocked on was Rosy. She let us in and brought her friend Steve out and
they both knelt down with us as we blessed them. Afterwards, Rosy
readily accepted baptism and even a date for the 21st! And Steve said
he'd already been baptized, but still wants to see us again! It was so
great! We found 3 other people in that apartment complex to bless before
we had to leave!
Then after the lesson, which did run long, we had about 1 hour
to harvest before we needed to drive home. We had no idea where to go,
so we pulled into a parking lot and prayed. Still not knowing the area
or where to go, we started driving. We turned down a street that looked
pretty dark, but there was an apartment complex at the end! We both knew
we could find success there. We prayed again and got to work. We
blessed a man and his two children and their next door neighbor who is
YSA and was very interested in the blessings we could promise her. Just
as we were setting up a return appointment with her, a girl on the
stairs behind us called to us and asked if we were praying with people.
When we said yes she asked if we could come pray with her. We finished
getting the info we needed and we directly to her. She told us some of
the very difficult things she is going through and we blessed her and
her cousin. They were both very appreciative and said they were looking
for a church that would not be so judgmental. We gave her a chapel card
with our phone number and a mormon.org
card since one of them went to school out of town. After being able to
have a little lesson with them, we left and realized we needed to get
home. Knowing we only needed one more blessing, my companion wasn't
about to give up. As we were walking back towards the car, we saw a
woman pull up into the parking lot. As she got out of her car, my
companion walked right up to her and introduced herself. I was so
impressed with her boldness and so was the woman. We were able to bless
her and reach our goal! I know Heavenly Father blessed us for
our perseverance. He truly answers prayers!
On Friday, we walked around a lot (in the hot 90
degree weather) and found a ysa in a parking lot. We stopped him and
prayed with him and then found out he was baptized! He has clearly lost
his way and doesn't really know the truth he once had, but it was such a
miracle to randomly find him in a parking lot. He might not be ready
now to come back to the fold, but at least we were there to remind him.
Missionaries = guided by God.
After Conference on Saturday, we tried to find people to bless,
but we had little success. We only found 1 person willing to talk to
us. But, he turned out to be a YSA that accepted a baptismal date for
the 21st and agreed to come to conference! (He didn't, but that's okay)
Then on Sunday night, we needed 8 blessings again to reach our
zone goal. As soon as conference ended we went out to harvest. We found
an apartment complex we'd never been to and were able to bless the
first door we knocked on. As we came out, it was pouring rain! We didn't
have our umbrellas, so we stopped under a porch to decide what to do.
We knew we couldn't give up, so we prayed that God would help us have
the strength and patience to continue on despite the rain and kept
going. We were able to bless 2 people even though we were wet and then
the rain stopped and we were able to keep going and find many people who
were in need of a blessing! Harvesting is full of miracles!"
I am super excited to go back and read the
conference addresses over and over. I feel like I can never get enough
of the things God wants us to know right now. And although I don't feel
like I am capable of all that I have to do, I know that God loves us, is
ever-mindful of us, and will help us accomplish all that we need to do.
And we can be happy while we do it!
I love you all! Have a wonderful and epic week serving others!
Love, Hermana Sheffield
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