Sister Brittany Ann Mecham : Mga Himala (Mircles) Week 57

This week has been actually quite wonderful and the huge amount of blessings and miracles we had this week was actually quite surprising to me! Heavenly Father is really anxious to get his work done and it is so wonderful to be apart of it and recognize His hand in all of it!

We had more lessons this week than we ever have had before and we were able to work with members that we haven't been able to work with, even our ward mission leader! Those things were miracles, plus we were able to meet with some really great investigators and a lot of them were just from tracting and people letting us come into share. It was really really cool!

One of the families we taught this week, the Veltrans, are by far our biggest and my favorite miracle of the week. Sis. Woodruff and her companion before met the mom one day and found out she is actually a member, so we've gone to teach a couple times. They are usually gone a lot, so it was crazy. Well this week we were able to teach them 3 times and everytime was SO good!! We taught them the plan of salvation the first night. I have little cut outs and they were so interested the whole time. Their little daughter prayed (she's 4) and the mom said that she always reminds their family to pray before meals and bed too, so that was really cool.Plus their oldest is a 14 year old boy and before we left, he said the prayer. He is definitely shy, but right before he prayed, he asked his mom how to start the prayer and she told him the right way because before they were just praying to Jesus, but now they are finally understanding to pray to Heavenly Father.

The next lesson we only had like 30 minutes before curfew, so we were kind of rushing. We decided to just read 1 Nephi 1 with them and the spirit was there SO strong. At the end of that lesson we got the father to say the prayer as we all knelt down. It was really really spiritual. Their youngest daughter is 2. Every time we come now she just instantly kneels down and folds her arms, it is the cutest thing! I feel like we are finally gaining good trust with them.

Saturday night we decided to stop by again just to say hi and follow up. When they opened their gate they yelled "oh sila sisters!!" and within 3 seconds the WHOLE family was out at the gate all excited to see us with huge smiles on their faces telling us to 'pasok, pasok' (come in, come in). That was a big blessing right off the bat! Our lesson was about the gospel of Jesus Christ We shared part of Alma 36 and how he repented and that opened up the dad again to all sorts of questions about the Book of Mormon, and again the spirit was so strong. We invited them to come to church yesterday and they just said they would try.

Sunday morning we sent them a text again to invite them to church and we got a not so happy response. They pretty much said that they don't want to turn away from their old religion because that's how they were raised. I was so sad. When investigators drop you, it feels worse than when your boyfriend breaks up with you. OVER A TEXT. It is pinakapangit.

It was definitely hard for me to focus during Relief Society. I had all those negative thoughts of 'maybe i'm not a good missionary', 'we should have done this', 'I'm not a good teacher', etc. Then the one that is the most famous 'why did I even come here' but I couldn't even get that one all the way said in my mind because an overwhelming peace and such a solid feeling of the Holy Ghost came over me and pulled out my testimony to diminish all those doubts and sadness instantly. It was amazing to have my own solid testimony as my rock to get me over that discouragement. I know that no matter what happens with ANY of these people we are teaching, I AM supposed to be here and we ARE teaching them the only way to return to Heavenly Father.

We sent more text to them and found out his concerns. We all came to a conclusion that we will give them a week break and committed them to read the book of Mormon every day until we come back next week and they accepted.

They have such a great potential and I know that we have left an impression on their family. Our prayer this week is that they will feel the spirit testify to them as they read the Book of Mormon and that next week we will be able to continue to teach them and they will feel the truthfulness and happiness of this gospel.

I love this work. I know that it actually isn't about the success, but about the sacrifices. I know that God's plan is perfect and that one day all these people we are teaching and all those who will be taught in the future will understand and know that this is the only true church.

I love the change I've seen and felt so strongly here on my mission. I don't doubt this church because I don't doubt Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I am so glad to be a missionary and to have this time to share my testimony and the happiness of the gospel!

I love you all and hope you have a good week!!

Love,

Sister Mecham