Last week started off with Sunday night, President Pingree texted the mission and said that transfers are now going to be on Tuesdays, unless you are training, then you still don't get your new companion until Thursday. That threw everybody off. It was a little hectic because nobody was used to it and nobody knew exactly what was going on, but it all worked out in the end.
Because of this twist, we had a sister in a our district, who is our zone's sister training leader, Sister Allred, stay with us for two days. Her companion got transferred on Tuesday, and Sister Allred was training so her new companion didn't come until Thursday. So for Tuesday and Wednesday we were in a trio and it was a lot of fun. Sister Allred is a great missionary and knows way more than Sister Stepp and I do and so we learned a lot over those two days and we are much better missionaries because of it. Plus, Sister Allred is really fun to be around. We got to do a couple of things in her area while she was with us, so we did quite a bit of driving back and forth from one area to the other, trying to keep all of our appointments in both areas.
We had a really great lesson on the Gospel of Christ with our investigator, Colton, on Wednesday. He really loves the church and the gospel and wants to get baptized so badly. The thing that is holding him back from getting baptized is he is living with his fiance, who is a member, and they want to get married asap, but they didn't know if he was married. He had gotten a marriage license with a girl, but they had never gone through with anything. Well at our powerful lesson, we decided to set a baptismal date to show our faith to Heavenly Father that it will all work out. We set it for the beginning of November. The next day, we found out that Colton is married because they never returned the unauthorized, marriage license to the county office and neither him or the girl know where it is. Texas marriage laws get in the way a lot. That was another twist.
Also on Thursday, we found out that one of our favorite families in the family ward was moving to Georgia the next morning! They were supposed to be moving Thursday night to a different apartment complex that was still in our ward. We showed up Thursday afternoon to help them finish cleaning and packing and the sister said that her husband had showed up to work that morning and they laid him off, so now they were moving back home to Georgia, instead. It was really sad. We will miss them a lot. We took some pictures.
Then on Friday, we tracted into a preacher who spent a really long time telling us all about his beliefs and then at the end tried to convince us that we could have so much more power if we joined his church. He believed in having the Holy Spirit and that through that you can heal the sick and speak in tongues and stuff. When we told him that we have the gift of the Holy Ghost and that our church also has the priesthood, he was shocked. Then at the end he went on about how we have been very deceived and we are cursed and are going to hell. While he was saying this in my head I was thinking "You know, it is funny. I have never been more sure in my life that I am not going to hell, now that you just told me that I am going there." I was grateful for our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and the love that Heavenly Father has for all of His children -- enough to give us multiple chances to accept the truth. I was having a really hard time trying not to Bible bash. Sister Stepp said that she could see steam coming out of my ears as I was trying to hold it all in :) Towards the end, Sister Stepp simply bore her testimony about how she knew this was the true church and she has prayed about it and found out for herself. He completely disregarded her testimony and again said that she had been deceived and that her answer was not from God. I bore my testimony in the end and said "I have the gift of the Holy Ghost. (since that was really important to him) I have been endowed with power from on high. I know this is Christ's true church. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and I know Thomas S. Monson is a prophet today. I'm glad you believe in Christ and keep doing what you are doing." He just looked at me and didn't say anything. I think he was a little scared :) And then we walked away before I exploded. I could feel the Spirit and power of God coursing through my veins. It was a great feeling. The Spirit testified to me that this church was true. Sister Stepp said that she could feel the power behind that testimony. It was an interesting experience to say the least.
Then on Sunday, we were sitting in the singles ward sacrament meeting and realized that our investigator, John, who ALWAYS comes to church, wasn't there. He is awesome. We taught him last week and it went so well. He loves our ward and he is so prepared. Before, he would always say that he would never get married and family life wasn't for him. But then when we met with him this week, he said that he has been starting to picture himself Mormon. Randomly he would imagine himself getting married...IN THE TEMPLE! How great is that!? He is so awesome. But he got offered a job in Shreveport, Louisiana and that he would probably be moving there at the end of October at the earliest. Anyway, other people noticed that he wasn't at church too and we were all a little confused. So last night we texted him and just said that we had missed him at church. He texted back and told us that his job actually wanted him asap and so he was in Shreveport already! Seriously?! I looked at Sister Stepp and said "I'm so done with this week :)" We will miss John a lot. But he said that he is going to get in contact with the ward and missionaries there, this week.
Despite all of the random events of this week, most of them pretty sad, it was a good week. I felt totally at peace and just really, really happy all week long. There was one day where I literally couldn't stop smiling. Being a missionary is the best thing in the whole world! I love it so much! The Lord is hastening His work and this church is Christ's true church restored upon the earth. I love it!
Love,
Sister Sylvester
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