Week #8

This week over all has really been amazing. The last couple of weeks have been crazy because of the ward split, we lost a lot of our investigators. Which meant we would be doing a lot of finding. We prayed so hard that the lord would just give us at least one person to teach. The answer we kept getting from him was, continue to be patient. The Lord really does have a plan for each one of his children. We saw a tender mercy this week. Tuesday we met a lady in TJ Maxx. She simply asked us which one of these decorations we liked better. We got to know Danean and she asked if she could meet with us again. I was shocked this was the first time that we didn't have to ask some one to meet with them again. We saw her again in the parking lot and she told us not to forget to call her. I'm thankful the Lord put her in our path.

Wednesday and Thursday Sister Bowen and I had another exchange. We stayed in the Palm Harbor area,which was a blessing because we didn't have to change any appointments. We would be teaching Lisa Thursday morning.  I was a little bit nervous because this was the lesson we were going to be teaching Lisa was the Word of Wisdom. On top of that I wouldn't have Sister Martin with me. Sister Bowen and I studied all during personal and companion study the word of wisdom and role played how we can teach it simply. When we got to Lisa's house the first thing she asked us was if we wanted some coffee. I thought great this lesson is off to a great start haha! I asked Lisa how many cups of coffee she drank a day and guess just guess how many cups she drinks. That's right 10 cups of coffee. My stomach sank as I began to pray my little heart out and ask Heavenly Father to soften Lisa's heart. We began our lesson reading in 1 Nephi 3. When Nephi and his brothers go to get the brass plates from Laban. We really focus on verse 7 with her to help her understand that the Lord always provides away for us to follow his commandments. Lisa loved this chapter and learning the stories but she told us she didn't know if she as ready to be baptized. She is super scared of commitment. The spirit told be to just testify to her about the power of faith. Lisa was in tears as she told be that she could do it as long as we kept meeting with her. I am so grateful that the spirit was able to testify to her that she is more ready than she thinks. She told us she would be at church on Sunday and is excited to continue reading from the Book of Mormon. 

Our area is really growing. Our area Book has a lot of potential investigators, which really is a blessing from god. We have been working really closely with the members. This has helped us build relationships with them and also allowed us to to know who would be good fellow shippers for our investigators. We have really tried to get the ward motivated about missionary work, and they are. We have had two families in the ward who have brought people to church and invited us over for dinner to teach their friends. The first family is the Rivera family. Brother Rivera works at publix, a local grocery store here in Palm Harbor where he met Paul and Mary. We had a wonderful lesson with them on service and why service is so important to God. Paul has a few health issues and which Mary has to help him with. She testified to us that when she is serving him she knows that the Lord is blessing her. Brother Rivera asked us to keep this lesson very low key. He called us later Sunday night and told us that Mary was very interested with meeting with us again. We were so excited to hear the news and thanked Brother Rivera for the missionary work that he was doing as a member. After our Lesson with the Rivera family we had Dinner and a  lesson with the Hansen family. The youth in our ward are so amazing. They are always bringing their friends to seminary and church. Paige and Jesse are two girls in our ward who are amazing examples to their friends. They brought their friend Conner who has been attending seminary with them since the beginning of the school year. We had a great lesson with her about the plan of salvation and how the god head is made up of three separate beings.

I challenge all of you this week to help the missionaries in your wards and stakes. Help them find the people who need the gospel in your life. When members of the church work with the missionaries will bring more people unto Christ and ultimately to the waters of baptism!! I love you all and hope that you have the best week ever!!! Always remember that your Heavenly Father is proud of you and is always waiting to hear from you. I love this gospel, I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I love being a missionary and a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!

Love, 

Sister Kenzie Graham