Week 67: Specific prayers get specific answers!

Odds and Ends

●Sister Bruce and I started writing in tiny notebooks like Sister Gibbens does!

●Man answered the door in his briefs...

●Our power went out the night before MLC...the poor Savannah sisters came up to stay the night and practically died with how hot it was! Hotter than snotter as Sister Mickelson would say.

●Sister Carter is a Savannah STL now and I loved getting to see her! It brought back all the memories. I even started saying chicken nuggie again hehe! Sure love that sister, could've stayed up all night talking to her!

●If you have a weak stomach... go to the next bullet point.... We got home at 9:30 after a long long day! Sister Gibbens turns on the light. And my eyes beheld... a ROACH! And not a small one. A big Palmetto bug. I went and snatched that Raid that Simpsonville had trained me for... and across the counter he ran and me and my can of Raid with it! I sprayed mightily. And I sure did spray all over the place! He made an attempt at escaping in between the paper towel sheets, but I trapped him by grabbing both ends. I shook him into the sink, trapped him in a paper towel tube and got a knife and started puncturing this fiend. Now with a tiny corpse in the sink and a Raid-soaked paper towel roll, I opened the trash can to throw them both away. As I'm trying to clean up the kitchen, Sister Bruce sees something moving on the floor. That something turns to somethingS. Maggots. Ewww! We panicked, not knowing what to do. We put shoes on and go knock on the Reynolds door. Sister Reynolds becomes our super mom, grabbing gloves, GOOD paper towels, and disinfectant. We scoured the floor and sprayed/squished all the little wigglies. Sister Reynolds took our trash can out. She explained the roach wasn't due to uncleanliness, its just where we live. Then she told us that in the summers you just have to take your trash out quick, even if it's not full and it's only been 2-3 days. The chickens have now multiplied the flies and they keep getting inside. We were pretty shocked, we aren't unclean people. But from then for the next few days, we wore shoes around the house, darted through the doors as fast as possible to not let them in, and we would send Sister Bruce on a slaughtering rampage when there were intruder flies. Thanks for tuning in to my bug saga.

●We met this lady named Heather. While we were talking, I pinched a fruitfly out of mid air!

●This was my first time getting asked to leave the property. A man told us "no I'm an atheist please get off my property."

●We went to visit our friend Harry and there was a christian fundraiser car show going on right behind his house. It was fun to see all the shiny cars. I touched one of the soft seats and my companions informed me you don't do that at car shows haha!

●We met petunia the pig at the Bensons... she was just walking around haha!

●We decided to drop off some cookies for Donna. Tin foiled those bad boys ip w cookies haha! We arranged a ride for Donna to church, and when we saw her she said "Thank you so much for the cookies! You must not be from around here though." She then tells us a story. She said "Brian brought in the cookies, and he uncovers the foil. You can't set them on the ground or the ants will get to them! So I went over to the sink and started brushing off the ants. They were still on them! But I wanted to eat these doggone cookies. So I tried washing them off but then the cookies got all soggy, so I didn't get to eat em." Thankfully we had another plate of them in the car haha! She was DETERMINED to eat those bad boys!

●Saved another turtle crossing the road.

●Kailyn has a dog names Fluffernutter... Sister Gibbens teases me about calling dogs floofers!

●We set a new goal of 70 baptisms for the month of July. And we requested a song! It was so cute, Sister Monson sang it to us over a mission wide zoom. (sung to chorus of Let Us All Press On)"Seventyyyy is a number we can beat, seventyyyy we must find and then we'll teach, we will helo Gods children to return to him some dayyyy on the covenant path the only wayyyyy!"

●Met Mary who is from Scotland, had a nice talk with her. We gave her our number. She was SO fun to talk to! She said in her Scottish accent "You've got a dimple!" Hehe!

●We went and weekly planned with Graniteville!

●For pday we had a picnic and played Frisbee and uno at a park.

●We often walk to see the cows on our dirt road as our form of exercise. We pretended to teach the cows on our walk... it was quite hilarious!

●Forgot to mention last week when Keisha came to church, we told her she was welcome to take the sacrament, but she tries to whisper and talks a little loud and says "mmm mmm I don't play with God like that."

●Fabio had the guitar repaired that I acquired from Aiken! The guitar's name is Rico for now. There's an accord sticker on him which I did not realize....hehe!

●We got 2 sets of weights for our apartment! Sister Gibbens is in heaven!

Miracles

★On the way to MLC I learned a lot about myself! Here's some things the Spirit taught me: God has perfect timing and knows when we need certain things. God doesn't gave plan Bs. He has lots of plan As. Saran uses a lack of communication to hinder everything, like an undiagnosed disease-problems occurring with no idea as to why.

★This MLC was the best EVER ! We felt so unified with our goals. I'm excited for this month ahead! We did a mission-wide fast for our friends who are going to be baptized in June! This is our last full month with the Monsons here 😢

★On exchanges, we prayed for direction of where we needed to be. Sister Bruce suggested we go by our friend Theresa who we used to teach. We went there, no one home. Then Sister Robinson and I both had the bing to go to a media referral from a lady named Helen! We knock and we met her! We found out she's a MEMBER! She opened up RIGHT away Holy MOLY! She said she's been feeling lost and that God's been leading her. We pulled out a BoM and she said "oh yeah I'm in Alma" and she wants to get involved in missionary work! Then the best part... she referred her friend that she lives with: THERESA. Is that not God's hand right there?

★We did it. WE TALKED ABOUT BAPTISM WITH HAVEN! Kaitlyn said she does want her girls to follow that same path. Haven understands it helps her be washed clean of all of her sins! She asked what happens to our mistakes AFTER baptism, and so we talked about that too! They loved the video and Evarly sat in and was making comments too. Kaitlyn said she needs to talk to Matthew about it. But we brought up the hard question! WOOHOOO!

★Sister Robinson wanted to squeeze in one more visit before a lesson. We went to a referral who had made a request the day before. Harry! He lets us right in. But WOW he remembered making the request and he was like "Hey do y'all have a church around here?" Mans ASKED for the address. He wants it for his kids too! Half of his family is atheist and he can't stand it anymore. Explained the 2hr block of church and he said "we will be there Sunday." AHHHH! Elect times ONE HUNDRED!

★Brandon update! He is in Mosiah 2 and has been really busy with work. We asked about his experience blessing the sacrament for the first time and he said it was so cool because it was like it happened in third person. He could see himself doing it and the words were given to him and he said it was a really cool experience. He is so excited for the temple! He shared an experience he had recently where he got into a bit of a disagreement had the impulse to fight but walked away. He was disappointed that he had that thought but he recognizes that he is changing and that it takes time. He's making so much progress! We gave him a restoration pamphlet to give to someone and he knows exactly who he will give it to! WE ARE GOING TO THE TEMPLE THIS WEEK! And the best for last! Brandon bore his testimony on Sunday! The most tender moment ever. He bore his testimony on the Holy Ghost! He said that after he received the Holy Ghost, he was like "when is this going to kick in?" He said after 2 weeks he finally felt the difference, and that you just want to do good! Then he said "it just brings the peace like I've never felt before!" So often that phrase has been said by lots of people who experience the Spirit. But hearing Brandon say it-brought tears to my eyes. This man will never cease to amaze me!

★DONNA IS ON DATE FOR JUNE 24th! YAYAYA! Donna wants to get baptized by the priesthood authority! We talked a bit about priesthood and she understands the importance of it! Sister Emery shared how the priesthood has blessed her life! Donna said her baptism meant a lot to her but she wants to do it again and do it right! She wants to for sure get baptized before her surgery (most likely in September) and she is well on track! She looked in my eyes and I could see she wanted it! She's getting so much support, even 2 members tried picking her up for church on accident haha!

★Our zone has made a paper copy of "Baptism Checkmate" which is a tool we use to help keep our friends excited and feeling ready to be baptized! And it's already blessed us so much! Props to the Zone Leaders though!

★Our companionship has started saying SPECIFIC specific prayers. And we usually pray on our knees for morning/nightly prayers and into studies, but not leaving the house, but now we take the time to kneel and talk to Father. ♡

★KAY CAME TO CHURCH AND SHE READ! She hasn't come to church since December. This was a miracle! And she told us all about her Book of Mormon reading! Ahhh she's growing!

★We had dinner with the Phillips and the Tolmans! I had the bing to give Nichole a bookmark to help enhance her Book of Mormon reading! It felt good to follow the Spirit even when I was unsure if she'd appreciate it or not.

★We called Sister Mejia into a lesson, and she was a baller member...holyyyy! She was bold in a way we could never be in inviting Angie and Jodie to church! Love this woman!!!

★We stopped by our friend Aaron's house. Wowzers he came RIGHT out and was like "ahhh Sisters!" He said he remembered the Book of Mormon and that the missionaries never came back after he couldn't come to church. Also after we complimented his fit, he said "your style is so...righteous." haha! So we set up a return appointment. We thought he was so elect... he really does love Jesus! He even song a song "Jesus we are dependent on youuuu..." I can sing it to any of y'all upon request. We did have to stop teaching him, some members said he's met with missionaries a long time and he just likes to have friends to talk to. Pray for Aaron, one day he'll be ready!

Spiritual Thought

Prayer. WHY is prayer important? After all, if we pray ONLY morning and night and before meals... thats 5x a day, 35x a week, that's 12,775x a year. And that's just to start! What about church prayers? Prayers before a test, before road trips? That's a lot of praying! As a missionary, I remember the MTC days when I was astonished with all the praying. To open and close studies, meetings, everything! Then to the field. In the morning, over food, in and out of studies, before contacts, during lessons, prayers of gratitude, prayers of direction... I've said many-a-prayers to God. But what I've learned recently is that God love love LOVES specific prayers. Because specific prayers get specific answers! A friend reached out to me asking about prayer as a missionary, and I thought I'd throw in my responses to her: "Prayer is a GAME CHANGER in the work! It is how you plead for very specific blessings for your friends and very specific opportunities in the work. Pray on your knees as often as possible! Pray in the morning, before all your studies, before every contact and lesson, prayers of gratitude after a miracle, prayers asking for direction, prayers for discernment, prayers to call upon angels to help you, companionship prayers, pray with everyone you meet and ask what you can pray for for them! Prayer opens people more to the spirit. It's crucial to communicate with our Father in Heaven and report on the work you've done in His vineyard! Not praying as a missionary allows Satan to start taking the advantage. We pray to show we are submissive. We tell him our hopes, but show him REAL faith by trusting the outcome anyways. GOD IS IN CONTROL!" -Sincerely ME

My prayers are more intention and very specific. For example, yesterday we invited our friend Kay to read 3 Nephi 11. We prayed specifically that even though that chapter is on Christ's visit to the America's, that the Spirit would whisper in her ear that she should be baptized. We also have prayed like so: "please bless that if they are ready for our message, they will answer and feel the Spirit of peace as we enter into their home. But if they aren't yet ready, please let them not answer so we can move on and find those who are ready." I've learned to make my prayers more about "thy will be done" more than just "please bless." Another experience with specific prayers: We had a bing knock, an unknown house to us, but not unknown to the Lord! I had the impression to pray for the "young family inside." We walked up to the door. Knocked. And then we heard cooing and giggling. There were several small children inside! We knocked again, no answer. BUT. Specific prayers get specific answers! ONE MORE THOUGHT on prayer. WOW I love prayer!

Think with me for a minute. What was Christ's hardest moment in His life? When he felt every single type of pain, sorrow, affliction, hardship and guilt we can ever feel, in every kind of magnitude! The moments of His Atonement. The Savior, bleeding, crying, suffering, and even for a moment he asks if there is another way. Wait, rewind. What was the Savior doing in His most dire experience of His life? The Son of God was PRAYING! Jesus was praying when He was at His lowest point in the garden! Prayer is underestimated in its power. Because that was the most powerful thing Christ could've done! Don't take prayer for granted. USE IT! And be specific. And be patient, be submissive to the answer, because whether or not it's the way you hoped, it IS the perfect answer. I'm so grateful for the opportunity we have to pray to a perfect listener like our Heavenly Father. I wouldn't be able to survive spiritually without being able to communicate with him.

Birthdays

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