This week we felt like we watched our work slip out of our fingers. On Wednesday we taught our last lesson to Precious and said goodbye to her. 😢 We're really happy for her but we're going to miss her tons. It really all started with Rina though, telling us that she needs some time and ended with an investigator (Rosa) stopping us on the street as we were walking to her house to tell us that she will never change religions. Even our less actives that we have been trying so hard to work with are avoiding us on the streets and dodging our phone calls and visits.
Our lesson with Rina was interesting. We started with just talking to her about our objectives for her and asked what she expects from us. This is when she told us that she needs more time. We're a little stumped on what we should do for her because she just basically told us to stop asking her to come to church because she just needs time. She said that right now she had her grandchildren living with her and her life is crazy. She still wants us to come over and see her, but is not willing to even consider coming to church at this point in time.
Then as we got into our lesson (teaching her about obedience to God's commandments) there was a knock on the door and in entered 2 catholic "missionaries" (I'm not really sure exactly what they'd be.) They came in and read from the Bible with us and shared their thoughts and asked us our thoughts. It was kind of weird watching them do basically the same things that we do. In the end, if nothing else came out of that lesson, those 2 women gained respect for our church and understood that we are also good, normal christian people.
We also had branch council this week, but no one showed up except for the branch president and us missionaries. He talked to us a lot about some problems that are going on. After that meeting we were pretty worried for Sunday, assuming that no one would come to church, but it ended up being one of the best days of my entire mission.
So many miracles happened that day. I realized that we could've either gotten really down about what was going on in the branch, or we could do something about it. I woke up that morning with so much desire to work the hardest that I ever have in my entire mission for this branch. The talks on Sunday were about faith, and they were exactly what I needed to hear. Halfway through sacrament meeting 2 of the Elders' investigators walked in with their aunt who is a less active member who hasn't been to church in years. The branch was so excited to see investigators in church. I went with them to gospel principles and I cannot even describe the feelings in that room. It was just pure joy as the sister teaching was finally able to teach her lesson (without translation into English) to 2 people who were truly searching for a greater peace and joy in their lives. The less active sister also was able to bear strong testimony as was I, to answer their questions. I watched the church become all the more real to them. They stayed for the full three hours. And they too looked happier than I've ever seen them.
Then during relief society sorella taylor came and grabbed me, telling me that there were two women in the church who wanted to learn more. Our branch president had invited his cousin and her daughter to come to the church to discuss a few things with him, and I'm not exactly sure what happened but when we walked into his office the mother was holding a Book of Mormon that he'd just given to her. We walked in and they immediately noticed a difference in us. They said that they could see some sort of calmness in our countenances. She said that she was searching for something more in her life and she was asked us when we could meet. I love member-missionary work! Our branch president had already testified to her of the Book of Mormon and invited her to read and pray about it. As she was leaving she asked us, "but wait, how do you pray?" We got to then teach her how to pray and say a little prayer with her as well.
In the end, I have never felt the spirit so strongly in this church building than I did yesterday. I was more than content with how the meetings had gone, and then that little miracle at the end was like icing in the cake.
We missionaries in this branch have set some goals for this branch and have decided to work as closely as we can with our branch president, being there for whatever he needs as he works through a few things here. We are also more motivated than ever to find, teach and baptize new converted souls into this branch as well as recover the lost ones.
A continuous theme that has come up in my thoughts and studies recently is Faith. We know that everything starts with faith, and through faith, all things are possible. We are aware that it is by faith that miracles are brought to pass, and through faith, we obtain hope and subsequently follow all of the other Christlike attributes that we all strive to develops. But the thing that we sometimes forget, is that faith without works is dead. We can have all of the faith in the world, but if we don't do anything about it, nothing comes out of it. We have to take those first steps of action. We can follow the example of the father of the an afflicted child who desperately cried savior, "If thou canst do any thing," he said, "have compassion on us, and help us." Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. "And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." (Mark 9:22-24) Although this desperate father could not profess to have a perfect faith, he acted on the belief that he had, and asked for our savior to make up the rest. Faith is not a stagnant thing, but a word that requires action. I have a testimony that as we grow our faith by putting in double the work, we will truly see miracles.
Abbiate fede, e siate fedeli.
-Sorella Bonzo
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