Well this is the best letter and part of my week EVERRRRR!!!!
So I don't have tons of time but I do have some stories for you that I think you will love. I LOVE Sister Taylor, have I told you that?? She is a boss. It's her birthday today so we had German pancakes and are going to play Risk in the park if it stops raining with the other Elders and Sisters in our district!! ANYWAYS
Remember Don?? Well let me tell you the best miracle in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!! Sister Taylor has been teaching Don now for 12 weeks... and we were pretty sure that he was going to end up being an eternal investigator which is the saddest thing ever. Well I think it was two weeks ago we weren't sure why but we felt like we should stop by his trailer and chat.. not really sure about what, but we did. So we had a chat about why we were there and what he was getting out of it and I had the feeling to teach him to set goals. We taught that if he doesn't know where he wants this to go then there really is nothing he is going to get out of it. So he set the goals of being able to feel peace when he read the scriptures and to feel loved when he went to church and to feel God when he prayed. Seems simple right?? So then we had a member come out with us the next day and give him a Student manual for the BoM. Don told us over and over again that there is NO way the Book of Mormon could be true and there is NO way that Joseph Smith is a prophet. Usually he would start yelling at us about these things and then we would bear our testimonies and leave. That brings me to last week. Last week we had another feeling to just stop by Don and see how he was doing. It was probably 5 in the afternoon and He was still in the pajamas and didn't look that happy to see us. So I just killed him with all the kindness I could find. Then we asked him how reading the scriptures and praying was going (He has been praying about the Book of Mormon for 12 weeks mind you) and he says well... I got my answer... It's true.
WHAT??? I have to see me face when I watch this clip in Heaven.
So we say "Don like what happened how did you come to find this out??" and he says "Well they both say the same thing, the Bible and the Book of Mormon so it has to be true"
.....
We have not been saying that for 12 weeks or anything ?!?!?! Of course we have but this is the part that kills me.
"So Don, now that you know the Book of Mormon is true, what are you going to do to act on that knowledge??" And Don says... well I don't know. Don will you be baptized... (commitment pattern)
NO. Because I don't believe in Joseph Smith.
So we set a goal for him to know if he should be baptized sept like 21 or something and he says he will think about it.
Crying inside. So we leave and commit him to pray about being baptized Joseph Smith etc etc etc
WE WERE DYING SO SO SO SAD!!!!
So then the next day we had this "I'm a Mormon Fireside" to go to that Don wanted to come to and so did Taia and a friend of hers. The member that was going to take them totally bails on us and says she can't have any extra weight in her car and we call EVERYONE in the ward list... not really but everyone we can think of and no one will help us out. So we are eating lunch and then I have the thought... "Why don't you have your own I'm a Mormon Fireside?" and I'm thinking ya but Don's not a mormon and he will yell at anyone who bears their testimony of Joseph Smith. and then the thought comes "Just take everyone on a church tour..." So Sister Taylor and I talk about it and plan it all out and so the hour arrives. Taia a new convert who is 16 brings her friend Kat and Don is there and another member are there. So we take them around and bear our testimony in different places (Having a member there was key!!! She really brought it home because she also is a convert) We take them to the Baptismal Font and Taia bears this beautiful testimony about baptism and our member does too and it was incredible. So we end in the chapel like Jason suggested and bear our testimonies and tell the Joseph Smith story right? And this thing TURNS into an "I'm a Mormon" fireside. Taia bears her testimony I bear mine Sister Taylor and Sister Delarosa and then we ask Don to tell us how He know the Book of Mormon is true. So he bears his testimony on how he came to know and it was just powerful.
So the day after that we run over to Don's with another member because our appointment fell through and we ask Don about these scriptures he read that helped him know the truthfullness of the Book of Mormon. And he starts rattling off all these really obscure scriptures about the "isles of the sea" and cross references it over to like Ezekial and Isaiah and Sister Taylor and Sister Ferrill and I are all just looking at eachother like... what on earth?? Then Don looks at us and says... THIS IS AMERICA!!!! It was crazy he just went nuts and it was such a testimony to me that God knows HOW to talk to his children when they are ready. Don told us that he was so grateful for Sister Norris giving him the manual so he could find all these scriptures and THENNNNNNNNNNNNN
He says- I know I need to be baptized....
we are floored no joke WHAT?? He says last night I looked at that baptismal font and I remembered what it felt like to be clean like a little kid. I want to feel that again. And so we say well when do you want to be baptized? And he looks at us with tears in his eyes and says "I want to be baptized as soon as possible"
The spirit was so strong. I cried- I felt so much love for Don this man with long hair and only 5 teeth. So Don is going to be baptized this Saturday along with Nick.
That's not even the best part. He is already converted!!! How do I know?? Well He comes to me on Sunday and says Sister Weber I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet and he pulls out a scripture in Moroni about faith and says, I just have to believe it, like I believe the bible.
The best feeling in the whole world is knowing that someone has taken charge of their own conversion and doesn't need you anymore. Don never really needed us, but he needed to know how much he needed the Spirit. He knows that now and I am SO excited for him!!!
Cool miracle huh??
This is also something that I learned this week. I was studying like all day yesterday while sister Taylor was asleep and I was studying Trust and this is a highlight of what I learned.
We are commanded to trust in God with all our HEART. So I was looking at a topical guide reference for the word Heart and it is like "conversion, new, and reborn." So after pondering on it for some time I came to this realization through the spirit. You cannot depend on yourself to be reborn. Your conversion cannot come from your own knowledge. It will come when you, like a baby, are completely depending on the Lord, like a baby depends COMPLETELY on it's mother, before it is born. Without God or a babies Mother, it would not be able to have life.
A baby's heart would not beat if it were not for the blood of the mother. It's very ability to live is dependant upon it's ACCEPTANCE of the blood the Mother has to give. Trust in God allows us to live life through the blood of the Savior. Expound on that as you will but I thought it was SWEET!!!
Anyways its safe to say that I am a changed human being right now and I miss and love you all TONS!!!!! i HOPE THAT YOU ARE HAVING A GREAT DAY!!!
Don't forget to smile and be so FREAKING EXCITED because you are disciples of Jesus Christ!!!!
i love you i love you i love you!!!!!
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