Monday we met with Lisa. We were supposed to meet last Monday, but she wasn't home. Grr. This time she told us that she was home, she just must not have heard the doorbell. We walked in, and her 2 dogs got into a vicious fight. I was scared. One of them got a big gash in his ear. Sister Esplin and I stood there not quite sure what to do, hoping the dogs wouldn't attack us. We finally got to sit down and talk and get to know Lisa. She's going through some hard things right now. Before we even started talking about the gospel, she said she wants us to come back on the 14th when her boyfriend is in town so we can talk with him. He's a Nazarene. Great. We had a BOM on the table, and she asked to see it. We explained what it was to her, and had her read Moroni 10:3-5 and then asked her what she thought about those verses. She said she got the chills while reading it. Yay! Go Spirit! She said she'd like to have a copy, and we readily obliged and gave her that one. We mentioned that a main difference in our church is modern prophets, and she said she could believe in modern prophets because it would show that God loves us just as much as He did people in Biblical times. Yes, she's getting it. Her conception of exactly what a prophet is isn't quite accurate, but we'll work on that. I just hope her boyfriend doesn't want to bash with us. If so, he lives in Ohio, so we won't have to deal with him all the time. :)
We stopped by to see Chirag, who we found at least 2 months ago. He converted from Hinduism and was interested in learning more about our church. He was finally home this time, and he told us he spent an hour talking with his other Christian friends learning about our beliefs and where we came from, and decided it wasn't for him. :( I was heartbroken. It's natural for him to turn to his friends since he is new to the Christianity thing, but it's so misguided to learn about us from our critics rather than from the source and most importantly, the Spirit. We testified to him and encouraged him to check out our website and learn from us what we're about. Hopefully some day he will.
Tuesday we went to see Andy Carson who was probably anti, but we told him we'd come back and talk with him. From our first meeting with him, we thought he'd be very antagonistic and Bible bashing us. To our surprise, he was very calm and nice. He had some questions, and we testified to him. In the end, we could tell he was going to agree to disagree because he didn't want to believe. We made him speechless at one point. He told us he couldn't see us as his sisters in Christ because we have the BOM. His requirement to be Christian is to rely on Christ and the word of God. We testified that that is what we do, but because of the BOM, he couldn't accept us as Christian. Sad day.
We tracted into Mrs. Scott that evening. We talked about prophets and asked her if she thought it was possible that God could call a prophet today. She said yes, and then I asked if she thought He would call a prophet. She responded that she thinks God should call a prophet. We testified that we were there to teach her about modern prophets and help her know for herself. She requested a pamphlet so we left her one and she said she'd check her schedule and give us a call. We still haven't heard from her yet. :( We'll go see her and see what she says.
Alrighty, now to the awesome training. The new Simplified Curriculum was the topic of the training. 8 lessons that basically pull out the gold nuggets from PMG and put them all in one location for us to help us become better missionaries as we teach by the Spirit. The lessons are: 1) the doctrine of Christ 2) the role of the HG in conversion 3) revelation through prayer 4) revelation through BOM 5) revelation through church attendance 6) teach people, not lessons 7) we invite, they commit, we follow up 8) how to begin teaching. The Spirit was SO STRONG during the training. We learned the power of role playing as the Spirit was present as we asked inspired questions. All of the lessons focus so much on the Spirit, so of course He was present to testify to us and teach us. I learned so much, I can't even write "a hundredth part..." Here's a few things I did learn:
* missionaries talk too much. shut up and let the Spirit speak
* as we listen in love, we will not have to wonder what to say
* the Spirit knows the people and will give us the words to say
* teaching about Christ leads to a desire for baptism (see Acts. 8 about the eunuch)
* the Holy Ghost is so willing to be present and will be EVERY TIME if I'm worthy and if we invite him.
* silence invites the Spirit to testify.
* don't hesitate to give a baptism commitment. if they say no, you can find out why and work towards resolving that.
And that's just a few. I have about 10 pages of notes from the 3 days.
The 6 sisters who were there got the privilege of having dinner and sleeping at the mission home during the training. It was so neat to spend time together and with Pres. and Sister Collins. We got to talk more about our thoughts and feelings about the training and how it's going to make such a difference in our lives and the lives of those we teach.
I've always loved Sister Latu, since the first day I saw her. I've been drawn to her for some reason. I found out at least part of that reason during the training days. She gets up every morning at 5:30 for extra study. I asked her to wake me up the first morning so I could study too. We had an amazing study as we reviewed the things we learned the day before. Things that we discussed and thought about were talked about at breakfast and also during the training that day. Wednesday the Spirit was so strong, I think I had wet eyes for at lest 4 of the 7 hours of the training. Thursday, my eyes were dry, and I was wondering why there was a difference. In the afternoon, Sister Latu and I were role playing. As she taught me, tears came, but then the left, and then my heart started to beat faster (like when you're thinking about bearing your testimony on fast Sunday). I had an epiphany - I was learning how to recognize and feel the Spirit in different forms, so that I could relate more with people that we teach. Tears is usually the way I feel the Spirit, but I was experiencing other ways. During a break, Sister Latu and I went to the bathroom, and I began to tell her what I learned. She said she had a feeling I was going to say what she learned. Come to find out, she had been feeling the same things, wondering what the difference was from the day before. She said that also during the role play, when I was teaching her, her heart was pricked, and she felt the Spirit that way. We learned the same lesson, at the exact same time. We realized how alike we are. It was so neat to continue through the training and experience kind of a "one mind in two bodies" thing.
Thursday was a neat evening. I went on splits with Sister Mat while Sister Summers went to teach Paul Hodge a lesson with Sister Esplin. We were supposed to have an appointment with Linda, but we called to confirm, and she dropped us. :( So sad. I was so excited to go teach her and help her feel the Spirit implementing all that we'd learned, but she wouldn't even let us stop by. Our backup was to go try Hector, and then come back and try a former named David. While driving I had Sister Mat read his teaching record so we could plan a lesson. I had the impression that we should go see him rather than going out to Hector's. I was hesitant because of how that would affect our later plans, but the impression came again, and so I made a u-turn and we went to try David. He wasn't home. So we tracted his street as we had planned, and we found a guy named Paul. Awesome guy. He was so energetic and willing to talk with us. It was so neat as Sister Mat and I implemented the techniques we learned about following the Spirit and allowing Him to speak, and focusing on Paul rather than on a specific lesson. He had some good questions and concerns, and we brought up the account in John 1 with Philip and Nathanael and Philip told him to "come and see". We offered him that same invitation and gave him a BOM. He was gracious to receive it and said he wouldn't truly be a seeker of truth if he didn't take a look at it. His dad showed up about 10 minutes into our conversation, planning on helping Paul fix the sink. Paul told him he could just go home, but his dad said no and insisted on helping him. We continued to talk for about another 15 minutes or so, and then Paul said he had to go but asked if we could come back. We have an appointment with him tonight. Had we gone to Hector's house first, Paul's dad would've been there by the time we showed up, and we wouldn't have been able to talk with Paul. What a miracle! Missionary work is so much better when the Spirit is involved! As we got back to the church and were waiting for the other sisters, Sister Mat and I both offered up prayers of gratitude for the Spirit and seeing miracles. What a spiritual experience. I love Sister Mat. She's another sister that I immediately was drawn to. It was neat to talk about how we had both been a great influence on each other and had provided strength when we each felt inadequate.
Back at the mission home we gathered together and shared our awesome experiences. Sister Latu, Bernard, and Ram went out with Sister Collins and commited an investigator to baptism. Sister Esplin and Summers talked with Paul about the Godhead and the role of the Spirit. And then Pres. told us about all the elders who had called him with baptism commitments or other miracles. Wow. The work of God is going forward!
Friday was another up at 5:30 day to study. I find it odd that I was less tired then than I normally am at 6:30. Hmm. Thursday night I offered up a prayer. Some time when I was back in Bloomington, I was reading in PMG about gaining a "spiritual witness" of the BOM being true. That's kind of been on my mind here and there since then. I know it's true. It makes so much sense. I've felt the power of it. At another point, I remember someone saying that we also should put Moroni's promise to the test. I'd been thinking of doing that for some time, but I just never had. Thursday evening I offered up that prayer. I recognized that my answer would quite possibly come during my study or during the training, so I was extra alert. My answer came during a role play. Sister Esplin was teaching me, as I pretended to be an investigator. At one point, she paused for a long time, and then when she continued, she made an abrupt change to the BOM. She had me read the last 2 paragraphs of the Intro, and boy, the Spirit was so strong. Tears welled up and I couldn't even see the page. What a powerful witness. That spiritual confirmation was not for the investigator who I was pretending to be, but it was for me. I love the Spirit. It's so personal. He is so ready to be present in ANY teaching situation, if we invite Him.
Friday afternoon, we were all spiritually drained. The Spirit was there in so much abundance. We'd all felt the Spirit prior to this training, but I don't think any of us felt it that intensely, nor realized that's what we can feel like all the time. I look forward to being spiritually exhausted for the rest of my mission. It's so worth it! To end the meeting, we sang The Spirit of God. Well, mostly I just read the words. The Spirit was so strong - and the tears were back - no joke, I only could utter about 10 words out of all 4 verses. During that song, I received such personal revelation. The Spirit spoke directly to me. It was a loving rebuke; a recognition of what I can be, and what I haven't been. This is the beginning of the rest of my mission. I was able to see what the Lord can do with me. Very humbling when you realize you haven't been living up to that. Sister Latu and I were both sobbing even after the song. We wrote down some thoughts, and then we embraced, and we both could feel that once again, we were feeling/learning the same thing. What a great comfort to have her as my sister, knowing what I'm feeling. After the meeting, no one wanted to leave. Usually after meetings, it gets loud pretty quick, but it remained quiet, and it was some time before anyone started to head out. Pres. Collins told us that "this feeling WILL NOT die". Man, I wish we could have these trainings every month.
Friday night we went to the Denkers house for dinner, and we had a good, spiritual lesson with them on feeling and recognizing the Spirit. I felt strongly about that topic for them, and I know it was inspired. Everyone in the room felt the Spirit, and it was a great way for us to gain more practice implementing the techniques we learned.
Saturday we stopped by to see Charlotte. We focused on lesson 8 and got to know her and let her talk. She led herself to inviting herself to church. Some guy came to work on her house so it interrupted the conversation, but she felt the Spirit. Something came up and she wasn't able to make it to church, but I have a good feeling about her.
The rest of the day we tried some potentials and tracted. All the things we learned are so powerful, but they only work once people actually let you in the door. So we struggled with how to tract better to allow us to get in to people's homes to implement what we learned. It's tough. You'd think by now I'd be an expert at tracting, but no, it's still hard. Darn agency. :)
Melvin came to church yesterday! He was a little bit late, but he made it before the sacrament was passed. He told us Saturday that he'd probably have to leave early (he was hesitant to stay 3 hours). There was a YW talk on virtue, and then the adult speakers spoke on repentance, forgiveness, and the Atonement. The first adult talk was really good. Melvin really felt the Spirit and we talked with him about his thoughts afterwards. He said he really enjoyed the talks, and he said he felt like he needed to stay for the rest. Yay! We learned about the Priesthood and Priesthood organization. In gospel principles, Melvin freely offered up comments and participated. What a great miracle. The sad thing is that he now lives out of our area, so we'll have to pass him to the elders. Good thing the church is still true over there. :)
I love this work! I hope you can get some feel of what I've felt this week. The Spirit is amazing. I feel like I'm just now getting to know Him.
Well, this novel is long enough. Thanks for reading!
sister humpherys
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