Hey family!!!
What a week!! Sunday was pretty much the best day ever and I'll tell you why later on in this email :)
Anyway, you had asked about Kenneth and Wilma. We
still haven't seen Wilma in a while. hopefully this week. Kenneth is
doing great! he finally quit smoking! We told him he needed to quit by
saturday if he wanted to be baptized on the 20th. So Saturday morning
rolls around, and he throws out all his cigarettes and gives all his
lighters to his brothers. He's still going strong and is planning on
being baptized on Saturday.
This brings me to why Sunday was so awesome! So two
of our investigators attended church; which is rare. it's hard enough
getting one to come, let a lone two. Kenneth came. He had called us to
tell us he wasn't coming, but i called him right back and asked him why.
he said that he needed to get some yard work done. (okay, that was the
lamest excuse he's ever given us, ha). So i just asked him if he could
do that after church. He said he could wait, and showed up right as the
services were starting. I was so proud of our ward because they were
really in a fellowshipping mood and they were all talking with our
investigators. It was great!
Our second investigator to come to church was
Michael. He is amazing. he literally is a miracle investigator. Sister
Malloy feel so humbled every time we teach him because we are so
grateful that Heavenly Father is allowing us the great opportunity to be
a part of it. Michael is one of those investigators that you hear about
from mission stories and think, "That would be so cool to be a part of
that, but it's pretty rare." So the fact that Michael is this way and
Heavenly Father is letting me and Sister Malloy stay another transfer to
keep teaching him is incredible.
I don't know how much I ever told you about Michael, but I'm going to give you the story here.
We
found Michael (59) as we were tracting a short street that i had felt
lead to. When Michael answered the door, it was evident that he didn't
own much, because he had tattered clothes on; yet his appearance was
humble. We asked him if we could pray with him and he agreed. Afterward,
we started talking to him about the Book of Mormon. Excitement came
into his eyes as he began o express how he once had a book of mormon. We
read the introduction to invite him to read and pray to know of the
truthfulness of the book of mormon. He instantly clapped his hands
together and proclaimed, "Yay! It's true. I know it's true."
Of course this excited us as well and we set up another time to
visit him. We came to know his background and all of the rough things
that he has been through. He is a musician (he can play 7 instruments)
and he was doing so well when he lived in London. However, family
circumstances brought him back to the states and he came to Tennessee.
Things went incredibly downhill, leaving him with nothing.
As we began teaching Michael, everything was falling into place. he
truly understood what we were teaching and it was evident that the
spirit was teaching him things that we were not saying. He remembered
learning about the Book of Mormon from a friend and he had seriously
dated a mormon girl in his past. As we came back for return
appointments, he not only read from the book of mormon, but he had
actually studied it. he used the study questions in the back of the
pamphlets we left with him and he studied topics from visiting mormon.org. His heart was prepared as he studied, so the spirit was able to teach him even more.
We had given Michael the chapter of Alma 32 to read on faith when
he was especially struggling with his personal trials. There is one
verse in there talking about baptism and THAT was the verse that stuck
out to him when we came back to teach. This prompted him to ask us, "So,
can I like set up an appointment? To be baptized?"
With smiles from ear to ear, we set a date in which michael could
be baptized. We warned him that opposition would come because of how
strongly Heavenly Father wants this for him, the devil would work
against him. And it happened. The first sunday he wanted to come to
church. He asked us if there was a church close by and if he was allowed
to come (of course!) However, he became very ill so he was unable to
attend. The next Sunday, there was a storm and he cancelled because his
neighborhood had flooded. Sister Malloy and i drove over after the
services and indeed, his neighborhood had flooded! There was a crew and
everything, cleaning it up. We knew at this point that Michael was
special. He expressed how badly he wanted to come to church and could
see how hard Satan was working on him in order for him not to attend.
However he expressed to us that, "Nothing! Nothing can stop
righteousness!" So he told us for the next Sunday, "I'm coming to church
and nothing is stopping me!....unless I'm on fire; i'm coming to
church!"
Sunday, July 14 rolls around and we anxiously wait for him to show.
We knew he literally didn't have much, so we told him to come in the
best that he had. Walking up the sidewalk with the member who picked him
up, came a man in his best; black jeans and a tye-dye shirt. Sister
Malloy and I could not stop smiling as pure joy entered into our hearts.
As soon as Michael entered into the doors, he took the initiative to
introduce himself to everyone, literally! :)
We took him to Gospel principles after sacrament meeting and the
lesson was a detailed discussion on the priesthood. I was a bit nervous
that it would go over his head as they talked about the offices of
deacon, teacher, priest, etc. However, during the lesson he just kept
saying how interesting it was. The teacher was telling the male
investigators that they could work toward being a priest in the
priesthood when they were baptized and Michael became very excited. He
expressed afterwards his feelings on the class. he told me, "This all
makes sense. This is all about progression. My whole life I've just been
stuck, wondering what I'm going to do; not going anywhere. This gospel
allows you to progress and become something." I knew the spirit had
taught him an important doctrine that had not been said in the class
that day.
After services, a member asked him if he was visiting and he said
with a smile, "No. not anymore, I'm not visiting anymore." At first we
all stopped, wondering what he meant, but then he expressed that he
doesn't want to be a "visitor" anymore. He wants to keep coming back and
he wants to be a part of this church.
Words cannot express the feelings I have concerning
this investigator. As we have taught him, his whole perspective on life
has changed and he views others so differently. He considers the Book of
Mormon to be "rehab" and thinks that all the druggies on his block need
to read it. We are so excited for him to be a part of Christ's church.
He is setting an example for those he's around and he's setting an
example for me and Sister Malloy. I know there is a power in the spirit
and in this gospel and we can access it through the Book of Mormon.
Well family, I'm pretty sure that was one of the
longest emails I have written to you. I just wanted you to be able to
take part in the joy that we are experiencing here. This Gospel IS
changing lives, one at a time.
Love you with all of my heart,
Sister Valerie Preston
