My last full week in Salisbury has been great. I have felt so much love and have received so much support from the members - I just love them so much. They are my family away from family. It was tough to say goodbye, but I know I will see them again... I'm also excited for the new adventure in Chichester.
Cleanin' up and clearin' out. Next stop, Chichester. :)
Unfortunately, Wayne isn't quite ready to be baptized. He told us he wanted to take a step back for a while. He miraculously ran into some other missionaries while he was in Bournemouth and told them he thought it was a sign for him that he's been travelling the right path. I hope the sisters here will be able to continue teaching him.
To preface the miracle of the week, I need to share some background info. The past couple transfers, our mission has focused on getting investigators to the temple as well as involving them in family history. We were given "My Family" books to complete and share with others. We don't have a big supply to hand out and it was something that took us a while to prepare. There were many promises given an zone conferences and MLC's that as we used family history, we would see success in our work... I believed this promise and hoped that it would work. At home, I was never into family history and thought it was for old people. Consequently, as I've offered the family history site to others, I haven't been able to speak from personal experience. It hasn't meant as much to me. Despite my lack of enthusiasm, I committed myself to consistently work on the "My Family" book in order to have it ready to share with people. As I worked on it, I felt a new love and admiration for the people in my family. I have all my ancestors to thank for the many blessings that I have and for my immediate family now. I wouldn't have the gospel and be a missionary if it wasn't for their faith and sacrifice. I truly felt the Spirit each time I worked to complete my book. So the stage is set.
My testimony of family history was solidified during our knocking session Saturday evening. We went up and knocked a development really close by the new chapel. Amazingly, for the first time ever, one of the members in the branch was able to come along with us. What a great opportunity and perfect scenario to find new people to teach. The first few doors we knocked we didn't have much success. We decided to say a prayer and, with renewed hope, began knocking again. A mother answered the first door we knocked on after the prayer and was interested as we told her about how our family history can bring us closer together as a family. We explained more about why families were so important and how the gospel of Jesus Christ could help her family. She gave us her phone number and accepted our invitation to learn more about our message. We hope to be going back on Wednesday to teach her more about family history and the gospel. I was amazed. What a blessing it was to meet her!! I know that the gospel message seemed relevant to her because we first started talking about her family. I have a firm testimony of family history and missionary work together. They are one in the same and I know that we will continue to see success as we use to find more people to teach.
Scripture of the week: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers..." -3 Nephi 25:5-6
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