Date: Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 11:50 AM
Subject: Turkey, Timing, and The Gift!
All Y'all,
Happy Thanksgiving!! And MERRY CHRISTMAS!!What a great time of year to be happy and service-minded, and lucky me, to be a missionary. :)
I have an invitation for all of you. Do these three things:
1) Visit christmas.mormon.org
2) Watch the three minute video on the homepage.
3) Share the link, the cards that came in December's Ensign, and your testimony of the Savior with at least one person (friend or family, member or nonmember) this week.
The Church has launched a huge "He is The Gift" initiative to spread the love and reality of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World. He is the reason for the season. We have been focusing on sharing the gift of Christ specifically in our teaching and in meeting strangers, and it has yielded positive results. People's hearts are so softened as we testify specifically of Jesus as the Christ, and we've had some powerful lessons with investigators that needed that simple reminder. I know you will have positive spiritual experiences as you share your love of Christ with those you love!
My testimony of God's ability to make incredibly specific arrangements with who-meets-who-where-and-when was significantly strengthened this week. We had a pretty miraculous experience contacting a referral! His name is Frank. We actually haven't met him yet, but he's already been a tool in leading us to prepared individuals.
Several months ago, a member in a nearby branch (small congregation) contacted my current companion, Sister Bedke, and her companion at the time. She said a friend of hers, Jackie, who lives in our boundaries, had been in her dream and she felt strongly that the sisters should contact her about the gospel. This and that happened, and they were unable to get her information and never ended up contacting her. Fast forward to this week.
We decided to drop by Frank's home one night to meet him-- he had just moved here from Tennessee the week before. We knocked on the door, and a woman in her forties invited us in. She introduced herself as Ruth. She said this was her mother's home, and Frank was renting a room there. He was sleeping in another room.
Not two minutes later, an older woman walked in the front door carrying groceries and introduced herself as Jackie So-and-so. "Jackie So-and-so?" Sister Bedke asked. Then she put it together, that this was the same Jackie the member had asked us to visit, but we had no way to find! So God used a referral from Tennessee to lead us to a former referral we hadn't been able to contact! So many factors made it happen the way it needed to. Had we gone any other night, we may have met Frank, and not Jackie; Ruth was in from out of state this week, and had she not been there, no one would have answered the door; they left out of town the next day, so we wouldn't have met her if we'd gone another day; and if we'd come five minutes earlier, we wouldn't have stayed long enough to meet Jackie. God works in mysterious ways. We'll hopefully meet with them next week after their trip. What an exciting miracle that was for us that night.
Thanksgiving was a wonderful service opportunity! We helped the Bishop's family prepare the Thanksgiving dinner they served to 20+ members and less active members at the church. Later that day we took leftover meals to individuals and families who didn't have anyone to spend Thanksgiving with, or couldn't afford to give their family a Thanksgiving meal. It was a special way to spend Thanksgiving. I don't ever want to go another Thanksgiving without inviting friends or families that need a place to go! We also had dinner with the Stake President's family, and we got to hold their chickens and visit their horses in their barn. It was a homey, memorable thanksgiving.
Sunday night we had another Thanksgiving dinner with the Standers family. They are as homegrown as they come--- they raised, butchered, and prepared their own turkey! It was fun to be around a simple, happy family in a farmy atmosphere. Definitely a meal I won't forget. :)
Saturday was an adventure. We got stuck in game day traffic (UGA lost to Georgia Tech in overtime, tragically)...for an hour and a half. We took the opportunity to sing songs, talk, and comment on passerby's.
Our investigator Lyssa came to church again yesterday. It was a little stressful for her because her boyfriend, a convert from last year, had some anxiety and spent much of the block outside or in the foyer. But she listened to the lessons and felt more comfortable in such an interactive environment. That is something new and different for her in a church. Our lesson this week also went quite well! The Spirit prompted us to talk about baptism, and led us beautifully from subject to subject, scripture to scripture, till it wove into our lesson perfectly. That was essential, because Lyssa would back off quickly if she felt pressured or pushed into joining the church. If you want to be a good teacher, be worthy of the Spirit as you teach. The Spirit is a much better teacher than I could ever be on my own! She said she wants to be baptized, and has considered it before. The time wasn't right to give her a baptism date, but we're setting the stage for when the time comes that she'll be more than ready.
It's been another wonderful week to be grateful for. :)
Twenty five days till Christmas!
Sister Taylor
PS
Me with a chicken and Scottie (Stake President's grandson :) )
A hundred year old Baptist Church's sign
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