Week 47 - What's the end goal here?

8:56 AM

Okay so as of now we have 1 (nonprogressingclosetodropping) investigator. That being said I often have to remind myself "what's the end goal here? Right! To invite others to come unto Christ and help them choose to qualify for eternal life. So we've been working hard with our less actives and we are seeing so many miracles. Our branch reached 100 people again this week which is so amazing. 5 of our LAs are making a lot of progress. You can see they're not only coming back to church but they're changing too. But I wanted to share an experience about one of them. Ming Mao is a LA who shares a house with another LA Bong Aan. Bong Aan is awesome and she only needed us to invite her back and reassure her she didn't need to feel embarrassed. Ming Mao on the hand didn't seem too interested in what we had to share (she was going to another church close by that offered her a lot of free food) it was obvious she didn't understand much about the gospel before she was baptized. So the other day one of our lessons fell through and we decided to go visit Bong Aan. We normally go and read the Book of Mormon with her but we felt impressed to share about the Plan of Salvation that day. Right when we started 2 of our other LAs came and joined in. One, Bong Hane and the other Ming Mao. The lesson was good they were all interested and were participating. After the lesson I invited Ming Mao to come back to church. (Bong Hane already started coming back) Ming Mao gave her normal response "maybe, if I have time after my other church" aka no cause they're at the same time... then I felt impressed to tell her "Our church has the fullness of the gospel. We have prophets who hold power from God and it is through a prophet that we know about the Plan of Salvation" I could tell that earlier while we were teaching things were staring to click but I she really started understanding once she started asking questions. (Also side note: At first I was nervous because normally it’s hard for me to understand what she's saying but I understood her Questions clearly that day) First she asked why are the kingdoms of glory represented by a sun, moon, and star. I explained how the difference in light represented the difference in kingdoms and we reviewed over how they were different. Then came the big question "Will God be mad if I go to another church? Does God want me to go to one church?" Her attitude was completely different when she was asking her questions I could tell she really wanted the answer. In that moment I definitely had words come to my mind. I told her "Yes, God wants you to go to the church that has the fullness of the gospel. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has that. Other churches are good but they follow people, this church truly follows God". Ï could see her mind working and she finally replied, "Oh I understand" Then I said,”I know it's hard when other churches offer rice, food, and other stuff, but the church of Latter Day Saints can offer you what's most important, the way to get to the Celestial Kingdom back to our Heavenly Father" She looked at me and said "I want that" so I invited her again and she said yes! AND even better she followed through. She came early and stayed all three hours and she looked happy. I'm not going to lie I felt pretty bold in that lesson, but I wasn't nervous about it and it WAS effective because the spirit was 100% guiding me. I know it was no coincidence we felt impressed to teach about the Plan of Salvation. I'm so grateful for that plan and for my Savior who is at the center of that plan. I know he overcame physical and spiritual death so that we could too. I know as we apply his gospel and walk that narrow path he has shown us we will have success and live with our Father in Heaven again (the end goal). I know we have help along the way through family, friends, leaders, prophets, and the Holy Ghost. I'm grateful I felt the Spirit working through me and I'm very grateful the spirit was working in her. I know those questions she had come from the Holy Spirit and the feelings of desire she had also came from that same spirit.

That's all I have to share this week. I love and miss you all. Have a great week and keep the bigger picture in mind. Love Sister Semones