Wearing out shoes in the service of God..JPG)
Good thing I have the skills to fix them!
This week went by so fast I was blown away. I know the rest of my mission is going to be like that, so I wont resist it and I'll get to work and I'll think about that kind of stuff later.
It has been such a blessing this week being able to work by inspired weekly planning. Elder Earl and I applied what our zone leaders taught us about weekly planning at zone meeting. We had several instances where unplanned opportunities came to us just because we were at the right place at the right time and we acted quickly to promptings of the spirit. The first instance was where we had some tracting planned and as were walking through a parking lot for an apartment. We saw a lady with a lot of Groceries so we asked if we could help, she said "why yes, that would be a blessing." We carried up her groceries and ask if we could share a brief message with her. She thought for a minute and accepted. We then showed her the video, " the church from a glance" which I have found to be a great finding tool. It goes over a lot of the "Fruits" of the church and including the restoration. She Was crying throughout the video. She found it such a blessing that we came at the time we did. She has been depressed for years. Other churches haven't been cutting it for her. She loved how family oriented the church is and wanted to learn more. We asked her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, she said she would. She expressed that we did not meet her by chance, that it had been God sent for us to be here. We have a return appointment this week.
Leaving from there we were feeling the spirit so strong and as we were not even an apartment down a young women stopped us and said if we're were knocking doors don't knock on her's because she didn't want her baby sister opening it. We asked if we could then come back and share a message with her. She asked if tomorrow evening would work. We check and it was. We went to the appointment with our branch president and he knew the lady's father/ family. Its nice when we can take our branch president out because he is the Locksmith in Town and knows everyone.
Another small miracle we had was that we were driving to one of our investigator's home and decided to call him to make sure it would be okay for us to come by because he is normally in a ton of pain and can't meet. We called him and he was telling us that we couldn't come by but it was a miracle we called when we did because he was in so much pain only minutes before we called him it was so bad he couldn't answer the Phone and that he was a lot better now. We got to talk with him about the gospel and he was so thankful that we called him and lifted his spirit. We invited him to read 2 Nephi 2 because it teaches us two great principles, why do good people go through bad things and why is it necessary for bad things in the world. He was so excited to read it and talk to us and wants to talk to us soon.
With that appointment canceling we travel to our back up plan. We walk down a dusty street in the middle of a trailer park to our back up plan when this man asked us why were we there. We started to introduce ourselves but he had to leave. But, a women came up behind him saying she would talk to us. We told her who we were and she started to open up to us. She expressed how she had been through hell and back. She had been homeless for a few years and lost her 4 kids and now is being evicted from her home the following day. She was thinking that religion is the thing that is missing from her life. We asked if she needed help moving and she told us they were in desperate need of help. She was talking with her boyfriend, who we only moments talked to earlier that they had no Idea how they were going to get it all done. We told them that not only will he help but that we will get missionaries on the other side to help unpack. They were shocked that we were to willing to Help. We then asked if there was anything else we could help them with. They told us that they were in desperate need of boxes and we told them to not worry about it, we would fine some for them and that we would see them tomorrow morning with the Boxes. We called up our branch president and said he had some boxes at his Locksmith Shop so we hurried and Grabbed them. The move went smoothly we helped them get all packed up in about 45 minutes and got them the contact information for the Arlington 1 Elders which area they were moving into and also gave the Elders a heads up on them.
We also had a blessing of another back up when we followed on with kid we tracted into a few weeks before. We came in and watched the video again "the Church from a glance" and taught him about the importance of the Book of Mormon. We asked him if he were to know if this was true and that this is Christ church would you be baptized. He said he would, which was one of the most sincere and sweetest "yeses" I have ever heard.
The last and maybe the Biggest miracle and maybe it doesn't seem to be a big miracle is our investigator Eric that we have been teaching him 2 times a week for the last 2 weeks finally prayed for the first time out loud in his life. We have been asking him to pray every time we come by and he did it! we also Gave him the Book of Mormon on audio because he can't read and he was pretty excited to listen to it!
I know without a doubt that the work is progressing and hastening. I see peoples lives change every day and I get so happy every time I get to see someone life get blessed! I have on my spare time been reading up on the Prophets gaining a testimony on each one. I have came to LOVE Heber J. Grant and a quote I found the other day can sum up my letter pretty well.“I know of nothing that brings greater joy to the human heart than laboring at home or abroad for the salvation of the souls of men. I know of nothing which gives us a greater love of all that is good, than teaching this Gospel of Jesus Christ."
Love Elder Herdt
