I am feeling much better after a miserable bout of illness (like unto the "Poinciana Plague") which had struck me down for the better part of 6 days. My fairy Godmother of a companion cared for me as though I were an injured sparrow, which is kinda how I felt, but worse. Although we were unable to perform regular proselyting work, Sister Hill made a heroic effort in contacting those currently in our teaching pool and keeping our area-book ship-shape and bristol fashioned; all the while intermittently making chicken-noodle soup and watching hidden gems found in the church media library with me. Fun fact: the 1960s Johnny Lingo is there. You're welcome.
Notwithstanding my sickness, the Lord provided miracles in abundance this week beginning with Sacrament meeting last Sunday. Sister Hill and I were asked to sing, and with the help of a charming member, we had prepared a lovely little arrangement of "Did you Think to Pray?". Not only did I feel well just long enough to perform it, but we actually sounded pretty good! Harmony and everything. However we had to return home after the hour.
Sister Hill and I must've done a little too well because I was then asked to speak in a Sacrament Meeting yesterday. Bishop asked me to give a talk on member missionary work through Christlike service. It went remarkable well considering I only had one days notice, but a majority of it was me reading directly from a book called "the Highly Effective Missionary". The Spirit carried the message to the hearts of those in attendance, specifically one of my very favorite families, the Sarmento's. They called us after church and asked for a Spanish copy of the Book of Mormon to give to a friend and they invited us to bring an investigator over for their family home evening! Miracles happen!
But the largest and best miracle of them all this week was that with the Lord's guiding hand, we were still able to get 4 new Investigators! Result! Because I am running dangerously low on time, I'm going to pull a missionary classic and use a large portion of Sister Hill's letter to run down on our gems:
"Investigator 1: A member referred their long time friend, Gladys. Her member friend brought her to church - she only came the second hour, but since Sister Petty was sick, we just went to Sacrament meeting so we missed her! But Gladys called us! We had our first lesson on Thursday - the Lord strengthened Sister Petty in that lesson. Gladys was so touched by the message - she understood that God loves his children, and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What a privilege it was to be there at that lesson.
Investigator 2&3: Mike and Claudia were another referral, this time from a member in Kissimmee. They were referred a couple weeks ago and we mowed their lawn, but they didn't agree to meet with us. This week, Claudia called us back to mow the lawn again - which compared to the condition it was in before, they didn't need it mowed again - were thinking Claudia might've wanted a second chance! We took our Ward mission leader to help us mow, and this time they set an appointment with us! ITs this Tuesday!
Investigator 4: This one was a true miracle. We've been teaching a man named Jimmy who loves the Book Of Mormon, but has fears about going to church and doubts about organized religion. We have talked about church from multiple angles, had him pray, and read, and he still wouldn't budge. We've been praying a lot for Jimmy because we didn't know what else to do. This week, we were going to try one last time and if he said no, we were going to have to put Jimmy on hold. THEN - we show up to his lesson, and he's brought his older brother Curtis! He wanted us to teach Curtis about the Book Of Mormon (we've asked Jimmy for referrals repeatedly before - we have no idea where this came from.) Curtis quickly caught the same fire Jimmy has for the Book Of Mormon! Curtis was so excited! And Jimmy was excited too because he's caught a little bit of the missionary fire. We realized THIS was the key to getting Jimmy to progress and come to church! Jimmy now wants to be a good example to his brother AND Curtis being the oldest, and having no fear of coming to church, wants to help his brother Jimmy overcome this fear. The brothers are the answer to each other's concerns! It's genius! So we didn't have to drop Jimmy and we're meeting with Curtis next Frriday - Jimmy is going to help us teach Curtis about the Restoration :) Curtis said he'll bring Jimmy to church next Sunday!"
Last miracle I absolutely need to mention- I have been given multiple opportunities this week to speak to some of God's children in the Spanish. With my limited vocabulary, the Spirit touched the hearts of some native Spanish speakers that I was able to contact and pray with. They are seriously so impressed and get so excited, it's so tender. It literally opened a door for us that would have otherwise been closed. We were able to talk to an adorable older Cuban couple with broken English, who believed that the Bible is no longer the pure word of God because it has been filtered and translated so many times throughout history. So in an attempt to have scripture that is more pure, they Study from the Torah. We told them that we have a pure Book of scripture that they would love that has only been translated once! (twice if you count the translation from English to Spanish, but still) We gave them the Spanish Elders information and promised that they would bring them El Libro de Mormon and teach them more. Even though I most likely won't see the result of this first contact with Mariano & Iraida.
I really must go, I'm so sorry this was another cop out email this week, I'll try to right a real one next time. Lastly, my mission office will no longer be forwarding mail to us, so they want us to tell you to mail us at our apartments directly. If you are ever in doubt you can still send it to my mission office, but the chances are it may not get to me for 3-4 weeks. You can send mail to me throughout the transfer, but hold off the last week in case I get transferred. So the next transfer cycle is Tuesday Sept 26th. My address until at least then: 1240 Winter Garden Vineland #F-3, Winter Garden, FL 34787.
Keep on keeping on,
-Sister Olivia Petty🙏🏻
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