This year my birthday was quite different – first, my companion went home on the Saturday before and so I spent the weekend joining other companionships as I was guided by the Spirit. On Tuesday (March 11) I was given a new companion. Her name is Sister Lewis and she is from Oklahoma. She is amazing and we really clicked. She also just came from a difficult companionship; we spent the first couple of days getting organized and adjusting to each other. We did a lesson with the VanDeventer family and it went really well and the Spirit could really be felt. Anyway, I’ve learned a lot from this last experience and I know that it has made me stronger. I know that I wouldn’t be going through these trials if the Lord didn’t trust me to be able to get through them. I know that I am in good hands and that everything happens for a reason; we may not know always know until later. I know that I am where I am supposed to be at this time and that the rest is up to Heavenly Father; He is always on my side and will always be.
We are teaching a lady named Chedi (from Nigeria) and her daughter, Cheoma. We taught them about the Restoration and then taught about the Book of Mormon. The daughter commented, “So the Book of Mormon is just an extension to the Bible” which was really interesting and they both agreed that if the Book of Mormon talks about Christ then it must be from God. Chedi also said that she feels comfortable around us that she has been to many churches and often gets feelings about whether they are right or wrong. We need to get her our church so that she hopefully can feel the Spirit and progress further. We are still running into people that want nothing to do with us; we have even been called ‘Satan’. It just proves that our message is true and that Satan is trying to stop this work any way that he can.
The first week of April was busy and great. We moved our preparation day to Tuesday so that we could go to the LA temple on Monday – I really love this temple. We had a wonderful time. We picked up a new investigator, Rachelle. She has two kids (3yrs. and 1 ½ yrs.) and really wants to figure out her relationship with Father, and she is very open-minded. Then we met with the VanDeventer family and they have set May 10 as the date for the mom and son to be baptized. They are so amazing! They have already started inviting people to their baptism and they know who they want to speak and sing. The Lord is really helping them to be prepared for this life-long commitment; it’s just so great to see and be part of. We also have a new investigator named Yohatey, from the Dominican Republic, and she was really receptive to the message we shared. We also got a referral and we went to meet with him but he was just a Bible basher; as soon as the lesson started I knew that we were not going to get anywhere with him so we left. This just goes to show that the gospel is true otherwise Satan wouldn’t be trying so hard; but in the end they won’t be supported. Just like the account of Korihor in Alma 30:60; but you can’t do anything for them if they aren’t willing to listen or try it. On Sunday we got permission to go to the VanDeventer’s for dinner and we were able to meet their extended family; it was really fun getting to know their family. By the way I got to go golfing for one of our p-days; it was fun and I found that I am not too bad at it.
A week later, we taught Chedi and Cheoma again and then invited them to come to a baptism that we were going too. Chedi was able to come and she really liked it. We then gave her a tour of the church and she loved the chapel and she could feel the Spirit. It will take a while before she joins the church since she works on Sundays. She is trying to get some Sundays off and she believes and understands what we are teaching her. Her daughter was told by a nonmember that Mormons practice polygamy and we were able to set her straight – she said that from now on, if she has questions, she will come to us instead.