Okay, so a lot of you
have asked me about my VC schedule and what our typical days are like, etc...
This is my answering
your question, while also sharing some of the RIDICULOUS MIRACLES that have
gone down these last few days. You'll have to read the letter to president to
get the latter. (Ugh. I'm so sorry I don't have time to fully document the JOY
of the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!...but read the letter and you'll get a taste. It
was SO AMAZING. Can't even express.)
Saturday, August
31st, 2013
6:15am Alarm goes off. I hop out of bed and
make it. Kneel to pray. (Prayer #1)
6:20am Put running clothes on, use bathroom,
get a drink of water.
6:30am Meet at the front door w/ my
companion, where we pray before we leave to run (Prayer #2)
6:50am Come back from our 20 min jog and do
some toning exercises
7:00am Shower, eat breakfast (Prayer #3),
organize area book, etc. while listening to gen conference.
8:00am Personal Study (Prayers 4 & 5)
9:00am Companion Study (Prayers 6 & 7)
10:30am End comp study early, pack up, and
leave to 1st appt (Prayer 8)
11:00am Meet
Sister ***** for our appointment with *** [See Miracle Story below in
President's letter] (Prayers 9, 10, 11)
12:00pm Drive to Lunch appointment (Prayers
12, 13, 14)
1:30pm Drive to Visitor's Center early, where
we will make up our language study time (Prayers 15, 16, 17) and make calls to
prepare for a scheduled tour in the Visitors' Center and sacrament meeting
tomorrow.
3:00pm Begin our Visitors' Center shift with
a Spanish tour with some elders and their investigators. They gave us a handful
of referrals for their other non-member son who lives in Boston, as well as
some of the elders' non-member/inactive family members.
4:30pm End tour, go into Teaching Center to
make calls. We call referrals from all over the world that we have received in
the VC and online. We teach over the phone, send free DVDs/copies of Book of
Mormon, and send missionaries. Then, we follow up on their progress throughout
the investigation process)
5:00pm Showed three little girls and their
neighbor (the babysitter) "God's Plan for His Family" and
6:00pm Beginning of a special open house in
the Visitor's Center where the nearby Spanish stake primary has displayed their
Book of Mormon art. Sister Ellis plays the piano while I follow around the
photographer from Public Affairs and write down the names of everyone he
photographs.
8:30pm We take our dinner break to go in the
back and make calls for sacrament meeting tomorrow.
8:55pm We leave the Visitors' Center
early-ish so we can try to get back in time-ish for...
9:15pm Nightly Planning
9:45pm Write in area book, organize area map
and ward list, text Ward mission leader/Bishop, make calls...sometimes write in
my journal/voice recorder.
...Okay. I don't have
enough time to go through that so it makes sense...and it's not even a super
typical day. BUT maybe I'll do another next time. My e-mails are always so
disappointing to me. But that's okay! Because this work most certainly ISN'T!!!
I literally love it
here more than ever. I love my companion. I love my mission president. I love
my ward and my leaders and my INVESTIGATORS and the VC and...just everything.
If I could stand on my bathroom sink and throw my hands down like that cute
little girl in the "validation" youtube video...I would. But I'm in
the VC. Which is a semi-public place.
And I love all of
you, of course. Never forget that there's a missionary in LA prayin' her guts
out for ya.
Love,
Sister Wells
Hello
President,
It's been a MIRACULOUS week. I can only begin to tell you.
The biggest miracle of our fast was that our investigator, ***, came to church.
These are the details of the story if you have time:
We have been meeting with *** for the past 4 months or so. He is a golden investigator in that he progresses very deeply (though not necessarily "quickly" unless you're looking at it in the grand scheme of things). He is in 3 Nephi, and loves the Book of Mormon. He recognizes that he now has a relationship with God and he prays all of the time. We have been inviting him and teaching him about the importance of church all along--and let me tell you, the spirit has worked on him each time. It's not that I'm proud of our teaching in those moments, but I can truly testify that the spirit has guided us with each invitation. And yet he never committed to come. We came to find out later it was because of his girlfriend, who was a little nervous about his investigation of the Mormon church and told him that if he were to convert, they would have to seriously reconsider their relationship. They've been together 20 years and have very set Sunday routines. So, on Saturday, we shared with him 1 Nephi 5:1-11, where Sariah's story of faith is told...when her sons return from Jerusalem and her fears and doubts are ended. We compared him to Lehi, and promised him his whole life--including his relationships--would be blessed if he would obey God's commandments and come to church. *******, our member, shared her conversion story, and how difficult it was for her to CHANGE and to admit that it was all true. She boldly made promises to him and encouraged him as well. And yet, despite the powerful spirit that was present and the tears in ***'s eyes, he apologetically declined the invitation to commit.
...but we still walked away feeling happy about his progress, and confident that he would eventually come.
Fast forward to Sunday. We worked in the VC from 9-10:30...but we got in a tour at about 10:20 that took us to 10:45. A member and her non-member friend, who were in the area for business and randomly decided to look for a church to go to. Her GPS brought them here. It was a powerful 15 minutes, in which we showed God's Plan for His Family and talked about eternal families and how the Gospel blesses families. **** was crying, and accepted a BOM and gave us her information to follow up. Then we all raced to church together (they decided to come to our ward with us), where we walked in 2 minutes late. We hadn't planned on any of our investigators coming (which is sad, I realize, but it's a holiday weekend--so there were a lot of valid excuses ), so we scanned the room for some open seats...and THEN...I SAW ***. With his gray ponytail and his super nice suit. My jaw dropped and we raced to take the spots next to him. And then I prayed so so so HARD that he would have a powerful experience. It was a GLORIOUS 3 HOURS, in which powerful testimony was shared. I literally have never been in a more inspired testimony meeting. EVERYTHING they talked about was exactly what *** and ***** needed to hear--several conversion stories, all centered in the Book of Mormon. A few Tithing testimonies--which is something a LA that was there was struggling with. ETC. You get the gist. Just so so inspired. We found out he bore his testimony in priesthood, and meaningfully participated in each of the other meetings.
...and the miracles continued.
It was the best day of my life. I wish you could see the smile on my face right now. THIS IS JOY.
Lessons learned: Heavenly Father LOVES us and gives us the miracles we faithfully expect and prepare for.
Fun fact: That very morning, before church, I was filling out his TR and I decided to write down "yes" in the "Attended Church?" column...just for fun. I wrote down "faith" next to it, thinking I could white it out if he didn't come. Even though he had told us he wouldn't be there. Oh, Heavenly Father...he's just so nice.
Thank you for ALL YOU DO AND HAVE DONE. This work is so real and so wonderful and SO Grace-filled.
Love,
Sister Wells
It's been a MIRACULOUS week. I can only begin to tell you.
The biggest miracle of our fast was that our investigator, ***, came to church.
These are the details of the story if you have time:
We have been meeting with *** for the past 4 months or so. He is a golden investigator in that he progresses very deeply (though not necessarily "quickly" unless you're looking at it in the grand scheme of things). He is in 3 Nephi, and loves the Book of Mormon. He recognizes that he now has a relationship with God and he prays all of the time. We have been inviting him and teaching him about the importance of church all along--and let me tell you, the spirit has worked on him each time. It's not that I'm proud of our teaching in those moments, but I can truly testify that the spirit has guided us with each invitation. And yet he never committed to come. We came to find out later it was because of his girlfriend, who was a little nervous about his investigation of the Mormon church and told him that if he were to convert, they would have to seriously reconsider their relationship. They've been together 20 years and have very set Sunday routines. So, on Saturday, we shared with him 1 Nephi 5:1-11, where Sariah's story of faith is told...when her sons return from Jerusalem and her fears and doubts are ended. We compared him to Lehi, and promised him his whole life--including his relationships--would be blessed if he would obey God's commandments and come to church. *******, our member, shared her conversion story, and how difficult it was for her to CHANGE and to admit that it was all true. She boldly made promises to him and encouraged him as well. And yet, despite the powerful spirit that was present and the tears in ***'s eyes, he apologetically declined the invitation to commit.
...but we still walked away feeling happy about his progress, and confident that he would eventually come.
Fast forward to Sunday. We worked in the VC from 9-10:30...but we got in a tour at about 10:20 that took us to 10:45. A member and her non-member friend, who were in the area for business and randomly decided to look for a church to go to. Her GPS brought them here. It was a powerful 15 minutes, in which we showed God's Plan for His Family and talked about eternal families and how the Gospel blesses families. **** was crying, and accepted a BOM and gave us her information to follow up. Then we all raced to church together (they decided to come to our ward with us), where we walked in 2 minutes late. We hadn't planned on any of our investigators coming (which is sad, I realize, but it's a holiday weekend--so there were a lot of valid excuses ), so we scanned the room for some open seats...and THEN...I SAW ***. With his gray ponytail and his super nice suit. My jaw dropped and we raced to take the spots next to him. And then I prayed so so so HARD that he would have a powerful experience. It was a GLORIOUS 3 HOURS, in which powerful testimony was shared. I literally have never been in a more inspired testimony meeting. EVERYTHING they talked about was exactly what *** and ***** needed to hear--several conversion stories, all centered in the Book of Mormon. A few Tithing testimonies--which is something a LA that was there was struggling with. ETC. You get the gist. Just so so inspired. We found out he bore his testimony in priesthood, and meaningfully participated in each of the other meetings.
...and the miracles continued.
It was the best day of my life. I wish you could see the smile on my face right now. THIS IS JOY.
Lessons learned: Heavenly Father LOVES us and gives us the miracles we faithfully expect and prepare for.
Fun fact: That very morning, before church, I was filling out his TR and I decided to write down "yes" in the "Attended Church?" column...just for fun. I wrote down "faith" next to it, thinking I could white it out if he didn't come. Even though he had told us he wouldn't be there. Oh, Heavenly Father...he's just so nice.
Thank you for ALL YOU DO AND HAVE DONE. This work is so real and so wonderful and SO Grace-filled.
Love,
Sister Wells
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