MillaGrows & Such

Friends and Family,

MillaGrows=the gringo way of pronouncing Milagros, which means "Miracle" in Espanol.

I love you all a LOT. 

Thank you for the package. It was a tender mercy and perfectly timed. Fiber One bars win! :)

Love,

Sister Wells

Hello President!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are enjoying time with your family.

Thank you for an inspiring Zone Conference. As usual, it was a well-timed experience of repentance and renewal of commitment to improving the way we are working here in Westwood 1st.

Goals I made during the conference:

Pray always and better:  At night, pray out loud in the closet. Pray more honestly, humbly, and specifically.  Have companion and personal prayer whenever we even have the thought to do so (not just limiting ourselves to the "set" opportunities).  Make Heavenly Father apart of our daily and hourly goals.  (I was so impressed with the two elders you invited to bear testimony at the end of Saturday's conference, President.  It was inspiring.)

P-Days:  Our "10 gospel conversations per missionary" goals will stay the same, and we will be more prayerful throughout the day to have those opportunities. We'll practice contacting in the grocery story, etc.  I will be more prayerful in keeping my focus on the work in all of my p-day activities.  The content and recipients of my letters are centered around my missionary purpose.  I will write to someone on my personal mission plan list at least once or twice every p-day.

Obedience:  8am and 10:30pm. 

Less-Actives:  As we visit the "unknown" list provided by the ward, we'll consistently ask the Lord to consecrate our path with opportunities to find new investigators and to keep our mind focused on our purpose (and not just "checking them off the list").

Practice teaching:  Keeping our teaching simple and accurate. That must be why they say you have to KNOW the Doctrine deeply in order to teach it in its simplest form.  

LOVE OUR MEMBERS:  I generally haven't had a hard time loving the members of the wards I have served in (mostly because I have been blessed to serve in some exceptional wards and at a time when everyone is focused on missionary work), but I do need to check myself and my ambitious ideas for the "member missionary" efforts of the ward.  We're prayerfully finding the balance in how to humbly share some of the previously successful ward mission plan ideas with the bishop of the Westwood 1st ward.  He is very open and excited about the same kind of ideas though, so it shouldn't be a problem as we make it clear how deeply we love and respect him and the keys he holds for the ward. He has an amazing passion for the work, and it's been fun to see his energy and excitement for the Farsi elders.  You chose a great ward to send them to. 

PLANNING:  Every night, I'd like to count up how many hours were spent directly finding, teaching, and baptizing. 

So, those are my Zone Conference goals. Ready for the Miracles?

VC) 11/23/13 (With our mini missionary, ********)

***** came into VC to research for a role he was playing in a scene for one of his classes. He's an actor. Very funny. Gregarious. Very real. He's also black (and obviously loved the Alex Boye video :)  Raised Episcopalian, but now he's more of a non-denom.  He believes Christ existed and was a good person, but not in all of His miracles, etc...(at least, that's what said at beginning of tour).

Showed Christus, God's Plan, and taught about Restoration. Has BOM. Committed to read it. As we were in the Christus, he opened up a ton--especially as ******* (from WW2nd ward--she just happened to be in the Christus at the same time and started talking to him) shared a really personal experience about her non-member husband and her child passing away.  

He was kind of freaking out a bit (in a funny way, not in a crazy person way) about how "deep" the tour went and how much he was opening up to us.  He's been sober for 7 years.  There was a tragic car accident that occurred when he was in NY at that time in which someone was killed and it shook his faith in God for a long time...until AA meetings got him back into that.  He has felt that he needs to strengthen relationship w/ his mom and God's Plan gave him some of those answers/insights.

He knows it wasn't a coincidence that he came into the VC tonight...there were a lot of answers to prayers going on. Including for our mini missionary. Who testified powerfully throughout the tour and shared a personal experience that brought him to tears.  She told him that him coming in that night solidified her desire to serve a mission in a few years. 

Committed to read and pray about BOM and was reluctant at first, but agreed to meet w/ missionaries...of the Westwood 2nd ward. Aka the same ward that his favorite member, *******, is apart of.  

...There are moments on my mission that are just so overwhelmingly miraculous and perfect.  It's almost exhausting.

Our area miracle took place on Friday Morning, when we met with *******!  We met ******* on the street on my 2nd day in the area (on our way to a dinner appointment). She was incredibly nice and set an appointment with us for Friday.  And then she KEPT the appointment, which is often the bigger miracle.  We brought a member, who was perfect for her.  And she was incredibly open--asked all of the right questions, etc.  But the testimony-builder for me was the reason she gave for meeting with us.  There are a lot of things surrounding the circumstances of her life right now that make it the perfect time to meet the missionaries (newlywed, some powerful experiences recently that solidified her testimony that God does, in fact, exist, etc.)...but the one that stuck out to me most was her friend, *******, who she met just a few years ago and who is a member of the church.  She said her friendship with ******* had been an opportunity for her to ask all of the questions she's ever had about the "mysterious" Mormon church.  ******* served a mission.  ******* is one of the nicest people she's ever met.  So, in that moment that ******* met us on the street, she thought of ******* on her mission in Slovakia, and she knew she had to listen. 

...I know this may seem like an average, run-of-the-mill golden investigator story. But it's a testament of seed-planting, and it's a testament of how being a "member missionary" only requires honest discipleship and charity-filled relationships.  This is Hastening the Work of Salvation, and this is what I was especially called to witness here. 

I love everything and am grateful for everything--especially my dear companion, Sister *******, who proves herself time and time again as a True disciple and a loving friend.  She is phenomenal. 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Sister Wells