June 8, 2015- Singin' on Someon's Steps

So this week has been amazing.

On Friday we had zone meeting, where we met with all the missionaries in the surrounding areas. We were taught about a new/old way of teaching the missionary lessons simply and clearly. We, after a lot of practice, will be able to teach the entire Plan of Salvation in less than 15 minutes. The goal is to be able to teach it in 7!

WOW!

And the coolest thing is, that it works! People are more willing to listen and have you teach if it's only going to take 14 minutes, not a whole hour. People are also more willing to have you back, too!

So we barely learned about this on Friday morning, and then we went on exchanges. Sister Boatright, my sister training leader when I was in Kempsville, is now my sister training leader here too! She and I were in Kinston, and we saw tons of miracles.

We met a sweet little old member lady named Clarence and taught her the plan of salvation in about 15 minutes. She found comfort and peace in it because the day before her daughter had had a heart attack. She expressed her faith in Jesus Christ and His plan.

We tracted into a woman named Jeneen. She is a missionary for another church, and at first we didn't think she would even talk to us. But after talking for a few minutes on her doorstep, we invited her to listen to our 14-minute message. She let us in!

As part of this new method/pilot program our mission is doing, we are going around introducing ourselves in a new way as well. Instead of the old "Hello, we're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints..." we say "Hi! We're you're missionaries! We're just going around introducing ourselves today. We're the missionaries for this area and we love to serve. The most important thing we do is share a 14-minute message about Christ." It works! People don't feel as off-putted. We're your missionaries, here to help and serve you! To help you to increase your faith in Christ. =) I love it!

We saw Sue Ellen on exchanges. She's a recent convert (November) and is on FIRE! She got called to be a family history consultant and is loving it. She's helping her neighbor, Jerry, who is not a member of our faith, to start on his too!

Saturday was amazing! Saturday morning we contacted a referral named Denise and made a return appointment for Sunday.

Then we taught two people on a park bench the whole Restoration. Then we taught another lady and her four grandchildren. Their names are Pauline, Destiny, Kedaja, Kadaysha, and Kanistasia.

Kedaja really loved what we were sharing. When we committed them to be baptized, she responded with an immediate yes, and then proceeded to ask all her family members if they would be, too! Unfortunately, Pauline, the grandmother, was not really as interested and didn't make a return appointment. =( Maybe someday! Even the little ones got involved in reading and answering questions toward the end. I'm excited for them. They will remember this and the good feelings they had and one day seek it out again! =)

We swapped companions in Havelock and returned for an appointment. However, that appointment fell through, and we ended up dropping by Jeneen's again, since she was right there. She wasn't home, but her daughter, Shezari, was. (The only way we can remember her name is by saying "Safari, Shezari") Shezari is so cool! She's a great kid - she also has great faith. We had a great lesson with her. Jeneen, her mom, walked in part way through and was like "ya'll are back?" haha and then she ran out to do some more errands. We committed Shezari to read and pray. We think she really liked our visit, and she invited us back on Tuesday!

Sunday was MIRACULOUS!

Church was great, as always. Lots of wonderful testimonies were shared. After church, we went out to Dover to an appointment with a lady named Ernestine! Brother McCarlie from the Greenville ward works with her and has been sharing family history with her for the past year. He finally invited her to have us over!

Ernestine is great! She is really smart and kind of quiet. We started out with sharing the Plan of Salvation, and then she asked "Okay, so I am going to point out the elephant in the room. Do you mind if I ask, what makes your church different?" So we shared the Restoration, too!

We spent a long long time at her house. It's hard when you have a member with you. But she liked what she heard and said she'd read and pray. She is very busy. She's working on her PHD! But we're coming back next Sunday to share a hopefully shorter message, hopefully only 15 minutes. Because she literally does homework all day every day.

Then we had a return appointment with Jennifer, who we met on Saturday. She invited us over and was even waiting outside for us yesterday afternoon with her cute dog named Lily. We shared the Restoration with her. As we were talking about the first vision, she said. "Wait." With a concerned look on her face she said, "Why did he see two people, when Jesus Christ and God are the same person?"

I've actually never gotten that question before, that I can remember. But somehow the Spirit gave us the words to say. I don't even really know how we said it, but we invited her to pray. "We have some bold claims. We teach that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are separate and distinct beings. We don't expect you to believe it just because we say it. We invite you to pray and to ask. Would you be willing to do that?"

She paused and said, "This goes against my beliefs...." awkward scary silence. She looks up and determinedly says, "But I will pray about it."

Wow.

So from that point we were able to keep teaching, instead of just stopping or leaving from there. We taught her the rest of the restoration and invited her to pray. She said we could call her in a few days to see how it is going.

Wow!

I am amazed at the power of the Spirit. He really does give us the words to say!

Singin' on Someone's Steps

So Sunday night we had our return appointment with Denise. When we pulled up there were a whole lot of people sitting on her steps and I was worried we were at the wrong house.

But it turns out that it was Denise's house! Every Sunday her family comes together to visit. Her mother, aunt, cousin, and other aunt were visiting. We also got to meet her three kids. =) The only person's name I remember is Deviyon, the three year old boy. He's so cute!

We shared the plan of Salvation with all of them! Sitting on folding chairs as the sun went down and fireflies came out. It was SO FUN! They loved it. We love them! At the end, the shyest one, one of Denise's kids, sang a solo for us, and then everyone else joined in! =D Wow!!! They invited us back next Sunday night!

"Can we come back every Sunday night, forever?" Sister Allred asked, since we were just talking about the Celestial kingdom. "Sure!" They said. We gave them all big hugs.

Wow! It was unbelievable. As they sang it was one of the most exciting and amazing moments of my mission so far. I love them all so much! I am SO EXCITED to go back next Sunday and share even more with them. I love being the friendly neighborhood missionaries! I love talking about faith and Jesus Christ and the plan. I love this work! I  know that this gospel is true. Because it brings so much happiness to me, my family, and my family I am finding here too. I love you all!

have an amazing week! pray for opportunities to share the gospel! they are out there!

love

Sister Moore