Oh it was a rough week. Really rough. Not a lot of missionary opportunities. Friday and Saturday we were able to do a lot of missionary work though. We had to heat dry every clothing article we owned this week to kill the bed bugs and then put all of our things in plastic bins. That task actually took all week. We just finished a couple hours ago. We had to clear out our room and vacuum everything and clean out the exercise room and a lot of stuff was in the kitchen and our beds were in the family room... it was chaos!!! But it is going to be a lasting mission memory. That's actually the first thing I thought of when I discovered we had bed bugs. "This is going to be a great memory!" Our exterminator came today and so we should be good to go after that. After 2 weeks we finally get to sleep back in our room again! It seems like no one really knows anything about bed bugs out here. We've heard so many different things!!
Holly... She texted us saying she got a second job and was really sorry but she couldn't meet with us anymore. She said she would be working all the time. We stopped what we were doing, got in the car, and drove all the way out to her house. She was just pulling out to go to work. We jumped out and told her we would meet during her breaks or any little time she had and gave her a scripture to read. If we hadn't listened to the spirit right then, she would have left for work. We felt pretty good after. We're not giving up on her. We've talked to her and there still isn't time for her to meet but we will figure it out. Even if we just drop by for 5 minutes every now and then.
Brian. We were going to meet with a potential investigator and commit him to baptism... but we couldn't find his house. So at 8:30 we called Brian. He was at work but had a second to talk. We shared our testimonies with him and asked if he would prepare to be baptized on April 6th, .... he said he would think about it. We got a half commitment - haha.
Matt. We met him at Arby's. Good ol Arby's. We were eating dinner there because we were working in the farthest north part of our area. Sister Ferrin said he kept looking over at her and she just wanted to say something to him. Sister Ferrin asked if we could sit by him and he said yes. We got to know him a bit. He is a farmer and very religious. We shared the Book of Mormon with him and showed him a video of the prophet and apostles testifying of it. The spirit was so strong!! He was totally fixed on the video! He accepted the Book of Mormon and said he would come to church!! (which he didn't) We plan to meet with him again this Thursday.
We had an amazing experience last night! We visited two less-actives and had powerful lessons. The first was Kelli. She is almost 30 and single and just hasn't been to church in a long time. She tries to laugh it off a lot and say "I know I need to come back". Well.. her non-member boyfriend was down for the weekend and we all got to tell him about the church. She was explaining a lot to him and he was very interested. We talked about prophets and the God-head and the Book of Mormon and church, etc. Then... Sister Ferrin pulled up a scripture that was about comfort. I immediately thought "what scriptures bring me comfort?" D&C6!! verse 20 about Heavenly Fathers arms encircling us. I read it. It says: "Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love." I looked at Kelli and said "Kelli, I have felt this. I have literally felt His arms around me before. Heavenly Father wants you back at church. He is just waiting to bless you even more than He already has! Will you keep the commandments and come back to church?" She wasn't laughing... she was crying. She said yes. Her boyfriend was fixed on her! My heart was pounding!! It was incredible! She committed to taking the lessons and having us over once a week to discuss them. She even invited her boyfriend to attend them! He lives far away though.
Well after that amazing lesson... We went into another amazing lesson with Noel and Nannette. They are an older couple, both members, not married who have been living together for 13 or 14 years. We started off a normal conversation and talked about Alma 7, the chapter they had read after we left last time. Then Noel randomly started talking about how he and Nannette want to get married and once they do they were positive they would come back to church... they just didn't know why they hadn't been married yet. Immediately I knew what I had to do. I pulled up a Mormon message entitled "Choose this day" and showed it to them. The spirit was strong. My heart pounded again. When the movie finished, I read the scripture from D&C 6 to them and said "Heavenly Father is waiting to bless you. Please Please Please do not put off getting married and coming back to church. Now is the time. Keep the commandments so He can bless you." They were silent. Sister Ferrin testified and we left with a prayer. Sister Ferrin said "I'm so glad you pulled up that video. I knew we needed to show them that and I was just about to turn to you and ask if you had it." I then told her how amazing it was to speak to them. The words did not come from me. They came directly from the spirit. I had no thought beforehand what I would express to them, but the words flowed right out of my mouth. I experienced fully for the first time what it feels like to have the spirit fill your mouth. It was incredible. With my renewed determination I feel like Heavenly Father blessed me with that experience to tell me that this transfer will be amazing. It will be phenomenal! I told Sister Ferrin that it was going to be a miracle filled transfer and one of the best we will have on our mission and she just cried and agreed. The gospel is true. I know that. I know that with all my heart! And I want to shout it from a mountain!!! Can you send me a mountain? I don't have any out here. It's all true!!! Man, I feel good right now!
After church on Sunday we asked Brother Samples in our ward to give us each a blessing of comfort and strength for the new transfer. We have made enormous goals this transfer and we are going to need extra help from the Lord to accomplish them. So anyways.. Sister Ferrin gets an awesome blessing where Brother Samples told her it has to be NOW to work! Then it was my turn. Brother Samples went on to bless me with strength. He told me that Heavenly Father knows my desires and that I need to not doddle the days away. He also told me to use discernment in the work to discern the scriptures and the souls of those we teach. Cool right? He told me to be busy and engaged. He promised me that generations will call me blessed because of the work I do. He blessed me to serve my mission so I can return home with no regrets. We rode home in silence soaking in everything he had said. I had a new motivation. A renewed determination to serve the Lord. Sister Ferrin and I can't help but just KNOW that this transfer is going to be one of the best of our entire missions.
Well that was basically the week. The next transfer starts tomorrow. It was the first transfer call I wasn't nervous for. I didn't think about transfers at all. We knew we were staying and we are. It's a good thing too because we have made MASSIVE plans for the transfer and we plan to accomplish every single one of them! Wish us so much luck!!
~Sister Rokovitz~
