Hello Family!
What a great week it has been! Thanks for all your birthday wishes, it has been a great day! I'm feeling pretty lucky that I got to have my birthday on a pday and we got to go to tacloban and eat at my favorite Shakeys restaurant and i get to read your emails and we have an epic family home even later tonight with tons of people from the ward...so its been a great day! Thank you so much for your love, prayer, support, and birthday wishes.
This week was really great and Sister Brinton is awesome. We have such a blast together and she is doing really well with the language. We are learning waray together and it is fun. and hard. but really good. It's a different process than the seven month struggle with Cebuano--I've promised myself that that would not happen again and I realize now that i went through that so that my 'anak' or trainee would not have to. We have a lot of fun trying to figure out what is going on every day! Please keep praying for us! Life is wonderful though, so no worries.
Mildred.
So Mildred and her two boys came to church last week. Sister Brinton and I taught her on Tuesday and it was a great lesson. She told us she was cooking and trying to sell food daily and she had some other ideas for work. She seemed at peace and she seemed happy about her life and her decision to go to church. It was the first lesson she did not start bawling. We all felt good and happy.
On Friday we went back. Elder and Sister Daniels were with us. ( we had updated them about tuesday and said she seemed really good and didn't cry and all seemed well....) Wellllll, we taught the lesson on Sacrament and why it was important and the blessings from the sacrament and going to church. I asked her what she was feeling/ thinking and she broke down. Completely started crying and said she could not do it and she would not be going to church and she listed all these things why and that it was too hard and there was no other way and her youngest boy was always looking in the rice bin and asking her what they were going to do when it ran out...... We all just sat there (i'm the only one that can understand her..) and she just let it all out. (So when we had told the Daniels she was good...yeah, that changed!)... Anyways, as she was talking i was pleading and asking heavenly Father what else he wanted me to tell her! What more could i say, what verse could i read to comfort her and help her right then. . . I ended up telling her to pray very specifically and then open the book of mormon and start reading and she would find her answer... I gave her mosiah 4 to read for an assignment. She did not commit to coming to church.
We had to meet the Zone Leaders at the church to interview our investigator for baptism...OH BY THE WAY WE HAD TWO BAPTISMS ON SATURDAY!!!!! BLANCA AND CHARMAIN. !
Anyways, I felt a heavy burden/ responsibility that i have never felt before.... IT was hard and i was stressed when the elders came and told them a little bit about it. I didn't know the direction i needed to go for her. And i was the only one communicating to her/ with her...
Anyways, Saturday after the baptism we brough mildred's boys home and they got out and i had the distinct impression to get out and go find mildred and how she was doing. So sister brinton and i got dropped off and we went to talk to her. Nothing had changed. She said she didn't want handouts of help from her family b/c she wanted to work for her kids, etc. Everything was really hard and she then said that she had to work the next day b/c she had to watch her cousins rice...there was no way she was going to church, but her boys would be there. . . All of the sudden i said to her, " Mildred. You pray tonight and ask God if it is okay for you to work tomorrow... And I promise you he will say no. " "And when he says no , pray again and ask him what you need to do..and then open the book of mormon and find your answer. Will you pray and ask him if its okay for you to work???"
She said yeah..... we left and we were sad , realizing satan was getting a hold of her again and she was digressing. Sad.
That night we prayed specifically in our comp prayer that she would come to church even though there seemed that there was no way for her to come.
I prayed that night saying that we needed a miracle and mildred needed to go to church. I wanted mildred at church the next day and i had promised her and told her very specific blessings and i needed Heavenly Father to back up these very specific blessings! SO.
Sunday.
We are waiting in the chapel before sacrament starts and I SEE HER AND HER TWO BOYS through the window walking into church. I stood up and got my comp and we went and greeted her and gave her a big hug. She started crying and explained what happened:
Saturday night after we left she said she prayed and asked God to give her a sign to know if she should go to work on Sunday. She then said her alarm went off at 3am when she was supposed to get up for work and SHE. COULD. NOT. MOVE. A LIMB ON HER BODY. She could not get out of bed. She said she cried and prayed , lying in bed and knew that this was her sign from God saying it was not okay to go to work and she needed to go to church! She went to sleep and woke up with the sun and then she could move and get up and her and her boys came to church!!!
MIRACLE.
She lady has gone through so much!!!!!! Heavenly Father Answers prayers. She still has day to day struggles but He is building her faith, and mine. As his missionary and his instrument I just say what he wants me to say and he truly does do the rest. I felt overwhelmed, a bit frustrated, and scared for my investigator, but through faith all things are possible. Reminded me of Moroni 7:33. We literally can do all things through our Savior. He has not forgotten us! Do not forget him. He will never give up on us/ he will never let us down....we can not let him down either. I know this is where I am supposed to be right now. Every day is an adventure and I wish I had more time to tell you all about it, but Mildred's story was pretty incredible.
I love you all and I'm doing well. Thank you for your love and support! I need it.
Today I finished the Book of Mormon for the 2nd Time and it was a nice birthday present to myself. I love that book and i know that miracles come from reading it. If you have not read it today, please read it and lose yourselves in its pages. It is a powerful book and truly from our Creator.
Hope everyone is doing well! Love your emails and letters! Thanks so much!
Love, your missionary,
Sister B.
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