Week 9

When trials come blessings follow. This week was AMAZING! (Sorry this email will be long)

First off, the weather was again great. We had days between 72-76 degrees. So you know how that would make me happy. ha. 

We were able to make contact with Ward. He was drunk again, but we are making progress! We actually had left a note in his door cause he was not home, but after we went tracting around his surrounding neighborhoods we went back to his street to get in our car and he was outside! We waved him down and asked him if he had any water we could have. He said no. He only had a hose. ha ha. So we kindly declined that offer. He told us he got our note and I could tell it made his day. We talked for almost 30 minutes! He let us into his back yard and showed us around, he told us one day he wants to have tea with us and show us pictures of his wife. Than he broke into tears again. He told us through tears he's so sad and lonely, and its just so hard. They were together for 41 years before she passed away. He told us to keep doing what we are doing, to continue knocking on his door and maybe one day he'll listen to our message. Then he chuckled. I know God is preparing his heart! It was funny though--as we were leaving he said "Yes, come back, and we'll have tea!" We explained to him we don't drink tea, and he said, "Oh ok, how about a beer?" We then replied we didn't drink beer either. Then he had the funniest face and said, "What? What do you girls do for fun!?" Sister Sekona said play board games and play pool (he has a pool table) ha. He then replied oh ok, well then i'll give you a nice cold ice water. (And we thought he told us he didn't have any water) ha. He's definitely opening up and gaining our trust. I just want to help that man so much!

Then there is J.C. That man truly is incredible. He is an amazing father and is SO close with his teenage kids. We had about an hour and a half conversation with him outside on his porch on Thursday night. He had lots of questions and concerns, but it was good! We were able to teach him about the restoration and we taught Joseph Smith's first vision. He was floored! The spirit was so strong! I know he will learn to love that man as much as I do because he has such a love for Jesus Christ and when he realizes Joseph Smith did everything to defend the gospel, even giving up his own life. He'll gain a testimony of him. He's progressing though! He totally got it when we were talking to him! He was like, "Oh my gosh, so Joseph Smith wanted to have the same exact church Jesus Christ had when he was on the Earth?" Exactly! He is such a follower of Jesus Christ, I know he is going to be able to get an answer that the gospel is true. We left him with a prayer, and after he got SO excited. He was like oh my gosh you guys close in the name of Jesus Christ! I'm so glad! ha. He then asked if he could say a prayer. It was amazing. He thanked god for this divine appointment, asked him to help him be open minded(he is very involved in his church) and to protect us missionaries. He is such a man of the lord. Its incredible.  We left him with a "This is the Christ" document and I think that really will help his understanding! 

Then the next day he ran into two of our Elders in our District. Elder Briggs was one of them and he is one of the most amazing, most humble missionaries I've ever met! Just gives off that light! J.C is a technician for AT&T and he saw them walking on the side of the road. Elder Briggs called us after of course and told us how they had met a man named J.C who stopped them on the side of the road as he was driving in his van and said, "Hey do you know Sister Turner and Sister Sekona!?" He just went off about what amazing girls we were.They then had a nice gospel discussion and J.C told him he's been praying and reading and things are beginning to make sense!!! You do not know how exciting it was to hear that!! We were freaking out. ha. Elder Briggs also said it was a tender mercy for him because they were having a really hard day and J.C totally made it! They left him with Alma 32 which is totally what he needed! The Lord knows exactly who to place into our paths! J.C needed to travel 45 min. to talk to Elder Briggs. So our next step with J.C is to get him to come to church! 

Then two of our investigators Sandy and Sandra came to church! As a missionary the only thing I think that would make you happier that having someone come to church is having a baptism! But they are both great!! Sandra is a lot more prepared than Sandy, but I think church was necessary for Sandy for her to progress but let me talk about Sandra! She is amazing! She is one of those people that are happy all the time and it just spreads to others! She actually has been to church 4 times now, but we finally were able to teach her for the first time this week, so we hadn't really counted her as an investigator. We taught her the first lesson (restoration and Joseph Smith). She just wants to learn it all! She already wants to share the gospel with everyone she knows! ha. She brought her friend Terry along too who is having a hard time in life right now, and they are so hilarious together! Terri told us she had spent 175 dollars on a therapist the day before, and she wished she would have known there would be free therapy the next day (referring to us.) ha. 
 
Funny story real quick, last night we were to go to the McCombs house to teach Sandra. We were parked outside down their street and we got there a half hour early, we were planning our lesson inside the car when we saw them drive away out of their driveway. We didn't want them to see us so we ducked. ha. Then they kept driving around the block slowly, and we were freaking out so we just continued to duck! (I honestly don't know why!) ha. Then we thought that they were probably are just putting their baby to sleep! ha. But we decided to just drive down the road and finish our planning down there. When it was time we came to their house, we parked up our car and knocked on the door. President McCombs asked who it was. I said the missionaries. No response and then i heard running, then again I knocked on the door.. no reply.. Usually the house is very energetic and quick to get the door. So finally I rang the doorbell, I heard someone say "who is it" again and we said the sister missionaries!! He said oh phew its the sisters! Apparently he didn't hear us the first time. They opened the door then all the kids came running out! We were thinking what on earth was going on! They told us the night before a creepy man had knocked on their door and asked if he could use their phone. He was being very strange, and then someone said something about calling the cops and the man freaked out and booked it. So they thought we were him. They explained how they saw an unusual car pull up (our car) with a creepy bike wrack on the back. We all laughed and we explained how that was indeed us. The mom said it was so strange because she swore she didn't see anyone in the car (because of our ducking) We just were like oh yea we were in there.... ha ha. Whats funny is they had even written down our license plate number. ha ha. Turns out Sandra had to cancel but we didn't get the memo, so they weren't expecting anyone. They had all the kids run into the safe where they keep all the water bottles. It was so funny! As we were leaving, the 4 year old son yells out the door, "Thanks for sharing the gospel!" with his little lisp. It was adorable!

Love you all!