The Power of Godliness is Manifest

Doctrine and Covenants 84:20 "Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest." It is a miracle when the spirit touches someone's heart and confirms to them the truthfulness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Often this happens when people are present during priesthood ordinances like blessings, baptisms, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and during the blessing and passing of the Sacrament. 


This is a letter from Elder Chance Pebley about one of these types of miracles:
    So this last Tuesday, a lady was baptized. She is the sister of Melinda Powell who used  to be heavily involved with the Calvary Baptist Church. She even started the Awana program for those guys. I am pretty sure that is like a mutual thing-only for all ages. Anyways, she met with Elder Johnson and I when I first came here in June. She had always taught about Christ, but she told us she always also taught to stay away from the Mormons and their church. 
   So after we taught her she felt bad, because she knew she was leading people away from the truth and didn't feel she could be forgiven of doing those things. So we bore testimony to her about the atonement and left her with Alma 36 to read. She came back the next week on fire and willing to do whatever it took to get baptized. She knew that The Book of Mormon was true. There are more miracles in that story that I could talk about, too!   Anyways she was baptized and her sister who attended Calvary with her attended her baptism. She hadn't yet read from The Book of Mormon or met with missionaries. Anyways, she was present for her baptism and felt the spirit there. Then this Tuesday she was baptized. From the single experience of being present at Melinda's baptism, she felt the spirit so powerfully that she couldn't deny that what her sister was doing was true and right. At her baptism, I asked her what her experience was like meeting with the missionaries and reading The Book of Mormon. She related back to Melinda's baptism and said, "I knew it was true before I even opened The Book of Mormon." She has two daughters that she wants the missionaries to start teaching in Taylor and to get baptized when they know it is true. 
They too, go to Calvary just like their mom and aunt did. 
  Here are some pics of Melinda and her sister Kristine. Melinda is the one with Elder Coffman and I. 

The other is Kristine and her two daughters. 

    The onyl time I had seen Kristine was at Melinda's baptism, and I didn't have a chance to talk to her because she was surrounded by members, but she asked me to baptize her. It was an INCREDIBLE experience! Have a great week!

Miracle-It's Raining!

(An email from Elder Jeffrey Gomez)
No, but really this week's miracle comes from my first transfer on the mission.

Crystal and Jason had felt the spirit and were eager to join the church.  Because there were some setbacks, they had to wait.  During their wait, Crystal ran out of medications she had been taking for a mental disorder that had plagued her since she was four years old.  The prescription couldn't be filled because of limited supplies.  She stayed strong for a few days, but later had to be hospitalized.  She spent several days in the hospital, and we regularly kept in contact with Jason to see how she was doing.  The time came when her prescription was filled and she returned to their apartment.  She immediately had my companion and I head on over to give her a priesthood blessing.  I performed the anointing and my companion promised her that if she would remain faithful, her ailments would leave her and she would return to full health.  Time passed and she remained healthy.  My companion was transferred out of the area.  A couple of months went by, and we continued to visit Jason and Crystal.  One day Crystal decided to tell us what actually happened as she recieved the blessing.  She felt a warm feeling come over her, and she knew that God had healed her.  Five days passed, and she realized that she'd forgotten to take her medication.  She took the medication, but it made her feel sick.  She was overwhelmed with joy when she realized that she didn't need the medication anymore!  The priesthood of God is very real and has the power to heal according to God's will and according to the faith of those involved.

Trunk or Treat Missionary style

I don't know how many trunk or treat parties there were throughout the valley, but I do know most of them had some pretty great displays. Some missionaries decorated their trunks, 'borrowed' a trunk from a member, or decorated a couple of chairs in between their bikes. They were so creative! Elder Woolf and Elder Diaz used sidewalk chalk to draw the plan of salvation out in front of their trunk. They also had a DVD playing. They worked hard to invite the neighborhood to come, and they came.

I'm hoping the missionaries will send in some more pictures.

Can you see the pictures on these pumpkins? You have the plan  of salvation, the first vision, CTR, VC, AMM, and Lehi's vision of the tree of Life. Pretty awesome!

Sister Missionaries-A Family Tree

Is it a revelation? Or just me!?

I had a pretty cool missionary experience today. I always carry a blue Book of Mormon with me in my back pack and in my car. When I am waiting for a bus, or whenever I have extra time, I just grab it and start reading it. This has two purposes: 1, It helps me do more scripture study. 2. I want to give it to someone and it is a good conversation starter for that purpose! I got on the "wrong" bus today when trying to go to class. This bus took me ALL OVER! While I was sitting there, I thought "I should take out the Book and start reading. Maybe the girl next to me will want to know more." It seemed silly, since I THOUGHT I was going to be getting off momentarily. I figured it was just a thought, not revelation. But then I thought about all the great talks on receiving revelation at conference and decided it wouldn't hurt to try. I noticed that my bus driver kept reading from her book at every stop light. Every time we were stopped for one reason or another she pulled out that book and started reading. That's when the spirit spoke to me and said "she really enjoys reading and is almost done with that book. You should give her a NEW book to read." As I was getting off of the bus, I told her that I noticed how much she liked reading and that I wanted to give her MY favorite book to read. This poor, sad, crusty copy of the Book of Mormon had survived a rainstorm with me a few weeks ago and has been read a lot... I apologized for the condition of the book and told her that it was very loved! She was TOTALLY excited and asked me a little more about it. I shared a little more, then gave her a pass along card as a book mark. I missed my class (it was a VERY long bus route). But i think I caught the "right" bus according to the Lord, not the "wrong" one that I thought originally. Gotta love it!

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Competition Put to Good Use

Elder (Christian) Johnson gave a training about using the calendar to help people reach their baptismal date. Here's a visual of his object lesson.

Ingredients: 2 competitive missionaries (thanks elder moffitt & pasenelli),

tootsie rolls, 9 X 13 pan, and a crowd to cheer them on

The concept: You want to be a focused missionary and keep your eyes faced downward on the pan. Elder Johnson will call out a point of progress for your investigator (setting a date, reading, going to church, praying...). Then he will drop a tootsie toll. The focused missionary wants to be the first to grab it-but only after it has touched the pan.

It was getting a little fierce. They each had a stack of tootsie rolls, but Elder Pasenelli was edging Elder Moffitt out.

I was paying more attention to my camera and trying to get a good angle, so I was as surprised as they were when...

...the next point of progress for the investigator was, "You find out your investigator hasn't quit smoking 2 days before his date," and instead of grabbing a tootsie toll,

...they grabbed an egg.

 Gross

An Encore Performance

Does this look familiar?
President did the focus training again and it was great. If I have more time tomorrow, I'll post a little more about it.

'the Lamanites... are the principal ancestors of the American Indians'

Dear Sister Bassett,

I wanted to let you know of some of the miracles that we've seen as we have been using The Book of Mormon more. My goal has been to have a give-a-way copy of the Book of Mormon in my hands at all times. Through doing this, I've been able to use it in TTIs and see peoples' hearts soften and agree to meet with us.

Two days ago, we had dinner with a recent convert from another area who just moved into our area. During dinner, her son's fiancee said she was Navajo. For our after dinner message we read the introduction to The Book of Mormon. I asked her to read the second paragraph in which it says, "...the Lamanites, and they are the principal ancestors of the American Indians."

She was visibly touched and had a great sense of urgency in learning more about this book. She said she had grown up in a small, primarily LDS town in Southern Utah and no one had ever told her that. We invited her to learn more and to attend a Stake Missionary Fireside with Signa (the recent convert) that evening. She came to the fireside, and we taught her the first lesson yesterday. When she gave the closing prayer, she prayed that her fiancee and Signa's husband would "open themselves to this, because she was really into it."

The Book of Mormon truly is God's chosen tool for us to know of the truthfulness of the Gospel and the Restoration.

Thank you for your message and testimony at last Zone Conference.

Love,

Sister Tomoser

Fact or Fiction

Dogs hate mailmen and missionaries.

Fact or Fiction?

You decide.

OK, so my foot wasn't actually in the shoe while the dog was chewing on it. Still, it was a HUGE dog. It looked like a pony; a big, black, shaggy pony with the head of a bear. (New Foundling maybe?) I also used to think that Beethoven-type dog slobber was a movie stunt, but this dog proved that wrong, too. Gross.

So, what is your best dog story from the mission?

All You Have to Do is Ask

I hadn't seen my friend Nicole since before the mission. She had moved to Jacksonville, FL and I hadn't even talked to her since I returned. This Sunday we were able to meet up for about an hour while she was in town. She asked me about the mission and we had a great time, as if I had never left. I had really been praying for missionary experiences that week, and two days after seeing Nicole she popped into my head during my scripture study. I sent her a simple text message that said "I feel like a horrible friend for never giving you the opportunity to learn about why I left for 18 months. It would mean so much to me if you would allow me to send the missionaries by to share with you the most precious thing that I have. Would that be ok?" She replied "That would be fine :-)" Nicole is someone who had boldly enforced the idea that "God is just not for me". But trusting in our friendship, she allowed me to send the missionaries by. I called in the referral (she lives 1.5 hours away from me) and I can't wait to hear how it goes. It just goes to show you that all you have to do is ask. Ask the Lord for the opportunity, then ask the person when the opportunity is presented.

Stay Focused...no distractions!

Remember this one?

Clicking on the link should take you to the slide

show on Picasa where you can download individual pictures.

If it doesn't work, let me know.

Expanding or Shrinking?

I loved this thought that Steff Warren shared with me about the struggle to continue sharing the gospel after going home.

I knew that missionary work had started to be OUT of my comfort zone within the last two weeks, and I needed to do something drastic to fix that... I pulled over to help someone on the side of the road and gave them a card. No matter how uncomfortable I was. That principle never seems to change: you have to step out of your comfort zone, so the Lord can help your zone increase! What we DON'T emphasize enough, is that if you stay IN your comfort zone... IT SHRINKS! All of that explanation was me saying 'Yes, I will share some experiences because I think it will also help inspire me'. "

Haven't you found that to be true? There's no standing still in the gospel. You're either pressing forward or you're sliding back. No one wants to, or should, let their spirituality slip post-mission. The trick is how do you move forward? Elder LeSueur shared this thought with us, "It is easier to accelerate your efforts than to maintain them." Interesting, huh! The more I think about that, the more it seems to be true. Even though we go home and our focus broadens, we can increase our abilities by finding new ways and opportunities to be 'member-missionaries." What ideas have you found to keep accelerating your progress?

PS Look for past posts with stories from Steff and other RM's for experiences being a member missionary.

Coming and Going and Coming Back

Are you interested in Ancient Languages?

This one's from Steff Warren:

"When I first moved back out to school, it felt like moving to a new area. I continued to pray for missionary experiences daily. Often times my experiences were seemed so quick and simple that I didn't recognize them as missionary experiences at all. I prayed to be able to share things from my personal study with those around me. Somehow, it always happened. Whether it was through a text message, an email, or with a class mate. Nothing seemingly huge, but ANYTHING that would help turn people's thoughts to the Savior and gave me a better idea as to what their backgrounds were. Since I don't wear a name tag, I have a little more time to find out that kind of information. One day I was headed to a small study group when one of the girls in the group called me and told me that she would be late because it was raining and she was waiting for the bus. I offered to go and pick her up and she accepted. While we were in the car, I learned that she was a linguistics major (I found it odd that she was in my GENETICS class as a linguistics major). While she was talking I listened and prayed for an opportunity for SOMETHING she was saying to "highlight a truth of the gospel about which I could bear testimony" (PMG "Listening"). I asked her why she chose her particular major and she told me that she liked learning about different languages and cultures. I saw this as my opportunity:
"Are you interested in ancient languages?"
* Yes, I love them *
"Things such as translations?"
* Oh yes, I have all kinds of books about that *
"OH! You like reading too?? Well. Have I got a book for you!! I think that you will really like it. It was written in reformed Egyptian from around 600 BC-400 AD. Then it was translated by the power of God"

I reached over to my passenger seat pocket and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. I opened it up to the introduction and showed her where she could read about how the record was obtained and translated. I still need to follow up with her and IDEALLY, ask for referrals. "

What other stories do you have sharing The Book of Mormon?