So....
There's a straight up blizzard happening outside right now. In moments like
this it's not hard to be excited that I go home in a week and a half. That sounded really negative but other than
the snow this week was actually one of the best weeks of my mission!! I
have a few awesome stories.
I understand that this is a super long email and there's probably very few of you who still actually read these, but this week the stories are better than usual. :)
On Friday there was some chaos that went down and we had to drive an hour south of Edmonton and back to pick up a missionary who had to go go home early the next day for a medical emergency. This missionary came out with me and was pretty much done with his mission anyway, but the details of his medical situation were definitely causing him some stress. On top of that, he has had a pretty rough mission with not seeing much/any fruit from his labors, being misunderstood and a whole bunch of other things. He also has a lot of family struggles back home. He is honestly a great guy though. President Pattison still wanted him to have a good experience leaving the mission so he had us organize a get together at the mission home with some other missionaries who are going home with us, where we had some donair pizza and ice cream and just chilled for a bit. :)
This Elder really appreciated
it. We finally got back to our apartment around 10:30. When we got out of
the van, I was saying something to the Elder while looking at him across the
top of the van, and I saw something weird looking behind him in the sky, so I
looked up and there was the most extravagant display of dancing, green, purple,
and some orange NORTHERN LIGHTS I have ever seen! So of course we both
started freaking out. Just to put this in perspective, I have never seen
the northern lights while being in Edmonton and I have been here for pretty
much 18 months. Seeing the northern lights was something that he has always really wanted to experience, and he never has.
Then, amidst all the trials he was going through, probably wondering if his
mission was acceptable to the Lord, in need of some of God's love, Heavenly
Father gave him this amazing experience he has always wanted on the very last
night of his mission.
I know that this was a gift from God. I know that He loves us and created this earth not only to be a place for us to experience our days of probation but to have JOY and experience the beauty of His creations. It was so humbling for me to be a part of this super special moment for this missionary, and I still get giddy with happiness every time I think about it. So yeah, I ran inside and got everyone in our apartment and we enjoyed the northern lights for an hour or so that night. Such great memories!
One more miracle story and then Ill be done: So Tuesday- Wednesday I had an awesome exchange with Elder LeFevre, and Tuesday night we were doing some contacting at Southgate LRT station, my favorite spot in the mission to talk to people. When at Southgate we usually split up and have one on one conversations cuz there are so many people to talk to. I started talking to a nice girl named Rita who was waiting for a bus with her cute little daughter, and we had a great conversation and I ended up teaching her the plan of salvation pretty briefly. She was interested in meeting again so I got her contact info, and throughout the week sent her a few messages. We scheduled an appointment on Saturday but it fell through, and we rescheduled for the next day right after church. They (she brought her boyfriend, Jordan) missed their bus to church that morning so they walked 30 minutes to church! They got there right before it ended and we gave them a quick chapel tour, pulled in some members to our lesson, and taught them a great lesson, they felt the Spirit super strongly the whole time and recognized it.
Apparently Rita was very intrigued by the idea of eternal families when we talked about it earlier in the week and felt like she needed to find out more. They both committed to be baptized on October 21st! It was super cool, when we invited them Rita kind of whispered to Jordan with a smile, "That's why I came here." They are so prepared!!! Pretty classic missionary story. Its so humbling to be able to participate in someone's quest for spiritual guidance and be an instrument in the Lords hand. I'm super grateful He allows me to. :) We have another lesson with them tonight and we are super pumped!
This email is super long so Ill be done. In other news Lellow is still progressing rapidly. I could go on and on about how amazing she is. Definitely the most golden investigator I have ever taught on my mission. Her baptismal date for the 21st of October is looking pretty solid! Ray is doing well too! He hasn't smoked in a week!! That is amazing progress for him. Well, a week full of miracles is what its been. This next week will be my last real week as a missionary and then its transfer week. I'm SO excited to see what additional miracles come. I'm going to work my tail off that's for sure.
I love being a missionary and I can say confidently that these 2 years have been the happiest two years of my life :)
E. Bonny
Weekly Scripture: 2 Nephi 33:6-7 I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell. I have charity for my people, and great faith in Christ that I shall meet many souls spotless at his judgement-seat. Pics:
I understand that this is a super long email and there's probably very few of you who still actually read these, but this week the stories are better than usual. :)
On Friday there was some chaos that went down and we had to drive an hour south of Edmonton and back to pick up a missionary who had to go go home early the next day for a medical emergency. This missionary came out with me and was pretty much done with his mission anyway, but the details of his medical situation were definitely causing him some stress. On top of that, he has had a pretty rough mission with not seeing much/any fruit from his labors, being misunderstood and a whole bunch of other things. He also has a lot of family struggles back home. He is honestly a great guy though. President Pattison still wanted him to have a good experience leaving the mission so he had us organize a get together at the mission home with some other missionaries who are going home with us, where we had some donair pizza and ice cream and just chilled for a bit. :)
I know that this was a gift from God. I know that He loves us and created this earth not only to be a place for us to experience our days of probation but to have JOY and experience the beauty of His creations. It was so humbling for me to be a part of this super special moment for this missionary, and I still get giddy with happiness every time I think about it. So yeah, I ran inside and got everyone in our apartment and we enjoyed the northern lights for an hour or so that night. Such great memories!
One more miracle story and then Ill be done: So Tuesday- Wednesday I had an awesome exchange with Elder LeFevre, and Tuesday night we were doing some contacting at Southgate LRT station, my favorite spot in the mission to talk to people. When at Southgate we usually split up and have one on one conversations cuz there are so many people to talk to. I started talking to a nice girl named Rita who was waiting for a bus with her cute little daughter, and we had a great conversation and I ended up teaching her the plan of salvation pretty briefly. She was interested in meeting again so I got her contact info, and throughout the week sent her a few messages. We scheduled an appointment on Saturday but it fell through, and we rescheduled for the next day right after church. They (she brought her boyfriend, Jordan) missed their bus to church that morning so they walked 30 minutes to church! They got there right before it ended and we gave them a quick chapel tour, pulled in some members to our lesson, and taught them a great lesson, they felt the Spirit super strongly the whole time and recognized it.
Apparently Rita was very intrigued by the idea of eternal families when we talked about it earlier in the week and felt like she needed to find out more. They both committed to be baptized on October 21st! It was super cool, when we invited them Rita kind of whispered to Jordan with a smile, "That's why I came here." They are so prepared!!! Pretty classic missionary story. Its so humbling to be able to participate in someone's quest for spiritual guidance and be an instrument in the Lords hand. I'm super grateful He allows me to. :) We have another lesson with them tonight and we are super pumped!
This email is super long so Ill be done. In other news Lellow is still progressing rapidly. I could go on and on about how amazing she is. Definitely the most golden investigator I have ever taught on my mission. Her baptismal date for the 21st of October is looking pretty solid! Ray is doing well too! He hasn't smoked in a week!! That is amazing progress for him. Well, a week full of miracles is what its been. This next week will be my last real week as a missionary and then its transfer week. I'm SO excited to see what additional miracles come. I'm going to work my tail off that's for sure.
I love being a missionary and I can say confidently that these 2 years have been the happiest two years of my life :)
E. Bonny
Weekly Scripture: 2 Nephi 33:6-7 I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell. I have charity for my people, and great faith in Christ that I shall meet many souls spotless at his judgement-seat. Pics:
No comments:
Post a Comment