Hey y'all! Last Monday
was the Fourth of July and it was awesome! We had a ward breakfast
where I tried meh cheese grits. Later, the Sister missionaries in Fort
Walton Beach 1st ward came over and gave us chocolate peanut butter
cupcakes because they love us. We went to Bippy's, went to the mall
where I bought some awesome cheap socks, then a super quick Walmart
trip. Then a couple from the ward was so kind to invite us to their
neighborhood barbeque! They picked us up and took us to the air force
base community where their family lives. We had an awesome classic 4th of July
meal with hamburgers and hotdogs. It was fun! It was nice (and weird,
but mostly nice) to just sit and talk for a couple hours. :) We got to
see some fireworks out the window on the way home.
On Tuesday
we had district meeting and then went to Stewby's for lunch per
tradition. I looooveeee Stewby's so much. Free plus delicious food
equals happy Sister Jamison. Their shrimp and hushpuppies are the best
thing ever. Then Sister Stephens and I went to the birthday party of
Yogi and Tess's one-year-old granddaughter Ellana who is super cute (but
not as cute as any of my nieces, teehee.) We tried to see a bunch of
people, but no one was home. Later, we taught Roderick and Akeria who
acted had been fed sugar at their day camp and were bouncing off the
walls like crazy and didn't focus very well, bless their hearts. I sure
love em.
Wednesday
we taught Jim and Vicky about faith, and boy do they both have a lot of
it! They read the Book of Mormon and pray together every day. Jim (he's
the investigator) used to be really uncomfortable with praying, but he
says it gets better and easier every day and he feels strengthened by
it, especially as he continues to grieve over his daughter. His faith is
such an example to me. And so is Vicky's as she continues to feel the
joy of the gospel as she is coming back to church, reading the
scriptures, and praying. I love them so much! That evening, we taught
Roderick and Akeria about repentance. They are so good at remembering
things and learning, but again, they were hardcore struggling to focus.
So whenever one of them answered a question right, they would get a
piece of paper, and whoever had the most pieces by the end of the lesson
would have a treat the next time (hey, this is the first time we've
ever had to resort to bribery.) Then Roy sat
in on their lesson (the grandpa) and he answered the most questions, so
we brought him a cupcake the next time. :) Roderick and Akeria are
still working on focusing.
On Thursday
Sister Vaughan from the ward took all four sister missionaries to Olive
Garden for lunch (so many blessings). Afterwards, Sister Stephens and I
taught Darren, a young guy that she and her previous companion were
teaching just a little while before I came- they had to drop him because
he wasn't keeping any commitments and didn't want to get baptized. But
just the other day he called us and said, "Hey, I found that note you
sisters left me. When do you want to come teach me again?" We hadn't
left him any note and hadn't contacted him for a couple months... But we
decided to go see him. After we taught him about the Plan of Salvation,
Sister Stephens told me his heart has softened a ton- and when we asked
him if he would be baptized if he came to know our message is true, he
said yes! And ye had said no several months before! I don't know who
left him that note, if there even was one, but it was definitely a
tender mercy.
Friday
was Sister Stephens' one year mark! She says she feels like she came
out to the mission like a week ago, which makes me laugh because it
feels like my year mark is forever away. It makes me so excited when she
talks about how much she's grown and changed for the better over the
past year because I want that for myself. We met with a woman named
Nicola that we met at Roy's house. Nicola is a little interesting, she
has schizophrenia and says a lot of funny things. But she's a child of
God and I love her. :) When we met her at Roy's house, she sat
in on a lesson with Roderick and Akeria and said things like, "Did you
know Jesus died twice? Once in Jerusalem and once in Africa?" Haha, we
had to gently correct that. When we were talking about how Jesus Christ
helps us, she said, "Jesus Christ was a good man. But he's dead now."
And then I said, "Nope, still alive!" trying to be kind but
straightforward, and Nicola seemed to accept that, so I turned the
conversation back to the lesson. Sister Stephens laughed about it for
the next three days. But anywho, we went to Nicola's home where she
lives with her mom Melissa who is way awesome, so now we have two new
investigators!
More little miracles from last week:
We saw Leslie on Friday
and had a lesson planned to help him understand the blessings of living
the gospel actively. His friend Ivan came over while we were there.
He's a rocket scientist and mechanical engineer who has a really strong
belief in God but doesn't know what to really do with that belief. He
asked a ton of awesome questions and seemed really interested in what we
taught him. We're hoping to teach him soon!
Also
on Friday, we were biking to an appointment and Sister Stephens turned
the wrong way, but we stopped to talk to an awesome guy named Tyrone who
has been looking for truth and was really intrigued by the Book of
Mormon. We're meeting with him today and I can't wait!
We
met another man when we were biking one day, named Jacolbey Jackson. Is
that not the coolest name you've ever heard? I mentioned that there's a
prophet on the earth today, and he was so shocked! We met with him yesterday,
and it was the best lesson I've ever had. He is what we call a "golden
investigator" because wow has God prepared him to receive the gospel!
Jacolby grew up Baptist and has really strong faith in God, has
recognized answers to his prayers his whole life, and he and his
girlfriend are looking for a church to join as they just moved to Fort
Walton. He asked the most perfect questions, I felt like I was back at
the MTC teaching a fake investigator who's just too good to be true. But
Jacolbey is real! He's "legit" as Sister Stephens says. :) He said, "I
just wonder what my purpose in life is, ya know?" "I know God's there,
but what does He want me to do?" "Does Satan exist?" "Do y'all believe
in Adam and Eve?" Every one of these questions is answered by the Plan
of Salvation, and they're all in that lesson, but he asked them even
before we even mentioned anything about them. At the end of the lesson,
we asked him what he thought. He said he felt like it's all true, and he
said, "ya know, I just feel something. It feels good." That was the
Spirit! And then he said, "So next time can we talk about me joining
y'alls church?" Wowwowowowow! We left that lesson feeling like we were
floating on clouds.
Last thing, I promise. Yesterday,
I spoke in church about the Book of Mormon, and I think it went pretty
well. After church, Sister Stephens and I went to the ward organist/
music director's house to talk about a musical number, and we knocked on
her door and waited around for like ten minutes because our backup plan
had fallen through. But we saw lights on and her car was there, so we
knew she was home and we didn't know how else to spend our time. So we
said a prayer, and the second I said "amen," we heard dogs bark in her
back yard, and then she opened the front door! It was an awesome tender
mercy. We were able to plan our musical number and also visit with her,
which I think she greatly appreciated. And I got to geek out over music
with her. :)
This week has been incredible! So
many tender mercies and miracles! We have three new investigators and we
have two potential investigators. We've met and talked to so many
awesome people that have a lot of faith. And these are all such answers
to Sister Stephens' and my prayers to find the people that God has
prepared to receive the gospel. I know that God and Jesus Christ live
and that this is truly Their work. I see prayers answered every day. I
love being a missionary, it's so fun! I invite you to pray to be able to
recognize God's hand in your life and to write down what you recognize.
You'll be able to feel closer to Him and know that He is in the details
of your life. Love y'all!
Sisters Jamison and Stephens with Roy
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