Hola!!
Its so nice to finally be able to write an email this week! This week has gone by pretty fast but that doesn't mean some awesome things didn't happen. This week was full of miracles and some awesome stories!
First of all, the people previously that we have been teaching are still super hard to schedule appointments with. Adrianna still hasn't been able to get baptized since her mom won't let her, so we don't really know what to do there. Jackie is dodging our calls, texts, and even our door knocks. We had dinner with Justin, his family, and another members family. The dinner went well and hopefully he will let us in to give a lesson. So we have been slowly inching forward with progressing our friends, but still have a long way to go.
This week something interesting happened. So we got a call from the Sister missionaries from another zone to tell us about a referral. A referral is basically someone you have been teaching and you 'refer' them to other missionaries for one reason or another. The Sisters have been teaching this young girl named Gracie and now she really wants to get baptized! Turns out, her dad and step-mom live in our area so technically we should be teaching her. The Sisters referred them to us so now we get to teach them and help them progress. Gracie's friend is a member of the church and she invited Gracie to come to church. Gracie really liked it and decided to take missionary discussions. Now she wants to get baptized! What's even better is that her father was a member a long time ago and now wants to come back so he can baptize Gracie. Plus even her step-mom and her brother want to take the missionary lessons as well! It's literally so cool! All because that one little girl wanted to be a missionary for Gracie, her entire family is coming together. We taught her two lessons this week and got an opportunity to hear her testimony of the gospel! Her testimony was so strong and incredible. Just listening to it strengthened mine as well. Gracie is literally so cool and Elder Rehkow and I can't wait to teach her and her family.
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| The Sister Missionaries and us teaching Gracie and her family |
This week we had exchanges again. Exchanges are basically a day where you and another missionary swap areas for a day. It gives missionaries an opportunity to learn about other missionaries during a transfer. So I went to Elder Linehan's area and Elder Michaelson and Rehkow went together for a day. Elder Linehan is such an incredible missionary. He inspires me to be better. I even got the opportunity to put someone on date to be baptized while I was in his area. After the lesson as we were walking outside, our mission president calls us. He asked how good Elder Linehan's Spanish was because his actual assigned mission opened up again! Elder Linehan is headed to Mexico again! Medida Mexico was his original mission call, but because of Covid-19, he was reassigned to Las Vegas, Nevada. Now he is able to go back to Mexico!
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| Selfie with Elder Linehan |
Later that night, we needed to get something out of Elder Rehkow and I's apartment but Elder Linehan and I didn't have the keys. So we called them but it was going to be another 20 minutes. We decided we couldn't wait that long so Elder Linehan busted the window open with his fist and there were glass shards everywhere! Haha, I'm just kidding. Turns out the window was unlocked so we slid it opened and climbed inside. We basically broke into our own apartment. Elder Linehan then got a little frisky and hid Elder Rehkow's bed. He put the box spring in the shower and the mattress in the closet. I'm not a big prankster person myself, but Elder Linehan was apparently. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty funny though.
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| The bedframe and a special note to Elder Rehkow |
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| The mattress in the closet |
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| The box spring in the shower |
Another mega fat miracle happened this week too. As we were walking from a lesson, we happened to cross the street in a neighborhood and run into a 25 year old woman named Harlie. She was on her way home from work. We talked for a little bit and then she glanced at the nametags. "Oh... You guys are Mormons!" She said. We laughed and corrected her on the name of the church and all that. Turns out, her ex-boyfriend was a member. We talked for a while longer and then she said how we were fun and cool. She said we had some "great energy and vibes!" Yeah so what's even more funny is instead of us asking to get her number, she asked us. She basically was doing the missionary work for us! We set up an appointment to teach her in the park on Sunday. She warned us however that she was a very spiritual person and had many strong beliefs.
Now the miracle doesn't end there. So we're in the park on Sunday meeting up with Harlie and talked for a long time. We got to know her really well. Turns out, she is just saving money in Las Vegas to go back to Oklahoma. She has had a rough past and so she was just living here trying to get money. So then we get to teach her a lesson and she warns us before hand that she has some specific deep rooted beliefs that she believes in. We start teaching her about the Plan of Salvation and she was really into it. She starts talking about her own beliefs and turns out, everything she said, is part of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. She literally described the Plan of Salvation, without ever hearing it before, exactly. Like not even joking. Harlie described heaven and degrees of glory exactly. She said that she prayed with Heavenly Father often and said that was what she felt was truth. The doctrine we teach! We finished the Plan of Salvation lesson and she loved every bit of it. The spirit was so strong.
"I had no idea you taught all of this. I always just saw you guys as Mormons. But there is more to it."
Harlie then said that she wanted to join the church. Right then and there. We were like so happy and excited. We gave her a Book of Mormon, told her to read Moroni chapter 10, and told her to pray about whether the Book of Mormon really was the word of God. We promised her that she would receive and answer. She was ecstatic and said she couldn't wait to meet with us again!
I know that The Bible and The Book of Mormon are the word of God. They work together to testify of Jesus Christ. I know for a FACT that this is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ on earth. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints truly is the same church Christ established on the earth. Miracles are real! I promise you that if you want to find happiness and truth, read The Book of Mormon. If you want to know where we came from, why are we here, and where are going, read the Book of Mormon. I know that it is true, and I know our Heavenly Father does as well.
I love all of you and hope you have an excellent week!
Sincerely,
Elder Pack
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| We did some service and helped Robert and his wife hang some shelves |
