Hasten

October 5, 2015

 

The Lord is hastening the work in Denver North! WOW! I feel so grateful for all of the miracles we have been able to see the past few weeks and the Lord is truly sending us those that are prepared!

 

Miracle/Progressing Investigator

Mirna Lujan! She is 14 years old and the daughter of a part member family (her mom is the only member- her parents are separated). We started teaching her about 2-3 weeks ago and set her on date for baptism in the first lesson. She has truly started to see the fruits of the gospel in her life! This week, we were teaching Mirna Lesson 3 and after talking more in depth about baptism and reviewing D&C 20:37 with her, it was determined that she is SO ready to be baptized! She has been taught a LOT in the past by elders and has just been soaking up everything we teach. At the end, after inviting her to pray about moving her baptismal date up one week we asked Mirna if she had anything to say or if she had any questions. She is normally very quiet and attentive, so we were surprised when she had a comment. She bore her testimony to us of how much the gospel is changing her life and how much she truly loves learning about these things. She shared some tough expereinces she had in Mexico this month when her dad kicked her out of his house at age 13. She said that learning about these things was really helping her to heal from these tough moments of abuse in her life. WOW. Tears were beginning to spill over as I felt such a strong appreciation for the Spirit. What an incredible moment.

 

During that same lesson with Mirna, her friend Maria came to her house and sat in on the 2nd half of the lesson. After that amazing experience and listening to Mirna's testimony, before leaving we asked Maria if she would like to learn about these things too. She responded by saying, "yeah... I really would." We got her contact info and set up a return appointment. This Sunday, Mirna AND Maria both came to the church to listen to the Morning Session of General Conference. After talking more to Maria, we found out that she basically raises herself. Her dad died a few years ago, she has one older brother that lives in Mexico, and her mom works 18 hours a day (6 AM to 12 PM) at a local Qdoba. Talk about being prepared to receive the restored gospel. I have no doubt that Mirna will be our October baptism and that Maria will be our November baptism. Maria loved General Conference and was even taking notes on what the speakers said. How is God so good to us? :)
 

Joaquin, Bryan, Mirna, Sister Chandler, Sister Hansen and ME!

 

I LOVE MY MISSION! This week was EXHAUSTING, but I loved every second. We worked SO hard to get member presents to all of our lessons and it worked out perfectly! We taught exactly 12 MP lessons (which is the standard of excellence in our mission) for two weeks in a row now! We have NEVER met that goal... my whole mission! It was such a miracle and I know the Lord is truly guiding us in everything we do in this area. We didn't knock one door this week... every single new investigator was found by the principle of "find when you teach, and teach when you find." The Lord was literally LEADING us to people waiting to receive these gospel truths.

Lunch with my cousin, Crystal Roosa and her husband, Scott.

 

 

This week on Thursday we had Zone Conference! It was the last zone conference of my mission :( which meant i was asked to give my departing testimony. man... it is starting to get real that all of this wonderful work is starting to come to an end... but i love being a missionary! there is truly nothing else as wonderful as sharing this restored gospel message.

 

Me with Hermana Chandler at Zone Meeting

 

GENERAL CONFERENCE was fantastic!!! I loved it so much. I can't even begin to explain all of the wonderful feelings I received while listening and allowing the spirit to teach me. One of my favorite talks was in the Sunday afternoon session by Devin G. Durrant when he talked about "Ponderizing!" It made me think of my dad always telling me to "ponder" when I go to bed every night. I am excited to start "ponderizing" every week and focusing my mind more on gospel-centered things.

 

Have a great week! :)

Hermana Pierce

 

PS: FUNNY STORY
 

 This week after our lesson with Mirna, it started HAILING like crazy! JUST POORING HAIL!!! Well, we had just washed our car about 2 hours prior so it could be inspected the next day at Zone Conference. So, upon exiting our lesson with Mirna, we sprinted thru the hail to our car and there was a box and a lesson 3 pamphlet on the windshield. We wait for the hail to pass and drive to dinner. Our clean car was completely destroyed. When we finish dinner, we tell the other hermanas to come outside and look at how destroyed our car was... when we notice a DEAD FLAT SQUIRREL on our hood! NO JOKE. It was disgusting and just smelled horrible. One of the hermanas picked it off with a stick. HAHA. We must have been squeeling pretty loudly because a man came over and asked us if we were okay. He was from Panama and we talked, explained the situation to him, he laughed, and then we shared the message of the restoration with him. Needless to say, a prank from the Barnum Park elders is now leading to someone's eternal salvation. It was pretty darn funny :) I will include pictures in another email. haha, good times!