Dear Everyone I Love,
"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice and sing praise."
Psalms 98:4
Prayer is real! Since we invited Indya to get baptized we have been praying for her to have the courage to talk to her dad and that his heart would be softened. It's been a few weeks now and her scheduled baptismal date is February 18th (the day before her 13th birthday) aka this Saturday. We decided to teach her as if she was getting baptized on the 18th and not wait for her dad to say yes before we moved forward. It was really hard for her to have the courage to talk to her dad, but we continued to pray that she would. She talked to him once and he said he would think about it. Then we encouraged her to talk to him again and she kept putting it off. She was nervous to talk to him again because she was afraid he was going to say no. We met with her 3 times this week and each time she hadn't talked to him again.
The Bishop asked her to speak in church yesterday on "Preparing for Baptism" (not a coincidence). When we went to her house Saturday night she had just finished her talk and practiced reading it to us. It was AMAZING!!! This girl deserves to get baptized! We taught and encouraged her and told her she has to talk to her dad after we leave. The next day at church she just said Hi to us as she went to take her place on the stand to speak. Her mom came up to us and said, "Indya talked to her dad last night and he said he was still thinking about it. So, I talked to him and said, 'We need to know. She's scheduled to get baptized this Saturday!' Turns out Indya never told her dad what day, she just asked him if she could. We didn't get a chance to talk to him again before church." Sister White and I were nervous that because Indya hadn't mentioned what day he wouldn't say yes for this Saturday. We continued to pray. We met with Indya after church and told her that she had to talk to her dad tonight by 8:30 so that we could tell our District Leader during Stewardship tonight. She agreed.
7:30pm... no call. 8pm... no call. We started getting nervous. 8:15pm finally the phone rang. It was Indya! We put it on speaker, " Hi Indya. How are you?" "Good." "Did you talk to your dad?" "Yeah I did and he said, 'Do what you want.' So I'm taking that as a Yes!" Sister White and I couldn't contain our excitement. We congratulated her and shouted with joy. After we hung up we danced around in our living room. We texted our District Leader Psalms 98:4 and he replied 'Prayer is Real'.
This whole experience has been a testimony builder to me. Our prayers are answered. When we align our will with the Father's we can find joy and satisfaction that our prayers will be answered. "...each time you exercise faith you're inviting a miracle." There were a lot of missionaries in our last combined district meeting that didn't think it was going to happen, but Sister White and I kept the faith and moved forward. Ether 12:6 What a great way for me to celebrate the 43rd day of the year!!! (Feb. 12th; for those that don't know 43 is one of my favorite numbers and I celebrate the 43rd day of the year every year).
Another experience this week. We have stopped by a potential named Sam Brittain. She had a baby 2 months ago. We stopped by and saw her a couple times but she didn't have time for a lesson. We saw her last week on Jan. 31st and she said to call her sometime next week. She also told us (as she held her son) that he had stopped breathing in the night a couple nights ago and she was prompted to check on him. She's been in and out of the hospital with him. He was super alert and smiling while we were there. We called her this last Wednesday to see if we could stop by the next day. "Hi Sam, it's the Sisters how are you?" "I'm doing okay." "We wanted to see how you were and see if you had time tomorrow for us to stop by and share a lesson." "Well, I don't want this to sound rude but my son passed away last week and I'm mad at God right now so I'd rather not talk to you guys right now." We were heartbroken. Turns out he had stopped breathing again and died in the hospital on February 3rd, 3 days after we saw him. Each time we have stopped by to see Sam we planned on teaching her the Plan of Salvation instead of the Restoration like we normally do. Now we know that we were inspired and now, more than ever, she needs our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and needs to know she will see her son again. We decided to buy her flowers and write our testimonies in a card. We included a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and left it on her porch for her. It's experiences like this that make me so grateful that I know I will see my loved ones again. What comfort this brings.
I wanted to give everyone reading this a commitment. How have you been blessed by obeying the commandments? (Including, tithing, word of wisdom, keeping the sabbath day etc.) Pick one and write your experience or testimony down and send it to me. :)
"It will be a Great day when our people not only PRAY for the Missionaries throughout the world, but Ask the LORD to help them assist the missionaries who are laboring in their own ward."
-President Gordon B. Hinckley
I love you all! HAPPY VALENTIMES DAY!!! This is a great work! I am so grateful I am a missionary at this time. I wouldn't have it any other way. Please write me :)
Love always,
Sister Leanna Thompson
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