On Wednesday, we met with our investigator Feliz, who is probably the most ready person in the whole world to get baptized. Both times he has come to church, he has corrected false doctrine that other members of the church say. It's great. So we extended a baptism date for March 2 and he accepted and we're so excited! Our ward really needs more priesthood members and he is just so great and we're really excited that he wants to take this step.
On Saturday we had a zone meeting to apply some of the things we learned about when the members of the Church Missionary Department came to talk to us. This was super helpful because Sister Barker and I have really struggles to apply it. Brother Donaldson told us that when we knock doors, we should never tell them that we have a message to share but instead we should ask them if we can bless their home. Then the first thing we should teach them are the points under "How to Begin Teaching" in Preach My Gospel. We shouldn't just list off all the points though but let the spirit guide us. Then when we go back and start teaching the PMG lessons, we should be using the pamphlets that the church created after PMG was out and that we should be really simple and use the pictures in the pamphlets a lot. So we practiced all of this and Sister Barker and I were feeling a lot more comfortable about everything. Elder Hajje, one of the zone leaders, at the end of the meeting made a promise that if we would spend at least 10 minutes before the end of the day on Sunday tracting and putting what we practiced into use, then we would get a baptism. Sister Barker and I didn't have any time on Saturday to tract and we really didn't have any time on Sunday either. But we took his promise to heart and we started praying about where we should go tracting. The building that kept coming to my head is one of the more ghetto buildings and I really didn't want to go tract there. But when I asked Sister Barker where she thought we should go, she said the same street that I had been thinking so I knew we had to go to that building. We also usually start tracting at the top of the building and go down. But I kept thinking that we should start at the bottom. I asked Sister Barker and she said the bottom as well. When we got to the building we started knocking the first floor. There was one apartment that I was sure was the apartment we were supposed to be at. But the lady wouldn't open the door. Nor would anyone else. Before we finished that floor, Sister Barker said that we should go to the second floor. So we headed up there and the same thing happened. No one would answer. But Sister Barker said that we had to knock the last door on the floor so we knock and this kid opens the door but he doesn't really talk to us, he just walks away. He doesn't shut the door though and a minute later this lady comes out and I tell her that we're representatives of Christ and that the Holy Ghost has sent us here and that we would like to bless her home. And she lets us in. So we start talking and she's only lived in the U.S. for 2 years and when she was living in the D.R. the elders were visiting her and she went to church twice and she loved it. I was sitting there in shock that this was happening to us. Then I pretty much wanted to die of happiness when she asked if she could come to church with us this Sunday. It was so cool!!! We shared a few of the points in "How to Begin Teaching" then we said a prayer to bless her, her family and her home. Then when we had finished, we talked a little more and Sister Barker gave her a Book of Mormon because she left her other one in the D.R. And then I felt like I should ask her to be baptized. So I did. And she accepted. She's going to get baptized on March 16. It was such a powerful and amazing experience because it was all guided by the spirit. It's hard to even express how happy we are!
Yesterday, Sister Barker came down with the flu so we stayed home all day. It wasn't the funnest thing ever but I'm not complaining either. I mean who wouldn't want a nap every now and again. Plus I also got all caught up on the letters I needed to respond to and cleaned the house. All those things I always think I'm going to do on p-day but never actually get around to doing. Sister Barker is feeling a little better today. She felt well enough to come to the library and email and then the zone is going to watch 17 Miracles this afternoon and she wants to go to that so I think the entire day of sleeping helped her feel better.
I think those are the biggest and most exciting stories for the week. I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!
Love you all!
Hermana Parkin
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| Hermana Parkin and Hermana Barker |
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