Week 60: Tender Mercies

I think every missionary has those days where they wish there was a camera recording their whole day, capturing all the experiences, lessons, and feelings they had that day. That was the kind of day that Elder Siale and I had on Tuesday.

It started out with us stopping by and saying hi to a lady, Jane, who we had started teaching a while back but had lost contact with for a month or two. As we got out of the car Jane immediately told us that she needed to talk to us so she could share with us her testimony. As we sat down with her she expressed to us that she had received an answer, through a dream, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was the only true church. Elder Siale and I were both taken back. She then began to cry as she told us about what her family would think of her leaving their church and how in her dream she saw that she was only able to bring with her one of her sons with her to the true church. As she shared these fears a scripture immediately popped into my head. As we walked to the car to fetch our scriptures I kept trying to remember where the scripture was located. I believed it was in the book of Matthew but I didn't know what chapter. As I began to open my bible, chapter 19 came to my mind. Almost simultaneously the first page my bible opened to was Matthew 19:29, the exact verse I was looking for to share with Jane. We continued to share and testify to Jane and then invited her to be baptized. One of the tender mercies of the Lord I saw this week/day.

Later that evening we had our second lesson with Russell and Lydia. They invited us over for dinner and we were able to answer more of their questions at the same time. They had many questions about temples, eternal marriage, and the plan of salvation. We had a wonderful discussion with them about these various questions they had. We were able to answer all of the questions they had and they were very happy. At the end of the lesson a strong prompting came to invite them to baptism. As I began the invitation it felt like the whole room went mute and the spirit began to fill the room. At the end of the invitation Lydia, with tears in her eyes, without hesitation accepted, as well as her husband Russell. They both then began to state evidences to us of how they know that it's not a coincidence that we met and that they have found the restored gospel at this time in their life. As we left their home Elder Siale and I were both speechless.

We went on two exchanges this week. On Wednesday I was able to go with Elder Sande to his area. We had a blast. Also I was able to cut his hair. My first time cutting a black man's hair :o). On Saturday I was able to go with Elder Dupaix (West Valley, Utah) to his area. They are on bikes so that was a lot of fun. Even when it began to rain about mid-day. Let's just say neither of us were prepared for the rain or cold weather the rain brought with it. When we left for the area it looked like it was going to be a warm sunny day lol. Luckily we saw another tender mercy from the Lord that day. Each time we got to a lesson and got into the home the rain would start to come down hard. As soon as we finished the lesson and got ready to leave the rain would either completely stop or let up to a light sprinkle.

Elder Siale and I had a great week. We saw the Lords hand in our lives and in the work numerous times this week. I love you all and will talk to you next week.

Love, Elder Rash

P.S. Transfer news is this week Saturday, so you'll find out what's happening next.