A Week of Missionary Work

Sister Moraga and I have enjoyed associating with the young sisters in Lexington Park and Patuxent.  We sang "Because I Have Been Given Much" at the recent Zone Conference.  From left to right we have, me, Sister Moraga, Sister Fifita (Tonga), Sister Marambio (Peru), Sister Sottili (Italy), and Sister Lau (Hong Kong).

Here is an entry from my Visit Journal last week:

Lexington Park Sisters Tuesday May 6, 2014

We went on splits with Sister Sottili and Sister Marambio.  It just happened that Sister Moraga drove her car today, so she went with the young sister who doesn't drive, and I went with Sister Sottili.  Sister Moraga and Sister Marambio's referral fell through, so they went and visited an elderly sister, Sister Weaver in Patuxent Ward.  I went with Sister Sottili to contact a couple of referrals in Lexington Park Ward.

First Sister Sottili and I went to find a family that Sister Susan Jeffers met on her way home from church last Sunday.  She saw them walking along the street carrying their Bibles and had an impression that she should offer them a ride home.  They told her that they are trying to find a church that they can start attending.  Sister Jeffers called Sister Sottili and told her about Lornette and David.

When we arrived today Lornette and her daughter, Ebony (age 19), and her son Jalonte were there along with Jalonte's girlfriend and new baby.  Sister Sottili introduced us and asked if we could share a message about Jesus with them.  She invited us in.  She told us that they are trying to find a church that is close because they have to walk.  She wondered if our church has a bus that picks up members.  We said we were pretty sure we could help them get a ride to church.  Sister Sottili asked her if she had heard of the Book of Mormon before.  She said she didn't think so.  When Sister Sottili pulled out her Book of Mormon she said, "wait a minute."  Then she went to her bookshelf and brought back a copy of the Book of Mormon.  She said, "I thought that book looked familiar to me.  I found this book last year at a store called Clothes Closet."  She said she read a little bit of it and then put it on the shelf.  (I looked on the internet to see what I could find out about Clothes Closet and found that it is sponsored by the Lexington Park United Methodist Church.  I wonder how that Book of Mormon ended up there.)  We talked briefly about the Book of Mormon and the restoration.  We invited her to read the Book of Mormon and she said she would read it.  Sister Sottili asked her if she found out that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, would she follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized.  She said "yes.  I have been baptized before, but yes, I would be baptized again."  She said she felt like having found the Book of Mormon last year was a sign for her that this is right.  An appointment was set to teach her and her family next Monday evening.  We invited her to church this Sunday and Sister Sottili said she will arrange for someone to give her a ride.  We gave her son and daughter each their own copy of the Book of Mormon to read, and they want to be present for the lessons also.

After we left their apartment and were walking back to the car, Sister Sottili talked about how the Preach My Gospel lessons and the District and Zone leaders encourage not being afraid of extending the invitation to be baptized in the very first lesson.  She used to try that approach, but after many times of people giving excuses and turning her down, she stopped inviting them to be baptized on the first contact.  For some reason today she had such a strong feeling that she just needed to invite Lornette to commit to baptism that she spoke up and asked her.  She was so overjoyed when Lornette responded positively.  It was a great experience.  We will pray that they will follow through with their reading of the Book of Mormon and praying about it and that the next lessons will go well.

After our visit with Lornette we tried to find a sister who was a less active referral from the office but could not find the house before we ran out of time and had to meet up with Sister Moraga and Sister Marambio.  I expressed gratitude to my Heavenly Father this night for a real teaching opportunity today.

And then this entry a week later:

Lexington Park May 12, 2014

Followup with Sister Sottili about the investigator, Lornette:  I sent a text to Sister Sottili on Monday, the 12th, to see if Lornette and her family kept their commitment to attend church yesterday.  She said, Lornette and her friend David as well as her daughter, Ebony, and son, Jalonte, and Jalonte's girlfriend attended a potluck dinner on Saturday night and attended church on Sunday.  They are receiving the next lesson on Tuesday night, and David, Lornette, and Ebony have a baptismal date set for May 31st.

May 11, 2014—Mother's Day

Today we attended meetings in White Plains 1st and 2nd Wards.  As we participated and reported in the mission correlation meetings in both wards, I realized that we are making progress.  We are getting to know more and more of the sisters and their circumstances.  Some of them have become very dear friends, and I just want them to find joy in the gospel.  For reasons that I don't know, they have made choices that have taken them off the gospel path, and they are experiencing hard things without the assurance that they have a Heavenly Father who knows and loves them, and that he does hear and answer their prayers.  However, I have witnessed the blessings that come as they try to come back.

Many people here drive long distances to work and spend many, many hours away from their homes.  We have a very hard time finding them at home to visit with them.  We told the elders about one of the sisters, Mary Ann, whom we met last fall but have not been able to visit more than twice.  They were finally able to catch her and her boyfriend at home in the evening.  During their visit Phillip asked if he wanted to be baptized who would be able to baptize him.  Mary Ann told him that the Elders would have that authority.  The Elders began to teach him, and they started coming to church.  Yesterday was the third week in a row for them.  They have a baptismal date set for June 15th.

Our Sunday School lesson today was about the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ in former times.  When we came to the part about Christ establishing the church in the spirit world and men on earth performing baptisms for the dead, Phillip was very engaged in the discussion.  He asked about his grandfather who has passed away.  He said how do I know if he wants to be baptized?  The teacher explained that we know from the scriptures that they are taught the gospel in the Spirit World and then they still have the choice of accepting or rejecting the gospel.  He commented that they would be pretty stupid not to accept it at that point.  Nonetheless, since we don't know their choice, we search for our ancestors and perform the baptism for them, and then they can choose to accept or reject the baptism.  Next he asked how this baptism is performed, and the teacher explained how a person stands in his place as proxy, (for instance Phillip could do this) and is baptized for and in his name as if it were his grandfather who is getting baptized.  I think he felt the spirit, and I know the Holy Ghost was present in that room testifying to him as he came to an understanding of this true principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It was pretty neat.

We witnessed three of the four convert baptisms (age 9 or over) in the two weeks we were in Anacostia and Capitol Hills this month, and the missionaries in our White Plains and Lexington Park area are now teaching 7 people who have set baptismal dates within the next month.  There may be others in the District that I am not aware of.  It has been an amazing week full of the Spirit.