Seems like you had a great 4th
of July--spending time with family, the Osgood Community Breakfast,
parade, boating, Melaleuca Freedom Celebration...I'm glad you all had
fun!
It was another great week in the field! Definitely had its' challenges but it was good!
The
most exciting day this week was probably Saturday, July 4th! I was
praying all week Saturday would be busy so that I wouldn't miss home and
be thinking about what you would all be doing and Heavenly Father
answered my prayers!! We started the morning by visiting a potential
investigator. She is very Catholic and had some interesting beliefs but
was really nice and fun to talk and share about Christ with her. We then ate
lunch with Elders Dixon and Merrell and Jeffrey at KFC to celebrate the
4th! Jeffrey brought an American flag so it was fun! We talked about
family traditions and what we normally do on the 4th! After, we had a
lesson with one of our investigators, Chen DiXiong. He just graduated
from High School and is preparing for college starting in September. We
shared with him POS. He seemed to have little interest and was
distracted by his phone the entire time. So we will have to see what
happens with him. After, we went and did some finding over across the
bridge. We had little success but talked to this sweet 88 year old lady
who gave us a referral to a Christian home just down the road. We had a
lesson with Gan JieMei. It was very interesting. Our member that
normally comes with us came today after not being able to come very much
so Gan JM and her spent pretty much the entire time 'catching up'. We
didn't quite get in the lesson we had planned but hopefully next week.
Gan JieMei is continuing to read the Book of Mormon faithfully every
week. She just won't come to church. I pray We can find more ways and
things we can do to help her know the importance of church.
After
dinner, we had a night full of finding. We knocked a lot of doors and
were able to talk to many people. None were interested though. After
about and hour and a half. Sister Cardon and I stopped on the side of
the road and said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to help us find the
prepared. Literally 30 seconds after our prayer, the MIRACLE came! We
rounded a corner and saw a cute young girl sitting on her motorscooter.
We went over and started sharing a family tract with her. Ye XiaoJie has
been to a Christian Church before with some friends, she has heard
prayer before but not quite sure how to do it. We were able to pray with
her and share the Book of Mormon and have a return appointment for next
Saturday afternoon!
One of the most important things I
learned tonight is the importance of listening to the Spirit-being led
by the Spirit and saying what the Spirit prompts you to say. Our contact
with her was honestly really really awkward. I don't think I have been
that awkward since my first two weeks on Island but, she showed so much
interest and wanted to learn more about our Church and about Jesus
Christ. I know the Spirit was with us and even though Sister Cardon and I
were really really awkward (ha) the Spirit testified to Ye XiaoJie of
the truthfulness of our message.
Our
new investigators--Zhang JiaTing--are so so neat! They came to English
class together and they brought their daughter on Wednesday night. Their English is really good so they attended the advanced class and then we
met with them Thursday night at their home. We brought Wu JieMei, a
member in our branch, with us and she brought her 11 year-old daughter.
We had planned to go in teaching Lesson one about the Restoration. We
prayed about it not knowing if we should teach that or the Plan of
Salvation first. Sister Cardon and I both felt really strongly we needed
to prepare lesson one but when we got in to the lesson and explaining
Heavenly Father, Zhang XianShang started asking all these really good
questions that the Plan of Salvation answered. So, we switched gears and
taught the Plan of Salvation. His Christian friends have all told him
that after this life if he doesn't believe in God, he will go straight
to hell so we were able to clear that up and explain the knowledge we have about the after life. It was neat to see how he was comforted
knowing what is going to take place after this life.
Overall
it was a pretty good week! I love what I do. It is so neat. This week,
we were able to teach the Plan of Salvation a lot more than usual. I was
able to study more about it in Personal and Companion study. I know
without a doubt the Plan of Salvation is true. I know after this life,
we will all be resurrected and have eternal life. But the glory and
happiness of our eternal life comes from the daily decisions and choices
we make right now. I love in True to the Faith it says, "As you ponder
your progress on the "strait and narrow path," be assured that eternal life is within your reach. The Lord wants you to return to Him,
and He will never require anything of you that you cannot fulfill. All
His commandments are calculated to promote your happiness. When you
exercise faith and serve Him with all your might, He gives you strength
and provides a way for you to do whatever He commands you. Remember
that as you give your greatest effort and repent of your sins, the
Atonement of Jesus Christ will compensate for you weakness and for the
inequities, injuries, and pains you experience in this life: "We know
that it is by grace we are saved, after all we can do".
I love you all!! Have a great week!!
Love,
Sister Haacke
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