Sister Kirsten Leslie: 17 Miracles

This week has been a great week! We have seen many miracles.

First off, I won't make you wait until the end to know about transfers: Drum roll, please!!.......I am going to........................stay here! Sister Jensen will be staying here as well! We will have been together for 6 months after this transfer. President told us after this transfer we will most likely be split up. The Brethren have stated that missionaries should be an area for 6-9 months and with a companion for 4 1/2 to 6 months. So I'm not going to go against what they have said! It took me by surprise, but it is what the Lord knows we both need. When we texted Jose to tell him we were staying together, he replied with, "See? Faith! Come over sometime and I will teach you about it! That just made my day!" Haha we gave him a Preach My Gospel so he can be a member missionary and so it was funny. He's very excited. We are, too. So now you know. Watch out, Minot, we're going to do great things this next transfer!!

A week ago, on Monday, we texted the Relief Society president about something, and she replied with a response including information about a RS sister who had been in a bad car crash and was in the ER with her son. We didn't know why we were given this information, but we prayed for the individual and kinda pushed it into the back of our minds. That night we met with bishop to finish Jose's baptismal paperwork, and in passing mentioned the individual who was in the hospital and bishop hadn't heard about it yet. He had just gotten back into town after 2 weeks of being gone the day before, so the RS president didn't know he was back yet. It was awesome to be able to help the bishop.

Tuesday there wasn't any big miracles, but it was a good day. Volunteering at the Salvation Army was great as always and afterwards we tried people and looked for an active member's home. We've been getting to know the active members more and that helps with getting referrals and helping them to get more involved in missionary work. So we searched for this one family's home for like 30 minutes. It was so confusing! But we found it and now know how to get there. We will never forget. It was such fun to get to know her and her cute kids. That night, a miracle was that a family in our ward let us use their heated garage so we could wax Mo. It was so much better that waxing it outside in -30! Mo is a big guy, and that would have been awful. The wax freezes and it is NOT fun. So this was much better. For sure. We then had dinner with that family, and had an appointment with Jose but he couldn't meet with us because he was setting up his new apartment for when him and Amanda get married. It's in 2nd ward, and he told us he was moving in like a week, so we took a second and I cried. I was so bummed that we would losing Jose so soon after he was baptized! So I prayed and prayed a lot and the next time we met with him, we talked with him and he will be staying in our ward until he gets married. So that's great. We just didn't want him to be without a strong fellowshipper in 2nd ward and have to start over with a relationship with the missionaries and all that. SO now, when we moves there, he'll have a super strong fellowshipper named his wife. :) So it will be perfect! It will be so much better! And we're excited that we get to both work with him at least until March 15 (the end of the next transfer). The Lord answers prayers through little thoughts of what we can do!

Wednesday we had some BIG miracles. After district meeting, we went to try 2 referrals we had gotten from a member and they weren't home. They live in a quadplex, and this whole street is covered with them and apartment buildings, so as we were walking to Mo, Sister Jensen had the prompting to go try the quadplex next door. The first door we knock on, they let us right in and I am bold with my door approach (the one I've wanted to use for a while now): "DO you believe God loves all His children equally? (They answer yes) We know that He does because Christ's Church exactly as He organized it on the earth in His time has been restored today through a living prophet. Do you have a few minutes we could tell you more?" They then said yes and we sat down and taught the Restoration to Hailey, Neil and Bernardo. SUCH a cool experience! We needed new investigators so bad. We got 3!! The Lord answers prayers if you heed the promptings He gives you through the Holy Ghost. Tracting also works! Now I have a testimony for myself.

After Weekly Planning on Thursday, we were going to go to an active family right by our dinner appointment for that night, but I had the thought to go try a less-active who we've never met or gotten in with, so we called her on our way over and we got in! We went over and were able to talk to and teach her. She doesn't come to church because when her and her family moved here 4 years ago, no one in the ward came to visit them and so she got offended. We think she was already planning on being less-active, but the moral of the story stands clear: When new people move in, especially if they are less-active, take the chance and go visit them! When we were baptized, we promised that we would comfort and mourn with those who need it: so fulfill those covenants! Keeping our baptismal covenants requires more than just partaking of the Sacrament each Sunday. We must be willing to "stand as a witness of God at all times, and in all things, and in all places." (See Mosiah 18:8-10) What are you doing to keep your covenants? How are you pushing yourself to become a disciple of Jesus Christ? We were able to get another appointment set up with her, which is another miracle because maybe we can help her get back to Church with her family. We were 10 minutes late for dinner because of visiting with this less-active member, but dinner went well. They wanted take the missionary discussions as a family, so it was our turn to teach the Plan of Salvation. Their kids are high energy, so it was a bit tough, but we made it through. We were also able to meet with a semi-active family who is coming to Church more and they are almost active! Woohoo! That night we brought Jose and Amanda with us to visit Brian, a less active. His wife, Karen, and the kids are in Utah so he's just here working and it was great to get some one on one time with him. He was baptized 11 years ago, and went less-active about a month after he got baptized because he got offended over tithing. Having Jose there was crucial! He was on fire! We talked with Brian this time about Church attendance and scripture study and how it relates to our faith. Jose was saying comments like "When we were baptized, we became representatives of Jesus Christ. You need to be an example to those you work with." and "You need to come to Church so you can get over your fear of coming to Church. The Lord will help you as you keep this commandment." It was so cool! We are using him a lot more now. He loves it! Moral of the story: Go out with the missionaries!

Friday we went and visited the active family we had wanted to on Thursday. They were great! They trust us more now. We were then prompted to go try a potential investigator, which scared us because she has a mean dog who bites. Yikes. But we went anyways, just to see her leave her house and drive away. We were so confused. Another potential lives across the street, so we decided to go try her. When we talked to her she was like, "The missionaries came by in the late summer and I told them to come back and they never did!" She was sick, so we made an appointment for this week. Just as we were about to leave, we saw her next door neighbor start to driver her car towards us (she was coming to help this potential jump her car), and she got her car stuck in a snowbank. So for the next hour, we pushed this car and digged under it all in our skirts. It was an adventure! At the end, Debbi, this potential, thanked us so much and said she couldn't have done it without us! She trusts us more now. :) After dinner, we had a member go with us to visit with Shakeitha. We were a bit worried because we were thinking we were going to have to drop her and JUstin, but instead the opposite happened: Her and Justin set a date for marriage so they can get baptized! Now, it's not until August because Justin works in the oil field and doesn't have a day off until July (moral of the story: NEVER work in the oil field.). Plus, her son Israel is 8 and wants to learn about the Church as well. So we could get him as a new investigator this week! We could baptize them all together! She wants to come to Church, but is on bedrest for her pregnancy, so she can't. She's due the end of March, and then she will be able to come. It was so cool! The opposite of what we thought was going to happen. Tender mercies!!

Saturday, we went to Surrey in the morning and got in with a less-active who was baptized just 2 years ago and wants to come to Church, but is the manager of a bar and can't get off work. (Ironic, right?) But she brings her Quad with her to read when she's not working (So she reads the Book of Mormon in a bar, haha.) She is super cute. We are going to start going over once a week to talk about what happened at Church that week. She's so cool. We've been trying to get in with her for like 3 months, so this was definitely a miracle. WHile in Surrey, we also got a return appointment with another less-active family. No transfer call, so we just had a nice day of trying people. But it must have been National Don't-Open-Your-Door Day, because we didn't talk to many people.

Yesterday was good. Jose couldn't come to church because he called in to work a full day of work (again, never work in the oil field.) After Church, we had an appointment fall through, so we went and tracted a few Quadplexes by where we found Hailey, Neil and Bernado. We got a return appointment with one guy, Stanley, who we found out is actually a former investigator! How cool!! Coordination meetings went well and so did studies and dinner. After dinner, we tried a few more people (but we forgot it was superbowl Sunday so people were mad we were knocking on their door...oops!) and then brought an active member with us to our appointment we had with Hailey, Neil and Bernardo, but they weren't home, so we went and tried Candice and Richard, a couple less active recent converts. We were bold with them and found out that they don't think Church weekly is necessary. So we resolved their concerns and it was great! We found out Richard it a HUGE scouter, so we are going to get him involved with the scouting program in the ward--hopefully it will help to activate him or something!

This week has been incredible! Obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles! Apply that in your own life!

Love you all!

sister leslie.