So Many good things happened this week! To start off with.. Erika. Okay so about a week ago there was a really nice lady that we met in the grocery store named Erika. She told us that she loved missionaries and that she wanted to meet with us sometime. Well another customer came up and interrupted us so we did not get her address... We went back almost every night trying to catch her... and NOTHING! So fast forward three days later and we were planning for the night. Sister Miller said something about trying a potential named Erika the next day.. to which I asked... "Erika? as in THE Erika?" Sister Miller then said: " I don't know lets try..." So that is what we did. We went and knocked on this door and prayed so hard that Erika would be the one to answer.. And.... when the door opened..... It wasn't Erika... So sorry I just got you all hooked and then to let you down like that... ha imagine us... we were standing face to face with not Ericka but Jared.... A red headed, single father man.... so not Erika... It's okay we did not let that get us down we talked to Jared and we offered to share a message about Jesus Christ with him. He was not interested but we did hold a conversation with him for a bit about Duvall and how it was a quaint little community... Then he told us that he has lived here is whole life, and he lived here even before Safeway existed. So naturally we asked if he went to Redmond to get food before then and he told us that a small grocery store called Family Grocer has been around for years (The grocery store where we met Erika.) He then went on to tell us that his mother happens to work there!!! We were getting really excited by that point. So we asked him if his mom happened to be named Erika... He then said "Oh no Colt (Name of his little boy) They found us... they know grandma!" AH MIRACLE!!! So after we left and said goodbye to Jared and Colt we raced to Family Grocer to catch Erika! We even found something to buy so we would have "a purpose" to be there... but alas she was not working that night. And she will not be working until this next Friday... but we know her schedule now ha ha (creepy?) and we will be able to get in touch with her again!
We helped a lady in our ward a lot this week named Sister Centeno. I absolutely love this women. She has such a deep love of the savior and she is an amazing example of how the atonement changed us... She left the church years ago and didn't want anything to do with God for 30 something years... but then her heart was softened and she came back and she is one of the strongest people I know. We go to serve her each week and I swear that when we go she helps us spiritually more then we help her. This week she bore the most sincere and powerful testimony of how God still speaks to us and provides healing to those around us. She told us about her sister that passed away a few years ago that led a rough life full of drugs and alcohol. Sister Centeno told us that she lived in fear every day of losing her sister to those vices... but she didn't unfortunately one night when her sister was drunk she was hit by a car and left in a wheel chair after being in a coma for a year. Sister Centeno had the opportunity to care for her sister, to feed her, bath her, take her tot he doctors, etc for the rest of her life. She was still sound in mind but stuck in a body that did not respond anymore. The nurses that cared for her sister told her after she passed away from MRSA, pneumonia, and her organs slowly shutting down.... :( That Sister Centeno's sister who had never believed and God, and never felt bad about how she treated her kids, or her family... found forgiveness and change. For the last month of her life she would talk in her sleep to God and plead for forgiveness of her sins. And only when she had found that healing did she leave this world. This was such an amazing example to me of how change is possible for all, and it is never to late. We cannot force anyone to change... that would be against their agency. All we can do is love them, let them live the way they want to and be there for them when they decided to seek forgiveness, healing, and family. It was a good lesson.. I loved that Sister Centeno also had the opportunity to see a different side of her sister. She ended with a sincere testimony of the Resurrection and how her sister will be whole. Her kids will not have a mother that is a drug and alochol addict. She found forgiveness here and the addictions will not follow. That was such a sweet testimony to hear.
So Tracting this week was quite interesting... We got almost every door slammed in our face ha ha.... one door a 9 year old answered said "oh!" closed the door and locked it and then stood in the window looking at us until we left ha ha apparently we are scary and everyone should run from the Mormons ;) It was funny.... It was super hard on my companion though. :/ I know that many people here in this area are very familiar with the church and are tired of missionaries knocking on their doors... but I can't and I won't stop until I know that every single person has the opportunity to learn about Jesus Christ. He makes the entire difference and He changes us. I want everyone to know that and have that chance. We sand for a lady and her little boy and he ran away while we sang... ha ha I thought we did a good job though. We sing in English and Russian and I think it sounds really pretty together :)
A less active lady in our ward refilled all my essential oils this week! HALLELUJAH! and ah she is so sweet she made me a special blend for kidney stones, and she gave me every form of on guard there is since I get sick a lot. She hooked my companion and I up! I have never had so many oils in my life! I am in heaven ;)
We had a stake relief society fireside last night where a motivational speaker came. I learned so much from her. She has had cancer twice and she is so positive. I wanted to include some things that she said:
"Extraordinary people survive extraordinary circumstances... and they become even more extraordinary because of it!"
"Your future is as bright as your faith" Thomas S. Monson
"We never have to carry our burden on our own. We can ask our Father for his help and protection"
"My Faith will ALWAYS be more contagious then any disease we can have"
"We all need a little more: 1. Faith, 2. Hope, 3. prospective, 4. Humor, 5. Good judgement, 6. Service. "
"It's not what they take away form you that counts... it's what you have left."
"A change of understanding can bring a change of behavior"
She was such an amazing speaker!
Well that is all I had to share with all of you! I love you all so much and I hope that you have an amazing week. I will talk to you all next week!
Love Sister Jenn Franzen
No comments:
Post a Comment