Hello everybody! hope you´re all doing well.
This week was very good! We taught a lot, and walked a lot.
All right, so we have this investigator, who shall be called Albert. We were trying to find his sister to teach her (she was a reference), and we met him. We gave him a pamphlet of the Restoration, and challenged him to be baptized, which he accepted. Then like a week later, we were passing by, and he called us over. He asked us to explain more about the pamphlet, which we did. Then we came back the next day and taught the Book of Mormon. He´s very excited about everything, especially to be baptized. And we´re super enthusiastic about teaching him because he seems so ready to hear the Gospel. He, much to our relief, doesn´t have any real problems with the Word of Wisdom. He takes like two puffs on a cigarette once a week. So it shouldn´t be too murderous for him to quit, he says.
We had a really cool experience this week. There´s this kid who´s 8 who comes to church on his own every week but isn´t baptized. We went to visit his house a while back and chatted with his grandma, who told us she has many difficulties in life, and cried a bit. She accepted our challenge to be baptized. Then the other day, after a couple of weeks not talking to her, we knocked on the door and she was there. Her son-in-law explained that she was in a really nervous state because she was expecting some potentially bad news. So my comp asked if we could say a prayer with her. She told us she didn´t want to and that no one could help her except God. But we stayed there silently, and waited.
She stood by the door for about 5 minutes, where we couldn´t see her. Then she told us to come in. She explained her situation a bit more, and talked about alone and lost she felt, and then we said a prayer with her, and by the end of it we were all crying. After the prayer was over, she said “I understand. I understand why you wanted to pray with me.” And she cried some more, this time I think because she felt that we actually wanted to help her. This experience was really amazing to me.
She stood by the door for about 5 minutes, where we couldn´t see her. Then she told us to come in. She explained her situation a bit more, and talked about alone and lost she felt, and then we said a prayer with her, and by the end of it we were all crying. After the prayer was over, she said “I understand. I understand why you wanted to pray with me.” And she cried some more, this time I think because she felt that we actually wanted to help her. This experience was really amazing to me.
When we walk up to people on the street, sometimes we say “Hello! We´re representatives of Jesus Christ, and we have a really special message for you.” I understand that title and that responsibility a bit better now. When we are set apart as missionaries we are given the ability to act as literal representatives of Christ. He isn´t here on this earth to teach people right now, because we need to learn to develop faith in Him. But we are there to teach His Gospel to all the world. When we teach people we are given the Spirit to testify of the truth of our words and to discern what these people need to hear. But as we talked with that woman, I realized something else we can do. Through the Atonement Jesus felt every pain, sorrow, and ache we´ve ever felt. And as representatives of Christ, we could understand the tiniest part. I felt such strong empathy for this woman. I understood only about 65% of her words, but I could tell she was hurting so badly, and I KNEW the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the thing that will help her more than literally anything in this world.
You guys, I really like being a missionary. It´s so hard to walk for hours every day, to only have internet once a week for an hour and a half, and only be able to talk to my family over Skype twice a year. But when you touch someone´s heart with the message you have, and you see them start to change and become new people with the light of Christ, there´s nothing better.
Lots of Love,
Sister Westenhaver
India in Brazil 