Monday, September 16, 2013

A CHANGE OF HEART

My dear family and friends, Aloha!
Zone Conference

President Warner
I wish words could tell the thoughts, emotions, or feelings that I have at this time. This week I had the blessing of attending my very last zone conference. Listening to the testimonies of other missionaries as well as our wonderful President and Sister Warner, I truly feel that there is no place I would rather be than serving side by side with such amazing children of God; especially with my wonderful companion Sister Eaton, and the miracles we are seeing together.
Sister Warner

Miracle #1 
A few different things have happened in the past week concerning Kalani that have caused us to push his baptism to a later date. The miracle in this was that after one of our lessons we asked him again how he felt about his baptism. He said he didn't want to do it anymore. Our hearts were broken. We asked why, and he simply said, "Because I don't want to." We knew that only the Lord would be able to soften his heart. Our next lesson, Sister Eaton and I decided to try a new approach. We made sure that his recent convert brother was there in the lesson. It was amazing the difference that it made. He was helping him the whole way. After teaching an object lesson about the Holy Ghost and how it can protect us we read stories from the Book of Mormon that exemplified this principle. Reading from the Book of Mormon stories, you could see that this big book staring at him, no longer stood lifeless. There are two miracles in this...we spoke with the foster parents, and they said they could not believe it, but Kalani would take the book into his room and read it instead of doing other things. The second miracle is, after one more lesson with him, he told us he still wanted to be baptized, and was willing to give keeping the commandments another try. We invited him to pray when God wanted him to be baptized. He said he would! Never give up on anyone. As long as we continue to show them the love of the Savior, I know that miracles can happen.
Miracle #2 
Having so many international companions, usually during a language tour I will just follow along and smile, haha. Well Sister Eaton, going on her SECOND Russian tour for the day (which usually doesn't happen) took a Russian family on a tour. They were definitely NOT interested. They made sure we knew that they were just looking for more information. We first took them to the temple corner (showing the pictures of inside the temple), ending the tour outside looking up towards the temple. Although the husbands English was minimal, I was able to convey my love for the temple and how it has blessed my life... The spirit was so strong as we bore our testimonies of the temples and of God's love for his children. You could see their countenances change from when we first met. They expressed to us that they could feel a difference being on the temple grounds, and loved the feeling they had. 
Cleaning the Guide Room

Miracle #3 
At the Visitor Center we try to accommodate for as many different language speakers that come to visit us. We have The Book of Mormon in 82 different languages and the Christus statue narration in about 30 different languages. Well, what a blessing it is that the spirit speaks all languages. An older mother and grown up son came to the VC from Italy...speaking little to no English. We lead them to listen to the Christus in Italian followed by showing them to a copy of The Book of Mormon in Italian. Their faces lit up as they read through the pages written in their native tongue. They were so excited to have one of their own, with the mother letting us know that she was going to read it on her flight back home to Italy. It was so amazing to feel the spirit during this 5 minute time period with these two wonderful people. I know that the spirit spoke to them, and I cannot wait to see in the final days how it has blessed their lives.
P-day Hike

I know I always say this, but I am so truly grateful for this gospel. It is truly the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am humbled daily as I see the many ways that I can improve, but am ever grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, who has allowed me to change; to repent, learn and grow. I know when I was a little girl (in age) I saw missionaries in this perfect light. I am learning that it wasn't that they were perfect, but that as a missionary, my testimony of the atonement has never been more real...and the best part is, I get to share my testimony of it every single day. Don't be afraid to share yours! 
Love,
Sister Moyes

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