Pioneers!

Have you seen the great Ensign this month on PIONEERS?! I love telling stories about pioneers (thanks Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandad and Grams for teaching me so many) and working with so many people who are pioneers in their own families!

Sister J is one such pioneer. Many years ago, when I was probably still running around in diapers, Sister J met the missionaries in her small town in Mexico. Her mother had nothing good to say about these Mormons, but Sister J was touched by their message, and was baptized. She attended church for several years, hiding it from her family, but in time, she forgot that confirmation of the spirit, and began to attended less and less frequently. She grew up, started her own family, and moved far away from her little town, but she continued to pray, secretly, talking with her Heavenly Father and pleading for him to bless her and her 3 beautiful daughters. One day, just a week after her 4th daughter was born, the sister missionaries knocked on her door. Her husband hadn't been to a church in years and never listened to missionaries, but this time, for some reason, he invited these two young women in.
Sister J. knew who they were. She and her husband listen as these sisters talked with them about the blessings that God has for our Families. They asked Brother and Sister J. if they were happy- if they had everything. Brother J said that he was very happy, and didn't need anything, but the sister missionaries boldly testified that he was missing something very important in his life. He was missing the gift of the Holy Ghost. This gift-- the ability to be guided, helped and constantly accompanied by the Holy Spirit of God is a great blessing that comes only to those who have been baptized by the proper authority of God, and put their lives in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ. The missionaries invited them to learn more, and then left. Brother J. felt something different. He knew that the sister missionaries had something special and he wanted to learn more. He and his wife invited them to come back.

They began to meet with the missionaries again and Sister J was able to share with her family the ways that she had been blessed by prayer and fasting for many years. Brother J and the two oldest daughters were baptized a month later. A few weeks after their baptism the sister missionaries again came to their home. "Who do you know that we could share this message with?"

"Actually," Sister J. said, "My cunada (sister in law) lives in number 13. She has never wanted to talk to the missionaries before, but tell her that we sent you, and she will listen to your message."

The sister missionaries went and began teaching Sister J's cunada, Sister R and her children. They are preparing to be baptized, and this Sunday Sister R brought 3 of her nephews to church.

When the sister missionaries stopped by to ask how Sister R's book of Mormon reading was going.

"Oh, I haven't read today-- I've just been reading in the Ensign all about how we should dress modestly, and that cute story about the man and his wife who walked around Walden Pond. Also I learned that even though I'm not baptized yet, I call share with all my neighbors how I invited in the missionaries and they are teaching me and my family, and I can tell them that they should invite in the missionaries too."

Do you know the church is true? Do you believe in modern Pioneers? Who do you know that you want to share THIS message with?

... you don't get any cool prizes if you forward this to 25 people in the next 10 seconds. But you get blessings in heaven every time you share you testimony!

Moroni is calling

We went to the visitors center with H. this week. I'm so grateful we have this amazing tool right in our mission-- the spirit was so strong as we listened to the words of the Savior and looked at the beautiful Christus statue. We talked about the Book of Mormon and listened to testimonies of the apostles. Then we went for a walk around the temple.

The Los Angeles temple is beautiful, and that day the flowers were just glowing in the warm sun. The sisters giving us a temple tour invited us to turn away from the temple and look out on the city of Santa Monica-- spread out in front of us in smog and dirt and construction. Santa Monica Blv. runs right in front of the temple, and we could hear engines and car horns and all was chaos,

"What do you see?" Asked Sister B.

H. sat and thought for a minute,"A lot of people too busy for God,"

We stood quite for a time. What a sad thought.

"Now, turn around,"

The sounds of the city seem to fade as you turn to face the temple,

"Now what do you feel?"

H. looked up at the angle Moroni, "He's calling us to come and listen."

The spirit testified of her words as we stood and admired the beautiful temple.

"That's where I want to be married. No where else." H. said.

My companion joked, "You do know you have to get baptized first?"

"Ah man! you're just trying to convert me!" H. joked back.

But as we drove back down to San Pedro that afternoon my companion and I testified that that is the only place we want to get married- and there are great blessings awaiting her and her family as she takes the steps to get there.

We should always lock our keys in the car. . . .

This week we saw an incredible miracle. Last Sunday night, that dark, cold and rainy evening, in a great show of companionship unity, we locked the keys in the car, and while waiting for help, we began to knock on the neighboring doors. We met a woman, "Maria," who was very friendly, but when she finally invited us in to sit in her living room she began, "You're not going to try to convert me, are you?"
"Hahaha" I thought, "Convert you? why on earth would you think that? (-: "
We explained our purpose, sort of glossing over the role of baptism, and invited to her to learn more. To our surprise she set a return appointment.
I am ashamed to say we had little faith in her. We planned to teach a "drop lesson"-- inviting her to come to Christ and then explaining that we would not be able to come over if she wasn't' willing to make commitments and follow the Savior.

I thought, "I've to women like her before- they're too nice to say no, but they're hardly jumping at the bit to find out what the Mormons believe."

Again she surprised us when we returned a few days later. She was waiting for us, invited us in, and introduced her son, who she wanted to sit with us and listen too. She hadn't read all of the pamphlet that we left, but she explained it was because she was too busy reading on Mormon.org about the Articles of Faith and the importance of Families. She wanted to learn more.

We taught her about the gospel of Christ, the apostasy and the restoration. We shared the beautiful story of Joseph Smith, and opened up the Book of Mormon to 2 Nephi 25:26. "We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ and we write according to our prophesies that our children may know for what source they must look for a remission of their sins."

We testified of the power of the Holy Ghost in conversion and then Sister Molina invited her to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by one holding the priesthood authority of God.

"As long as I receive that witness that it is true, yes, I will be baptized."

I couldn't believe it.
We invited her to be baptized in January and again testified of the great blessings that come as we seek the confirmation of the spirit in our lives.

We stopped by a few days later, and she invited us in, "I thought you would come today, I could just feel it. You know," She said, "I never invite missionaries in, I don't even listen, but something told me to invite you in when you were standing on my porch that night. The spirit inside me told me that you had what I was looking for."

My Testimony

please turn down the radio, or turn off the TV, sit down and read this somewhere reverently, for this is my Testimony of the Savior of the World.

This week President Baker gave a challenge to all the missionaries to commit one more investigator to baptism by November 7th. In the past several weeks I have been blessed with a great testimony of the sacred and true calling of President Baker. I know he is called by God to lead us here in this mission, and so his challenge was not a suggestion from Mr. Baker, but an invitation from the Lord.

I spent several days thinking about this challenge--Could we really find another investigator, or change the hearts of one of our former investigators? I could feel in my heart that I did not yet believe-- I was not yet committed to this challenge, so I began to pray to gain a greater testimony of my mission president, and to gain a testimony that this challenge was really from the Lord.

God answers prayers in a way to intricate to describe. Maybe it could be captured in a sacred song, I think. So perfectly, so beautifully, God understand the deepest parts of my doubt, and His spirit can penetrate even my deepest fear. Tuesday afternoon, I sat in Zone training, focused again on applying the spirit in the conversion of our investigators, and I pondered on the hardness of my heart. Why couldn't I just believe?!

One of the zone leaders, Elder Amundsen shared a story about how they had set a baptismal date in a lesson just a few days before. He described the power of the spirit that worked on their investigator as they read together from the Book of Mormon.

And then, like warm rain, the Spirit poured over me. I knew that we could find someone. I knew the Lord would guide us, and I knew that our president was only asking us to rise to the Lord's challenge: "And speak freely to all; yeah, preach, exhort, declare the truth, even with a loud voice, with a sound of rejoicing, crying-- Hosanna, hosanna, blessed be the name of the Lord God!" (D&C 19:37).

That afternoon, we had an appointment with "April." She recently married a less-active in our ward, and though she had shown some interested in learning about the Gospel several months ago, we had never been able to really sit down and teach her. Sister Clark and I talk about it, and we felt that "April" might be prepared to be baptized, but only if we could apply all that we had learned about teaching with the spirit and listening and asking questions.

That incredible spirit I had felt in the meeting seemed to hover around me for the rest of the day, and as we sat down to begin teaching "April," I felt calm and confident that everything would be fine. We introduced our purpose, to teach her about the restoration of Christ's church, and we began to teach her the first lesson.

I have taught this lesson so many times, but each time the spirit guides us to say it little differently, to use different scriptures, to focus a little more on this principle of that, so I tried to tune out the 7 year old who was running around yelling, and I tried to tune out the fans that were trying to cool down her little house, and I tried to teach her the way the Savior would teach her.

And here is where I ran into a little trouble. I didn't really feel like I knew any of the right things to say. I asked questions, and shared scriptures, but this was supposed to be OUR MIRACLE Lesson! There were no amazing insights, no incredible moments of aha! for our investigator. Sister Clark and I did our best to follow the little nudging of the Spirit, but this lesson didn't seem any different from any of the hundreds of lesson 1s I'd taught in the months and months behind me.

"Heavenly Father! Where is the Miracle?! I don't feel like this lesson is anything special, I haven't taught well, I haven't felt inspired with insight! How will she ever want to get baptized?"

And then, so lovingly, the Lord instructed me, "Who's lesson are you teaching?"

I felt the Spirit pour over me again and just as Sister Clark finished relating the Joseph Smith story, I turned to April and asked, "How do you feel about that?"

"Well, I feel good. That feels good." She smiled, "I know it's true."

The Spirit filled the room, (had He ever really left?) and we invited April to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized.

We explained our purpose to help guide her to prepare, and the importance of growing her own testimony, and we talked about helping her husband come back to church so he could baptize her, and she accepted a baptismal date for the first of the new year.

I am humbled to think that Christ suffered for my sins of pride and selfishness so He could know perfectly how to teach me to overcome. I am humbled by the inspired questions he asks me to help me to better serve His children.

I am so grateful to be serving Him here. This is His work. This is His gospel, and His children, and how great are His blessings

Those who know not where to find it

Sunday afternoon Sister Clark and I parked in the north of our area and began walking to an appointment. It had been a long day (long day of music-- we seen to average 3 musical numbers a week in this area (-: ) and we were late for our appointment. As we walked down Aime, I said hello to an Indian man walking by. We say hello to many people every day-- hundreds in a week probably, but for some reason, just then I remembered my recent resolve to REALLY talk to the people we meet on the street. It is one thing to say a cheery hello to everyone you meet, but an entirely different thing to invite every person you meet to come unto Christ through His restored Gospel.

So I stopped, turned around, and stuck my hand out to this gentleman, "Hi, I'm Sister Hales"
My companion is now rather used to my stopping randomly mid-stride to talk with anyone (human or animal--- did I tell you about contacting the parrot accidentally(?) and she too introduced herself.
The man just looked at my hand for a minute, and said, "I'm not your religion"

"Oh that's ok! We talk to everyone!" (yes, all my sentences as a missionary end with an exclamation point)

What he said next surprised me, "How did you know I was thinking about religion?"

I smiled. "We are representatives of Jesus Christ, and as such, His Holy Spirit guides us to those who want to learn more about him."

"You know, he said, I was just talking with God, and asking him to show me a sign, to show me more about him, because you know I practice my religion and I try to be good, but I just feel like I am missing something, and I was just asking God to show me what it is. Do you know of a quite place around here where I could pray?"

Sister Clark and I looked at each other and smiled-- does one ever stop being amazed my the miracles of God?

"We'll we are here to teach you how you can fill that missing part with a greater understanding of God. Have you ever heard of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?"

"Michael" is moving back to India on Tuesday, but we talked for some time about revelation and the truths restored through Joseph Smith. We showed him how to get a hold of the missionaries in India, and he promised to find out more.

There are people in every city, in every neighborhood who are looking for the truth of God. Some of them know it, some of them don't but, "mine elect hear my voice, and they harden not their hearts." It is our job, (yes you!) to find them, to let them hear the Shepherd's voice through the scriptures, through the missionary discussions, through church, general conference, through your testimony.>>

Tengo Gozo En Mi Alma Hoy!

This week (or was it last week? I can't remember, sorry if I've related this story already) , as Sister Clark and I walked to an appointment with "Manuel" (he's been to church two weeks in a row now!), I saw a woman sitting on a small garden wall by the side of the road. She looked professional, with her blue-tooth in her ear, her cellphone out, but she seemed so happy and serene, enjoying the sunshine there in the middle of a row of apartment complexes.

I just had to talk to her.

"Enjoying the Sunshine?"

"Why yes! Just takin' a break from work, and how 'bout you ladies? Goin' about your ministry?"

"Well yes, we are."

"Good for you-- showin' your faith with your works!"

As we continued talking, discussing James 2 and the purpose of life on earth, she explained that her father is a minister and her mother a missionary, and she loves the Lord and his Word. Sister Clark and I shared our testimonies of our work as missionaries, and the importance of the Holy Ghost in teaching us what is truth.

"Where is your church?" She asked, "It sounds a whole lot like my church, and I want to come and bring my kids!"

We got her information to pass onto the missionaries in her neighborhood, "Thank you," She said, "I feel a resolve to be better and to do better- thank you for stopping and talking with me!"

My companion and left feeling uplifted and joyful, and as we began to walk away, we noticed a man who had been standing close by listening,

"Hey!" he stopped us, "What are you so cheerful about?"

"The Gospel!" I think that's what I said, that or something about the good news of Jesus Christ! We explained that we were missionaries, and we taught people about the joy that a knowledge of God brings.

"Oh, I don't need religion," he assured us, "religion is just an excuse not to be converted in here" he tapped his heart.

We began to discuss the importance of personal conversion and the foundation that gives religion to build upon.

"We're actually on our way to teach a man who doesn't have a testimony yet. What do you think we should teach him to help him be converted in his heart?"

The man stood and thought for a minute.

"Teach him about Jesus. Teach him how much we need Him, 'cause if you know how much we need Jesus, you've just gotta have faith in God."

I don't know why I am still so surprised when complete strangers testify of deep truths of the Gospel-- don't I know that "the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good"?

"Thank you," I said, "We will, we will teach him how much he needs- how much we all need Jesus Christ."

"Wow!" the man said as he left, "I should be a missionary!"

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ

The work here is progressing-- boldly, nobly, and independently-- but no surprise there! I am learning that the work of the Lord does continue always, but we must chose whether we sit and watch as it marches swiftly past us, or if we will jump in and join the ranks of the Lords Army.

This week Hna. Clark and I decided to do things a little differently. Scared of the white people that live in our area, we had softened our door approach-- barely mentioning the name of the church, and mostly offering to sweep their driveway, if their hired help hadn't gotten around to it anyway. This, turns out, it hardly an effective way of spreading the light and knowledge of the gospel. So, after an inspiring chat with our wise and beloved sister trainers, some serious thought and a lot of prayer, Hna Clark and I decided on our approach.

Knock, Knock, Knock!

"Uh... Hi. Can I help you?"

"Hi, I'm Sister Clark, and this is Sister Hales."

"We're the new Missionaries in the area, and we wanted to come meet you and your family."

"Can we come in and teach a message about Jesus Christ?"

And wouldn't you know it, some people actually say "Yes!"

Cleo is from Egypt, and though she feels firmly set in her Egyptian Orthodox Christianity (ask Dr. Griggs all about that!!) she invited us into her sitting room, and offered us something to drink.

While she was up turning off the TV, Sister Clark turned to me, "NOW what do we do?!"

Well, we did what Missionaries of Jesus Christ do-- we taught her about the Lord's Gospel.

And that was just the first day. Since then, we have seen a change in the way the Lord works with us.

When we stand up, boldly for what the Lord has taught us, He is there, just as he promised the prophets and missionaries before us. "There I will be also, for
Yesterday we found Iris. A few years ago she "converted" from Catholicism to Christianity, but recently, she has not been back to church. There was recently a death in her family, and some other trials, and she just didn't feel like her old church was centered on Christ. They just got together to say they went to church, but that's not what church is about.

I thought about the line in PMG that says the Elect are looking for the church, but sometimes they just don't realize it yet. Cleo doesn't know that she's looking for the one true church, but she will recognize it. We taught her parts of the first discussion and set a return appointment for next week.

And I wonder what she would have said if we'd knocked on her door "Hi, we're representatives of Jesus Christ, but we're too scared today to teach-- can we do your breakfast dishes?"

"I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you to bear you up."

This is the greatest work ever.