Chapter 61: Windy Days are Blowing in Miracles!

Hello Everyone!

This week has been quite the adventure :) I'll give a quick play by play so I can get into some of the cool miracles we had this week :).

So Monday night we get a call from Sister D asking us if we would be willing to sing on Sunday for sacrament meeting.... I was all over that :) We decided to use it as incentive to invite lots of people to church and while Satan's a bugger and kept our investigators at bay, a less active did come and was touched by the spirit of our song. I think his heart is softening. So ya. Because we were given just a few days heads up and Sister Bricker is only so-so musical, we spent a lot of time singing and practicing. Every place we drove we were singing. While walking down the street, we were singing. in the shower, while laying in bed, EVERYWHERE :). It was fun though. Super fun :)

Tuesday we were on Exchanges with the Palouse Sisters and I got to go work in there area. Background, its a walking area, and my goodness it was so windy! For once I think I wished that I was an elder and could wear pants! We looked kinda funny walking around holding our skirts down but we were still able to find some amazing people who said that they have been wanting to get God back in their life. Super neat. Plus the ward did a LA finding blitz that night and got to know everyone who had fallen away and many of them were actually really receptive to coming back and having missionaries stop by!

Thursday we had a big Zone Conference which took up most of the day but the rest of our evening was booked with LA and Potential lessons and guess what.... NONE OF THEM FELL THROUGH!!!!!! That was a miracle in itself because we weren't able to do any planning that morning! While maybe some of those people aren't progressing at the rate of others that we are working with, its neat to see them take little steps and start to bear their testimonies to us on principles of the gospel :)

Friday we found W.! She's a former investigator as we were finally able to get in with her. That was probably one of the most inspired lessons I think I've ever taught on my mission. She expressed some concerns that kept her from getting baptized in the past and we were able to teach simply of how we recognize the spirit. I pulled out Moroni 7:13-14( I had just read it on Tuesday) and read it to her. She paused and asked to see it and read it again. Her face changed and she whispered " I get it". My heart started to sing :) I love it when the spirit is able to testify to someone that its true. I feel like a real missionary :) I know that God is working on the hearts of His children and when they are ready, they will get it :)

Saturday was the amazing women's broadcast. If you missed it I highly recommend it and I wont spoil it for you. Just go watch it :)

And after Linger Longer on Sunday we decided to go try and contact and investigator... no one home sadly, but we turn around and in pulls one of our other investigators that totally disappeared off the face of the earth a few weeks ago.... and her sister who said that she wanted to meet with us!!!! WOOHOO!!!! We taught them about prayer and they were so sincere when saying that they knew that they needed to communicate with God more often and would work on that this week. 

The work is really picking up here a ton and pretty soon we will have no option but to run to all the appointments! The goal: that they will have to put more missionaries in these areas just to keep up with everything :) You can tell that these are the last days. The final harvest is at hand and God is bringing in all who will come. I'm grateful to be one of the gatherers. I love this work. Have a wonderful week! I love you all!

Sister Tobler

Chapter 60: Catch Me if you Can!

Hello Everyone! 

You'll have to try and keep up cause my goodness we had such a busy week this week. quite literally running from place to place. We found several new move in Less Actives that we are starting to work with and we have high hopes to get them back to church soon! Its the perfect opportunity to start fresh and start out on the right foot being in a new ward and they see it too. Of course there are trials that are going to try and keep there out of the Church, but we know that the spirit will continue to work on their hearts to bring them back home. A few of them we even asked them if we could "practice" teaching them and they were super eager to not only help, but to hear how we help people come into the gospel :).

Super cool miracle this week. So we got this referral for a guy named B__. It didn't have much info other than he had talked with missionaries and said we could stop by. We were a little skeptical it would result to much but we went. No one named B__ lived at the address, but we met J___ there. He started out by bashing us a little about how we mormons are so exclusive because he tried to walk in the temple once and they wouldn't let him in ( there was his first mistake :)) but we taught about the purpose of temples and showed him some pictures in the pamphlet and his heart was softened. He asked when and where church was and was eager to set up and appointment so that we could come in and teach him and his family. Super cool!

Another cool miracle. We were talking to one of our potentials in the parking lot and she says " I was baptized into a church when I was 7 but I really feel like I need to be baptized again. How do I do that?". My mouth just dropped. We explained our purpose and invited her to come to the womens broadcast this week where we would have a little more time to talk with her about how to make that happen :) Super cool!

What else... We visited with this Less Active Recent Convert and talked about doing the Christlike attribute activity in PMG and as she was looking over it she just looked at us and was like " this in an answer to my prayers. I have felt like I've been stuck in my progression but now I know what more I can do. Thank  you so much!". Talk about inspired plans. :)

We were knocking a few doors in the rain last night and ended up in the more run down part of our area ( don't worry mom we were being safe) and we knocked on these two doors. One talked to us through the door and when she heard we were the missionaries she kept apologizing that she couldn't let us in ( she's was sick) but asked that we come back in 2 days! Super duper nice lady. So excited to see what she looks like :) The next door we knocked on recognized the tag and said they wished they had time but gave us #s to call and asked us to come back soon so that we could talk more! Super duper DUPER cool! God blesses us when we are in the right places :)

I am so glad that I'm getting to be an instrument for the Lord here. Its an honor really :) I feel myself growing everyday and I'm glad to be able to help others along the path back home too. I love you all! Thanks for your love and prayers! Till next week!

-- 

Sister Lindsey Tobler

Kennewick Washington Mission

chapter 59: Goodbye Already?

Hello Everyone! 

I think this has been one of the craziest weeks ever. Just hours after I got off the email we get a call. Its from Elder Lunt. One of the Assistants.... There was a situation in the mission and I had to say good bye to my baby. With only a few hours notice, we got her all packed up and took her into Richland to her new area. Some tears were shed on both sides but I know that there is a reason things happened this way. So now I get to watch her grow into an amazing missionary from a distance but I'm glad that we still got to make some memories together. 

So because she left us, the mission decided that we don't need to live in a big apartment anymore so after getting Sister Byrne all packed up, Sister Bricker and I had to pack up and move. Now we are living with a member of the Highlands ward and we have the cutest little apartment in their basement! I don't think I have ever lived somewhere so adorable :) and cold! Brrrr. Anyways, so that added another dynamic trying to get all moved into our new place and even though most of my stuff is still in suit cases, its nice to know that we shouldn't have to move again for a while. Cross your fingers at least :)

Now covering two wards with just the two of us, we are busy ALL the time. We have set appointments just about every day which is awesome. We got this referral from the Assistants for a Less Active and Part Member Family that just moved in and the daughter told them " Ya I'm Christian but I'd rather be Mormon" ( We'll work on clarifying that Mormons are Christian :)) and when we went over to see them the next day, they were actually there when they said they would be! And they let us right in! Double Miracle!!! We have found a few really solid potentials that we are super excited to work with and help them to come into the fold. 

I love the work and the people here and I'm pretty sure that I could stay here forever :) We'll see what President has to say about that :). I couldn't ask for a better life, getting to devote everything to the Lord. I love this gospel and thank you all for your love and support!

Till next week!

Sister Tobler