This week was full of cool miracles, so I'll just go straight into the spiritual moments.
A few weeks ago, I had knocked on the door of a girl named Mele. She seemed willing to listen to us and told us we could come back in about a week. We had tried a few times, but nobody had been home. So on Friday, Elder Falaniko and I went back to try again. I hadn't written down the address (rookie mistake, right?) but I had been past the house a few times. But when we went over to the area, I couldn't seem to find the road she lived on. We walked around for a few minutes and decided to head back to the bus stop. As we were waiting for the bus, I turned around and noticed a bunch of smoke rising from the area we had just been in. We went back the following day and found the house easy. I don't know if we would have been in any danger from the fire/arsonist, but it was interesting to see God's hand in keeping us out of the path of danger.
The second miracle: So a couple weeks ago, Elder Simanungkalit and I went to the store to look for a new GPS for him. While we were there, we saw one of the workers eyeing us a little bit. We waved and said hi, and he introduced himself as a recent convert of just a few months. He told us that he was working on his mission papers so that he could leave right as he reached 1 year in the church (he's 18). We left and didn't think much of it. But this last Sunday, as we're getting ready to go to classes, I see him wandering around. It turns out that he actually lives in our ward boundaries, but had been going to Campelltown 1st ward for some reason. We directed him to the right class and were able to help him out.
The last miracle this week: About a month ago, Elder Simanungkalit and I met a lady named Natasha Vaisevuraki (see previous emails). Her husband is a member, but he hasn't been to church in 18-23 years. She has been interested in getting her kids involved in religion and actually started meeting with some Jehovah's Witnesses. We met Sam (the husband) once, but he was very aggressive and had some doctrinal concerns about the church. He kept saying, "I don't believe that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are 3 different people. I just need somebody to sit me down and explain why you guys teach that. If they can explain why you teach it that way even though it's not true, then I will come back to church." We kept trying to stop by, but he was never home. So on Wednesday, we decide to go try again with Brother Perrett. To our surprise, he opened the door and invited us in. We had a really good discussion with him (aka he started crying). He shared how he has always been very prideful and it has gotten in the way. He told us how in the past couple weeks, God has helped humble him. He apologized for how contentious he was before and told us he was ready to come back. He kept saying how he really was just scared of making the changes in his life. Normally, these experiences don't translate to church attendance, but--miracle of miracles--he showed up to church with his wife and 4 kids! They all attended the Gospel Principles class (newly created with help from the ward) where we all discussed our Heavenly Family. The teacher explained very clearly how Heavenly Father interacts with us through the Holy Ghost and the light of Christ, which was exactly what Sam needed. It was so amazing to see the lesson taught exactly to his needs.
It's fun to hear from home! Thanks for all the emails!
Elder Nelson
1. Evidence of miracle #1
2. On the train
3. We found a kitten for a less-active family. I don't know if it's on par with healing the lame or raising the dead, but they thought it was a miracle. Hopefully we can get them back to church haha
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