Courage like the Stewarts!

Hello my Dear friends. 

I am going to try to stay organized but there were all kinds of miracles that happened this week so if you get confused and want further clarification on any part just email me stephen.nelson@myldsmail.net

 

So, I will go down the list of people we taught or are currently teaching:

 

Kidd family - So Sister Kidd is getting Baptized in April! She set her date and is extremely excited to do this. She has come to church by herself with the baby one time and has been an absolute rock. But on top of  that, Bro. Kidd has been diligent. He came yesterday and is thinking more about baptism. We taught them both on Saturday about Baptism and Sister Kidd was just so excited to be clean again. You could see it in her eyes how badly she wants any guilt to be swept away. And Chris has said he will get baptized with her in April if he gets an answer, HE JUST HASNT ASKED YET! but I have no doubt. Chris ( Bro. Kidd ) participated in Gospel Principles class a lot and shared his feelings about getting answers from the spirit so I know it's just a matter of time. 

Jessica!! okay eveyone buckle up for this girl. 100% miracle. So we taught her for the first time two weeks ago and this week we taught her twice! She was scared to death the first time and the second time she made us cupcakes! ha. She quit her job so she can come to church on Sundays and is reading the book of mormon! and set a baptism date for March 28th and her boyfriend ( who is the son of the 1st counselor in the Bishopric ) is helping her so much. His family has her over so much and just loves her. That is what really got her interested. She said no like 5 times, and then Alex, ( her bf ) tried one more time and gave her a book of mormon and now everything has changed. She came to church and we sat by her. The talks were all about how to recognize answers  form the spirit, and they all described it as a warm peaceful feeling. and she leaned over to me and said " wow everyone feels that? that is so cool!" and she started moving her feet up and down really fast because she was so excited… and I said back "of course, because its true." during the course of this exchange and after.. I was filled with the spirit. I was so sure that the work I was doing, was the Lords work. She LOVED church. had an absolutely incredible time, she loved young women's and shared her experience with the gospel principles class of why she was there. It was unbelievable. 

Sunday - there is a family who's daughter is a DRY member, and the mom has been coming more often but not wanting the lessons and now their other daughter is coming but the father does not want to. Well, this Sunday some of the young women's leaders talked with her and invited her to learn. and She told them she has been feeling an unusual urge to learn from us!  The ward has been working on her SO HARD for so long! So, I am so excited to teach them. That is the Mariner family! 

Another young man brought his friend to church and he wants to learn. AND there is another young woman who wants to get baptized too and all she needs to do is get permission from her Dad who she knows will says yes. She is so close! 

For some reason all we baptize is young women?? I have NO idea why?? But whatever works! So far they are the strongest converts I have seen!

We have a few others who are close and in the works. The ward has just become finding machines, and fellowshipping machines. Still far to go but we really are not doing anything other than teaching! They do all the work. 

Two more amazing experiences.There is a couple in the ward I may have mentioned who have it figured out. The Stewarts, he is an RM who served in Finland, and he taught at the MTC and they met at BYU and he is going to Med school. Their home is perfect, and they are so active and give service and just perfect examples. Elder Spach and I always love seeing them. But they gave one of their neighbors a Book of Mormon and followed up and invited them over for a lesson with us. That is very hard to find! Not many members are that good! But they did it and we taught the Dad Tuesday night. Long story short, he was not interested in learning more and finding out if there was a God. Bu,t we gave a clear chance and the spirit was there, and he felt the love. I felt so accomplished afterward. And unlike street contacts, we will see him again, and more importantly the Stewarts will see him again, because they are good friends! I pray everyone will have the courage of the Stewarts! This is the kind of attitude ALL of us need to obtain. and give the action to back it up. 

 

I have a firm testimony of the Restoration of Christ's true church. And I love preaching it. And more joy and happiness than I have ever felt fills my soul each week.

The last experience was Saturday night. After our coordination meeting we had about an hour so we decided to search out some less actives on the way home from our ward mission leaders home. ( by the way our ward mission leader texts us every day, multiple times of the day to ask us how we are. HE LOVES this work, and is the most supportive man!) 

 

But we were looking for this one house for literally 30 minutes and could not find it, so we were like forget this, we're done, lets head home. whatever…. well, just then of course we passed it and debated whether or not to actually go up and knock. Well, we did and it wasn't who we expected it was the ex husband of the woman we were trying to meet and he told us that if it really was her that it would not have been a joyful conversation ha. So, it worked out. But he was SO happy to see us. and I was kind of having a rough night, not in the best mood, I was worried we would waste the Lords time, but we sat and talked about his life. And I began to realize THAT this is exactly where we were suppose to be that night. He was the one that Christ would have visited. My testimony was strengthened by the stories he told me. I grew because of him. 

 

SO, my invitation to you is for you to have Courage like the Stewarts and find out WHO you need to see this week. Not WHAT you need to do.

I love Jesus Christ and I love his work.

Elder Nelson 

Be not afraid;only believe