This week has been hands
down the most eventful week of my mission!!! I would like to thank Joycee for
the opposition as she was in the hospital and it was really hard to not wish to
be home(: I know that with great things come the hard things. I chose to have a
good attitude and just focus on the work! I know that the Lord protected her
and as I had faith that he would, I had the energy to focus on the work here.
BLESSINGS COME FROM HAVING FAITH people. It is an enduring truth.
Speaking of—
HAVING THE FAITH TO SEE
MIRACLES: President, Preach my Gospel, you name it, just hammers on this topic.
Not just having faith, but having the faith to see actual real life miracles.
So Shirley (if you don’t know who
Shirley is..you must have just started reading my emails, so thanks! ) the same Shirley we have been teaching since February
FINALLY after all this time experienced the Holy Ghost’s role in conversion (:
AND IT WAS AWESOME. Here is the scoop: We had a lesson with her Saturday.
Sister Lee was on exchanges and that morning all of our rides from members
started cancelling. This was a problem you see because we can’t walk there. So
I worked out a ride with a member and a ride to our next place. It was a lot of
work, but it was worth it to see Shirley. We got there and guess what: no
answer! We called her and she had totally spaced the appointment. No big deal,
we will see her at church! We asked if she was coming but we knew without a
doubt she would be, she comes every week! She loves church! She answered,
“Nawh, I ain’t comin. I just ain’t feelin it and I might got compny comin ovr”
(her accent is the Cutest and I talk like her all the time, hehe so cute!).
WHAT? Shirley never cancels. We were so sad. She told us to call Monday. Well.
Sister Powell (Jenni’s twin and my aunt on my mission) texted
us Sunday and told us to guess who was coming to church. SHIRLEY was!
She had called early that morning asking her for a ride. We went with Sister
Powell to go pick her up! As she came out of the house she was beaming. I had
never seen her talk or move or smile the way she was. It was like she was a
whole new person. We asked her what changed and she said,” I just woke up
and God tol me I needed to go to church!” It was soo cool! We just thought that
it meant that she thought she needed to come, so she did.
Awesome! So after Sacrament meeting we were running around trying to
find books to teach from and we were late getting into class. Our other
investigators both had to leave early so it was just her and an older couple.
When we got in there the older couple just couldn’t contain their excitement
and asked Shirley to share her experience again. Long story
short: They did some digging and found out that Shirley actually
heard a VOICE tell her that she needed to come! She felt and heard the Holy
Ghost that strong and listened to his prompting! No wonder she was glowing! We
had planned to teach Holy Ghost on Saturday and it was the topic that
day in Sunday School. So as we taught, we helped her to see that she
could feel this way ALL THE TIME! She wanted to be baptized so bad! We asked
her to pray about JULY 2! That is so soon! It was great to just see it
click for her! Friends! The Morgantown ward is going to be having a brand new
CONVERTED member of their ward very soon(: As we were evaluating, we
realized that Sister Lee and I had prayed and planned so much to just figure
out how to help her feel the Holy Ghost. We had faith if we could help her feel
it, then she would understand. Well, it happened. We had the faith and we knew
a miracle would unfold! My challenge to you: Be faithful enough to see miracles
in your life!
Other good news: Brother
Spears told us HE WANTS TO MOVE HIS DATE UP! The gospel is just too good to
people(:
WE have been fine without a
car! Just makes life more interesting, but who doesn’t love a good challenge.
Haha can’t wait to tell you all of the good stories when I get home.
WE had a tornado warning
this week and were teaching a lesson during it at a Less Actives home! HAHAH it
was great! I don’t think there was one, but there were some STRONNNG winds!
West Virginia is tornado land. Who knew?
BUTTER KNIVES DON’T ALWAYS
SAVE LIVES: Here is the deal: I love Sister Cutler. Last week she sent this
experience home in her email!
Butter Knives save lives! On Saturday, I decided that
I didn't need to make sure I had the keys in my bag and I locked the door and left. So we were stuck without
car keys or house keys on a Saturday when our landlord isn't in his
office and no, we don't have his cell. So we call Elder Ravert in the mission
office and his only thing he had for us was that we couldn't get on a ladder
and that we could call some members or pay for a locksmith. He suggested we
just start trying to break in and maybe someone would take pity on us and help
us. Hahahhaa what in the world!! Anyways, we live on the top floor, and he said
"You have one hour to figure this out. Let's see how resourceful you
are." Guess they're trying to help us be self-reliant :/
soooooo we said a prayer and started thinking. We knocked on the
neighbor’s door and woke them up accidentally, asking to borrow a butter knife
because we locked ourselves out of our house. They asked no questions and
silently handed us a butter knife and we were just like.....what? I leaned over
the balcony while Sister McHan held onto me (in case our sketch balcony let go
on me) and I pried open the window with a butter knife, then climbed over the
balcony and shot for the window as Sister McHan held onto my legs and pushed me
inside. In 20 minutes.
ALL IN A SKIRT.
"I won't ask you what you did, but good job." -
Elder Ravert
So I had been thinking
about and laughing about it all week. Well Saturday, we had exchanges so
Sis Skanchy came here and Sis Lee went to Fairmont. At 10:25 Sis
Skanchy used the bathroom. She kept trying to get out, but it sounded like she
was having issues. I went over to help her, but we couldn’t figure it out! The
door was stuck! And bed time was in 5 min. First of all: this poor Sister is
here for one night and it just so happens to be the night the people came and
re did the tub so there are fumes galore in there. I didn’t panic, I just tried
to be self-reliant. Thomas told me to not be that annoying missionary who calls
their district leader for dumb stuff so I presumed to figure it out
myself. I thought of Sis Cutler’s experience and I look up to her so I was
like! Oh! Duh, I’ll just do what she did and use a butter knife. Well it didn’t
turn out as nicely as her experience. A few calls later and with the help of
more hands than mine Sister Skanchy successfully made it out of the bathroom
without passing out a little before midnight. The whole time I pondered
why my experience wasn’t just like Sis Cutler’s even though I had faith a
butter knife could fix it. One lesson I learned was that God gives us our own
experiences and we can learn from others, but we can’t try to compare others
experiences to our own! God blessed us! She got out safe and all was okay, but
the way we got there was MUCH different. My friends, butters knives won’t
always save lives!!
Well I love you all!
--
Sister Justina Campbell
West Virginia
Sister Campbell and Sister Skanchy on exchanges in Morgantown.
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