It was really
another week of miracles! For one, we have a new investigator named
Betty! She's the neighbor of members, the Petersons, and is super nice!
She has horses and the best view in all of Washington, I'm telling
you... Beautiful green rolling hills and blue skies (when it's not
raining). We have been helping her pull weeds and then she invited us to
come on the porch and talk! I had the opportunity to just teach on the
spot and testify of the Restoration. Sometimes we don't wait for
permission to teach -- we just teach. :) We invited her to come to the
Family History Activity the ward was putting on. WHICH LEADS TO ANOTHER
COOL STORY: Initially Betty wasn't super interested in family history,
but she knew her neighbor, Pat, was. So she went over to Pat's and gave
her the invite and Pat FREAKED OUT and got SUPER EXCITED and wanted to
go super bad! Which is amazing because she's another one of the
Peterson's neighbors and Sister Peterson was going to go over and invite
Pat herself to the activity, but Betty got to her first! Haha! Our
investigator totally did missionary work! Solid...
Betty
wasn't totally sure if she was going to come, but Sister Peterson and
Pat encouraged her... and by a miracle... SHE CAME! It was the coolest
thing to see her there! And it really inspired her to do family history!
Go Spirit of Elijah! We are thrilled. It's also super inspired me to
work on my family history when I get home. It's so important! Our
ancestor's need these saving ordinances. The Cedar River ward is
super into family history and it's been such a blessing for me and
inspires me all the time to do more of it. For sure going to do that
when I get home!
We finally got in contact
with Russell again and found out that he has been struggling with
addictions again. It's so hard. :( But, I felt inspired to ask him if he
wanted a Priesthood blessing, and he agreed! We went over with Bishop
and Bro Campbell, his first counselor, on Saturday and it was an
INCREDIBLE spiritual experience! Bishop and Bro Campbell spent a long
time talking to Russell and helping him understand faith and action and
the Atonement and it was just an amazing meeting and I wish I remembered
all he said! Oh, and this is all happened on the porch, by the way,
outside his house cause we didn't have another Sister to go in, haha...
:) The blessing Russell got was so powerful and the spirit was strong.
Bishop and Bro Campbell left and we stayed and talked to Russell. We got
to clear up some of his concerns that people have brought up with him
about Mormons (such as the notion that we don't believe Christ to be the
Son of God; why, of course we do!) and he was happy to get a lot of
things cleared up. He is so willing to learn! He's still not sure if he
believes the whole "mormon thing", but I told him straight up: It all
weighs upon the Book of Mormon. It's either true or it's not. And if the
Book of Mormon is true, everything we've told him is true. If the Book
of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith is a prophet and really restored
this Church and really translated the book by the power of God, and we
really do have the priesthood restored. THAT is how important the Book
of Mormon is. I challenged him to read it and find out if it's true. And
he said he would.
Being a missionary is so
cool. To be completely honest, it's taken me a little while to get to
this point with trying to adjust to the life of a mission and getting
over home sickness and such, but after seeing so many miracles and
testifying boldly, I can say that I know this work is the most important
thing I could be doing right now and yields so many eternal
consequences for more than just me. It's just... incredible.
Anyway.
Lots
of fun little miracles this week, such as making plans to do one thing,
but then that one thing not working out, but we were supposed to see
someone different along the way -- that happened a lot. For example, we
made a plan to go see a former investigator, Bryn. We went over there
and she wasn't home, but we saw a man working outside. Sister Stewart
stopped the car and said, "We have to go talk to him." And so we turned
around and went over to him. COOLEST EXPERIENCE EVER, so his name was
Arnesto and he's from Auburn (not in our area), but Sister Stewart
totally turned into a spanish speaking hermana for a second... She asked
if she could practice her spanish with him and he agreed and she just
starts fluently speaking spanish and I'm like ???? woah?? what! It was
so cool! He ended up only taking a card, but it was so cool to hear my
comp suddenly be speaking spanish. So we get back in the car and I'm
like WAY TO GO! And she tells me that that morning during exercise she
had felt a prompting to brush up on her spanish and she practiced a
pretend conversation in her head of talking to a spanish speaker and
such, and in her head, she made up the name.... ARNESTO. The EXACT name
of the person we met on the street! She said the conversation that
happened in real life was the EXACT conversation she practiced in her
head...and the SAME NAME OF THE PERSON. That is just... You can't even
deny that God is real after an experience like that, ha! A testimony of
role playing often to receive inspiration, I swear! SO COOL! We hope one
day the missionaries in Auburn find Arnesto. :)
SO,
the title of my email... :) We were tracting before dinner last night
and it had been raining pretty bad and we walked down this hill... and
saw the BIGGEST snail I have ever seen in my entire life. Just look at
that thing! It's as long as my hand! What the heck! It was pretty gross.
Haha. There are snails and slugs everywhere here when it rains.
Seriously, though, this snail was just massive. We crouched down and
watched it for a while and since we couldn't find anyone to teach, we
just...well...decided to teach the snail... :) I named him Gordon and we
told him God loved him and created him and everything! Sister Stewart
started poking at Gordon and he shrunk up and did that weird snail thing
where they hide inside of themselves to protect themselves. Then I
realized, there was definitely an object lesson here...
Sometimes,
when adversity hits and satan starts poking at us, we shrink and hide.
We turn inward and shut out the world, assuming that no one has it as
bad as us and that life will never be okay again. Yet, what Gordon had
to do in order to get to safety (since he was in the road) was to
actually turn outward -- to come out of his shell and to act and do
something. The same is for us. When we find ourselves struggling, our
initial response is to turn inward and only care about ourselves. But it
is not until we turn outward and start looking towards others that we
find peace and healing. The second the snail came back out, he was able
to start moving again and get to safety to the side of the road.
You can find gospel principles and life lessons in anything...even giant snails. :)
There
were many other miracles this week, just being in the right place at
the right time and seeing the people we needed to see, but this will
suffice for this week. I am so grateful to be on a mission. More and
more every day I am seeing that this experience and everything that goes
along with it was so needed for my eternal salvation. Literally. I
needed the experience I am having here and the people I am meeting. I
have been realizing more and more how not ready I thought I was
for other upcoming stages in my life. I had/have so much to learn. And I
am grateful I am learning! I will be a better member, wife, and mother
for going on a mission. I am being prepared for my future family. And
this is the best possible way I could be preparing!
What
a humbling thing to say after saying for 5 years I'd never go on a
mission. People change, I guess. :) The Atonement makes it possible.
Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Eldridge
Sister Juliann Marie Eldridge
Washington Federal Way Mission
23175 224th PI SE Ste E
Maple Valley, WA 98038
United States
Washington Federal Way Mission
23175 224th PI SE Ste E
Maple Valley, WA 98038
United States
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