We had some awesome experiences this week! The Lord's timing is incredible! This story is pretty serious, but this is one of the most incredible experiences of my mission. I wont give out all the details. I can tell you more about it when I get home or I'll send a copy of my journal entry or something.
The other day we were knocking on some more doors at a trailer park because our other plans fell through. It was earlier in the day, and usually there aren't very man people home that early so we try to avoid knocking on doors at this time. However, for some reason, the night before when we were planning we felt that knocking this trailer park should be our backup plan. We knocked on the 3rd door and a lady answered. She just stared at us for a few seconds and gave us a weird look. We told her who we were and she said "I don't have the same belief system as you." We said, "okay, well is there anything we can do for you today?" She started to cry and said, "shoot me?" We of course told her that we would never do that and she then continued to tell us that that morning she was just laying in bed, thinking of ways that she could take her own life, that very day. We told her, "Heavenly Father loves you" and she began to cry again and said "I wish I could believe that." She told us about how she tried and tried so hard for years to believe, but she just can't make herself believe in something that she does not already believe. She talked about how science just seems to disprove more and more that there isn't a God, and with so many bad things happening in the world, there can't be a God. She had so many questions, especially about the plan of salvation, and we had the opportunity to share with her what we know, and she liked it, although she said she did not believe it. She then continued to tell us about how the park was going to kick her out because she's not keeping up her yard, but she can't because she has back problems from a car accident. She has lived in this trailer for 20 years and has not had one visitor, no friends or family. We told her that we'd come over and clean up her yard for her and she smiled in surprise and said "really?" She was so excited, she invited us in and said "I'll tell you what, I'll trade you art work for yard work." We walked inside and her home is painted in all different colors, each wall with several large canvases. It turns out that she used to be a pretty well known artist (I won't name her, for her own privacy), and she used to be personally invited to art shows by vendors. She had a good name for herself but stopped painting a few years back. They are SO GOOD! She said that she'd trade us any piece of her artwork that we want if we came over and helped her clean up her yard. She is also going to teach us how to paint! How's that for a service project? We would do it no matter what, of course, but I don't mind this at all :). We continued to talk to her and she was so giggly and smiley. She said, "I haven't laughed and smiled in 20 years. You know, I'm not not usually this nice to people that come and knock on my door, but for some reason I was to you today. I think that maybe you're here to teach me." She promised to pray to God that night to ask if He was really there; she prays to him every night for other people, just in case she's wrong, which she hopes she is. She had never prayed to know anything, and so she was excited to ask Him if He was there. I'm excited to hear what happened :) So basically, long story long, the Lord knew we needed to find this lady at that exact time this week to save her physically and spiritually. After we left her home I felt like a huge burden had been lifted off my shoulders that I didn't even know was there before. It is such a good feeling to see so many miracles and be able to look back and realize divine intervention had taken place.
Adolfo took us out for sushi the other day! That was fun! He's seriously one of the coolest people I have ever met. He's all ready for his baptism this Friday!!! :)) I am SO STOKED!! I'll be sure to send pictures. Keep him in your prayers this week. He's strong, but he still needs lots of prayers, especially the week of his baptism. Yesterday we picked up 4 new investigators! It's a family who lives in the same apartment complex as Adolfo and they're all coming to the baptism! We also picked up another investigator named Sayomy; her family is all Jehova's Witnesses, but she's not because she doesn't want to be.. we set a baptismal date with her for August 31st! But we'll see how that goes because even though she's awesome, we still need to be sure her parents are okay with it because we don't want to cause issues..
P-days have been changed to Mondays now, starting next week.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! I hope you have an awesome day today and realize how much you are loved! I'm grateful you were born! :) I'm also glad that you got your present on time.
I'm happy to hear that everyone is doing well. Jake sounds like he had fun at the Dirty Dash! Lucky duck! That sounds like a blast. I'm also jealous of Torie who gets to be at girls camp this week! She'll have so much fun. I hope you're feeling better mom and that you can finish up everything with seminary. It sounds like you've got it all under control. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
I hope this email wasn't too much details and that it's found to be uplifting!
Remember to trust in the Lord's timing, even if you think it doesn't have reason. It does.
Love,
Hermana Inman
