February 13, 2012

Hey well today is just going to be quick...
I think I shared this experience the other week.... Mona!  Mona is a woman that walked into our church building 3 weeks ago... the Saturday before she was contemplating suicide and was very depressed.  She was struggling financially, and had lost her husband in November...  She started to pray, and asked for a new place where she could worship.  She prayed all night in the chapel of the Hospital, and set out Sunday morning in her car to find a place to go to church.  She drove about 20 minutes to the north, and was told by the spirit to STOP!  She stops and realizes that she's in front of "Chase bank", and "McDonald's" bank was closed and she doesn't eat Micky D's...  But right next door to the restaurant is our church!  So in she walks, talks with an Elder from the other ward that shares our building.... she stayed for 3rd hour of their meetings and she stayed for all of our meetings!   At the end of the meeting she said that this was her new church, and she was going to be coming back Every Sunday!   We have been meeting with her regularly these past few weeks.  Lesson 1 Restoration... I have never seen someone in such awe at the message that God has called another Prophet to the earth!  Lesson 2... Word of Wisdom...  Scary stuff... sometimes we lose investigators when they find out that they need to change.... Here is what prompted lesson 2....  2 pots of coffee each day, 1 gallon of sweet tea each day, and half a pack of cigarettes each day.... Lesson 3 Last half of the plan of salvation, with an emphasis on Eternal Families, and Temple ordinances... Deep doctrine for a 3rd lesson.... Yet with the loss of her husband and several children before birth this is the "money ball."  She was in tears to know that her husband could accept these same blessings on the other side, and that they could live with each other eternally!  At the end of this lesson we talked about how the Word of wisdom was going...  She had 2 cigarettes that day!  Huge improvement, and hadn't had coffee or tea for 2 days!   We met her at church yesterday, and she shared this same experience in her testimony over the pulpit!  WHAT!!  She hasn't been baptized yet and is sharing why she believes it's true!  At the end of church... she tells me: "I haven't had a cigarette in 2 days!"   God is a God of MIRACLES!!!  When we pray and are at the end of our rope, realize God will tie a harness around you, and guide you to the truth, to blessings, to happiness, and joy!   Mona does live out of our area, but shared last night at a "Why I Believe" fireside that she's going to be moving into our area so we can teach and baptize her!  She has such great faith!  and Knows this gospel is true!  At the fireside we had set speakers from different wards and stakes surrounding the Indy area...  At the end of one of the testimonies Mona decides to share hers... so up she went...  She wasn't on the program, but the spirit said speak, and so up to the stand she walked!   By this point I'm wigging out!!!!  My companion is having a panic attack, and the assistants are looking at us like "WHO IS THIS!"   Luckily they ran with it. She shared her story, and the spirit took away all anxiety!   What a blessing to be apart of such a wonderful miracle!  One day I'll go with her to the Temple and help her get the work done for her family! 

Don't EVER give up!  God hasn't and won't give up on you! 
Love Elder Rees