Hello!!! I hope everyone had as wonderful of a week as I did. (:
So many miracles to tell about. I will relay one for now. Perhaps the others will unfold in later e-mail's.
Wellllll, let me start from the beginning. Probably not the real beginning, but the beginning that where I come in at least. Back in late December Sister McAlister and I stopped by a home of a member in the ward who I had not met in my time here in Kirtland. Her name? Danielle Peterson. Sweet, sweet, sweet woman. Married to Jason (not a member of the church). Danielle and Jason have been married for 6 years and dated for 4 or so years before this. (These facts are based on my memory so there could be some error in the statement but you get the general idea...they have been around each other for a while...) Six months ago they had their first baby. A daughter...named Lucy! She is SO cute. (I say that about all babies...but it is true!) Anyways, we stopped by. Talked briefly. Lucy cried. We left. That was my first and only meeting of the Peterson's before this week. So three Saturdays ago (February 26) Sister Manwaring and I were discussing our hair and the need for a trim. I am not sure how or why I knew this, but I knew Danielle cut hair from her home. We called her to set up a time to go over there on one of our P-Days and that was the end of that conversation. The next day (February 27) Jason and Danielle and Lucy were at church. The next week (March 6) they were at church, too! At the following day (March 7) was our appointment with Danielle. Hopefully we are all on the same page I am throwing around a lot of details that probably are not too important. After Danielle had cut our hair, we asked Jason and Danielle if there was a time we could come back and talk with them. That is when Jason expressed his desire to meet with us, hear the lessons (as a formality) and be baptized. Sister Manwaring and I were slightly awestruck...but not nearly as shocked as sweet Danielle. It was apparent that this was an answer to her prayers. They invited us to sit down in there living room for a bit while Jason shared his experience. You see, Jason has been around Danielle and her LDS family for approximately a decade now. He is very very VERY familiar with the teachings. He knows about Heavenly Father and his plan for us. He knows that through Joseph Smith, Heavenly Father again began to communicate with the world through prophets. He knows about temples. He knows these things, and has known them for a while. But these "blanket" statements never had any significance to him because he did not believe in God. It was not until a couple of months ago that he had an experience with Socrates and Plato that things clicked with him, and he realized that there is a God. As he was reading the ideas of these early philosophers, his logical mind could relate. Something in his mind, like I said, clicked. There are more details that I am leaving out that have led Jason to this realization, details dating back to his middle school years. I learn a lot from Jason and his experience. One thing that I "re-learned"...we all have our different paths on how we come to know God. My path is different than Sister Manwaring's...and Sister Manwaring's is different than Jason's....and Jason's is different than Danielle's...and Danielle's is different than mine. While our paths are different, the truth is the same. We all have a Heavenly Father who loves us! We all have a Heavenly Father that we can pray to...we can talk to....Just like I know I have a father here who loves me and wants to hear from me (Right Daddy?! ) Jason will be baptized March 26...just around the corner. One last comment about Jason. Saturday when we were over at the Peterson's we asked Jason what he desires to get out of meeting with us. His response? "Personal salvation....and to be sealed to my family forever." Melt my heart!
This morning we (all of the sites Sisters and Senior couples) ventured to the Johnson Farm in Hiram. The Johnson's were early members of the church who dedicated much to the Lord during the restoration of the gospel. Like most early Saints, their lives were definitely NOT easy. It was interesting to hear more of their stories today.
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In order to save the monthly miles alloted to us, Senior couples drove us to the Johnson Farm...Meet the Steele's (again!)...our lovely chauffer's for the morning. |
I love my life. The weather is warming up a bit. It is Spring Break time so there are more people coming in on tours at sites...Hallelujah! As much as I love calling people in the phone room, I would much rather give tours! (:
I love you.
Love,
Sister Spring
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| Remember Sister Carver? My companion in the MTC? Well, here she is again. Look at her cute short hair! |
