I think this week has made a new missionary out of me. There are so many exciting things going on in this mission!
A member of the Seventy, Elder C Scott Grow, came and toured our mission this week! We had two mission conferences, one for the Illinois half of the mission, and the other for the Missouri half. Thursday morning we had a leadership conference with Elder Grow, and it was amazing! It seems like we as leaders are always trying to find complicated ways to motivate and inspire our missionaries, but Elder Grow made the answer so simple. Get them in the scriptures. Make the word of God part of who they are, and they will be converted, they will have the Spirit, they will work, they will see miracles, they will baptize. And it's starts with us leading by example! We all felt the urgency of refining our studies and getting the spirit, every day, every day, every day!
So that was Thursday. Friday's mission conference just multiplied that spirit by a million. Elder Grow and his wife spoke to us, and gave us some pretty intense chastening! The first thing Sister Grow said when she stood up to speak was, "Honestly, you guys aren't working very hard." Talk about a rebuke! The rest of the conference they continued to teach us about setting goals, about our vision and our purpose, and they did it with such love that all I felt after the conference was complete motivation to be better! They told us about a lot of changes that are going to be made in the ward level especially in the ward council that will allow us to do better missionary work. We are SO PUMPED. To say the least :) This mission conference could not have come at a better time to the mission. It was exactly what we needed, and Sister Hayden and I are sooooo excited to apply it in our area and to go on exchanges with our sisters and teach them what we are learning. I LOVE THIS WORK! We are literally all on God's rescue team, saving souls. If we have faith, we can save thousands. There is nothing better any of us could be doing.
So just a cool little follow-up story, that same evening Sister Hayden and I were heading to an appointment, and just filled with so much faith and desire to see miracles, always praying to be led to those who are ready to be baptized into the Lord's church. Our appointment was a no-show, so we went to a potential investigator down the street. We were praying in the car, and when we looked up we saw two men on their porch, and both of us were like "we need to talk to them." No questions, no doubts, total unity. I LOVED IT. Anyway we went and talked to B. and G., and ended up having a little lesson right there! G. was more quiet, but while Sister Hayden was talking to B., I asked him what he thought about meeting with us. He said, "I've been going through a really hard time. I need this." So we set an appointment and came and taught him the next day. The spirit was AMAZING as we testified of the Restoration, and he ended up in tears as he told us about his past experiences with the Spirit. We invited him to be baptized on the 24th of October and he accepted it! He texted us a little later after the lesson, and I want to quote the text, it was so cool. "I'm reading [the Book of Mormon] right now. Just sat down, it will be a good night. You girls have gave me hope. I'm very blessed to have met you. You gave me a reason to go on this journey. Thank you...also I have decided to quit drinking. I will do whatever you tell me to do so I can join your church. I really want to be baptized. Will you arrange it for me please. And I would like you to be there. You girls are awesome. God bless." I know 100 percent that there are people prepared to be baptized, who are searching for truth, but just don't know where to find it. I keep thinking what would have happened if we hadn't talked to Gary? I don't know. I just know that I feel an urgency to follow the spirit and invite ALL to come to Christ.
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| Columbia, MO STLs hang out with us for a day! |
We also had a neat miracle teaching E. this week, a referral from the S. family in our ward. We taught him the very first lesson and invited him to be baptized on the 17th of October, and he accepted! He is completely prepared to hear the gospel, he watched the Restoration DVD and knew the gospel was true. It was that simple for him! I love the converting power of the spirit. I feel so blessed to be teaching all of these wonderful people, and I love them all so so so much.
Have an amazing week! Thanks for your prayers and support
Sister Petrie
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| Ran out of gas on the way to Mission Leader Training |
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