Well guys, we are officially deep into that lovely time of year where Hermana Harkins goes Christmas LOCA. We are taking advantage of the fact that everyone has their heart open a little more, everyone is a little more willing to accept a message from the missionaries about our Savior Jesus Christ and the plan of Salvation that our loving Heavenly Father has prepared for us. I'm loving the Navidad, even more than usual. If you can imagine it. Only good tidings and RADICAL joy coming to you from Sunny Santiago :)
I want to start my email by sharing an experience that we had by sharing the glad tidings of the Christmas season to help one of our investigators. We went to her house with the great plan to teach her about The Doctrine of Christ (L3, my fellow missionaries), but upon entering, we quickly assessed that it was NOT the message that she needed. Her kids were going hog wild, she was upset with her husband's work schedule and the fact that he has been gone for over a month, it was hot, the baby was crying, her son had fallen and scraped his knee...and on top of all of that, "I have to put the tree up!" She had that exhausted craze in her eyes, and to top it all off, she felt that it was a burden to make Christmas magic.
Yeah...neither my comp nor I felt that she needed to hear about The Doctrine of Christ. So we helped her clean up a bit, got the tree up, and sat down to take a breather and lemme tell you, she had a lot to get off her chest. A lot of pent up frustration and hurt and even a touch of anger. There is a great quote in PMG by Elder Holland about the importance of listening to your investigators, and it's true. We listened. And it came to us that we needed to share a Christmas message with her. She had become wrapped up in the stressful part of Christmas, so we shared with her the real meaning of Christmas. It was great to see the stress melt off of her face and she SMILED! We shared Alma 7:10-13, it was simple but powerful.
And right as we finished the prayer, her 6 year old son got home from school. They had done Christmas crafts, and he came home laden with homemade ornaments made out of popsicle sticks and foam cut outs and lots of glitter glue...you know the type. He was happy to see that the tree was up and ready to be decorated with his masterpieces. And she just started crying. She told us that she had gotten so caught up in the Christmas of it all instead of getting caught up the the CHRISTmas. And her son coming home with a homemade nativity ornament for her was the icing on the cake to get thinking more about CHRISTmas than Christmas.
We also had a great experience with one of our inactive members that we are helping. We have been teaching her for a while, she has nearly come to church a few times, but every time something seems to come up. This last Monday we were knocking doors, our appointments had fallen through, and we started to contact. We had the idea to go find someone in another part of our sector, but felt prompted to keep knocking the doors in that particular street. And when we got to the end of the street, we figured out why.
We found this dear sister crouched in the shade of a tree on the corner, smoking a cigarette and crying. We asked her what was wrong, and she threw the cigarette on the ground and told us that her husband left her for another woman, and that she didn't want to go home and have to tell her sons that their dad wouldn't be coming back home. We consoled her for a while there in the street, and then we made our way back to her house so that she wouldn't have to go in alone, and we shared our favorite scriptures of comfort with her; my comp shared Mosiah 7:19, and I shared 1 Nephi 21:14-16. She thanked us for being in the right place at the right time, for helping her in the way that she needed.
It was just one of those amazing moments when we notice how the spirit guides us, and how important it is to ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS follow the promptings of the spirit. Even if we feel that it doesn't make sense, even if we feel like it won't make a difference, you do not know who you are going to find that needs you. You don't know the difference that you can make, simply by following that beautiful, still, small voice. YOU don't know, but God knows. And He needs you. He needs us to be good instruments.
And to end for the day, a fun miracle that we had with an investigator named Juana. We were honestly about to stop visiting her because she wasn't progressing...not reading the Book of Mormon, she didn't want to come to church, she accepted the invitation to be baptized but won't accept a specific date in which she can be baptized. In our lesson with her earlier in the week, my companion invited her to pray with a specific question in mind, open the Book of Mormon, and she would find the answer if she had faith and if she read with an open heart. So we said "Ok, if she did it and got the answer, we will keep working with her. But if not, we are going to have to move on."
So Saturday we go to visit her and we asked if she did the exercise. She was excited to tell us that YES, she did it, and she found the answer to her question. She wanted to know more about cherubs.
Yup, cherubs. Nada que ver.
And you know what she opened up to?
Alma 42. Where Alma is explaining to his rebellious son about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and how God put CHERUBS and a flaming sword around the tree of eternal life.
I LOVE how God answers prayers. It is the BEST EVER.
Well guys, my time is about up. May we all make room for Christ in our hearts. So be bold, stay rad, do what you do, and let your light so shine.
Hermana Harkins
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