So on Monday we got to go out to lunch with President and Sister Lindsay since we broke the record for baptisms in our zone for the month of June, which was sweet;) but at lunch President asked Sister Beckstrand and I to train a sister who has been waiting on her Australian visa SINCE JANRUARY! Hahaha, so yes she has been out longer than us, but oh.my.gosh. SHE IS AMAZING! We picked her up the next day, and it has just been awesome! Her name is Sister Kanee and she is actually from Kevin Mcomies mission (that is where she was born and raised, and also where she has been serving since January waiting for her visa). The place she is from is called KiriBati (pronounced Kitty-bus). Where she is from is a third world country, and so she feels so overwhelmed but grateful for the things here- I hope I continue to learn a great sense of humility from her. She is the only member in her family and is a convert of just 2 years...aka...she is PERFECT for all our investigators. With her help (I believe she had the final touch) our investigator Angawain committed to baptism this week!!! She has been experiencing great spiritual experiences for quite some time, and just barely for the first time in 2 months, committed to baptism, something she was unsure about at first. My heart was so full when she told us that she was finally ready to follow Jesus Christ's example and be baptized:) Ahhh..... I just can get over how much I LOVE OUR TRIO COMPANIONSHIP! We are all so different, and have extremely different experiences/backgrounds, but it is so cool to see how between the 3 of us we are able to connect so well with our investigators! Sister Beckstrand is always willing to work so hard and always is so close to the Savior and the spirit- I could not be more thankful for my great companions I love them so much!
This week we saw numerous miracles again and it was...just amazing!
Earlier this week in one of our lessons with Kathleen, the 12 yr. old Moauri girl, we brought our AMAZING ward mission leader and his wife and Dave (our Ward mission leader) was able to give Kathleen a blessing for the healing of the sick at the end of the lesson. She had REALLY hurt her foot earlier in the week, and so using the beautiful power of God, the priesthood, he was able to bless her. Her mom was able to sit in on it and wow...almost never before have I felt the spirit that strongly in a priesthood blessing. He not only blessed her to be healed (and long story short, she told us the next day that it did not hurt at all that night, whereas the nights before she could not even sleep...#MIRACLE), but also spoke to her as though it was God himself speaking! His tone changed and it really seemed as if it was God, he told her that she was among the "elect" and as a missionary, that just hit me and the spirit just was shooting through my body and I felt so happy knowing that we truly had found and been teaching one of the elect, not just someone that wasn't going to progress/go anywhere...he also told her that it was not by chance that the missionaries met her and just continued to give one of the most beautiful blessings. Afterwards the spirit was so thick you could have cut it with a knife, and us missionaries just had tears rolling down our cheeks. We let the spirit work in the power of silence for a while, and then I bore testimony of the priesthood. I know that it was not Dave speaking to Kathleen, but that it was TRULY GOD! I was just taken back that God has LITERALLY give us the same power that he holds (in a sense), the priesthood, for our benefit...to help us not only perform saving ordinances, but to help us when sick or in need of comfort! Later that night...I had a really humbling experience as well...One of our recent converts' was in desperate need of help...I hate even typing the words of the horrible things that she had just experienced...but she just was not in a good state, and as a young girl just needed some "love" and could not quite receive it from her family. We just sat and listened, and cried with her for quite some time, and then Dave (our ward mission leader/ literally the most consecrated member I have ever met in my life) came and gave her a priesthood blessing. The feelings I felt that day and evening, are ones I will never forget. It was such a big spiritual overload that I was almost made speechless. I am just so blessed to have you guys as my family, and so blessed to have been raised in the gospel. The letter I just sent home expresses my deep gratitude even better...but that night I just lay in bed thinking, "wow...how did I get so lucky". Thank you for your endless love, even when you may have been frustrated with me. More than anything, thank you for allowing me to taste of the sweetness of the gospel. I will NEVER.EVER be able to thank you enough.
To quickly wrap this up;( WE had one investigator (a father) commit to baptism *no date yet* but we're working with him and he will CHANGE HIS FAMILY AND POSTERITY FOREVER! HIs children have been coming to church, but now he is ready...i just want to cry I'm so happy! Then 2 of our other investigators, Vicki and David (from China) progressed like crazy this week as well. David (atheist) prayed for the first time in his whole life...it was amazing to be with him as he talked to God for the first time in 30 years. I can't even imagine how happy Heavenly Father Was. And then Vicki (who has been coming to church for 6 months) committed to baptism as well- but wants to wait to confirm July 27th...those 2 people are miracles because we literally STUCK with what to teach them, we had absolutely no idea...they just had sooo many concerns. but finally after about 30 minutes of trying to figure out how to best help them, we knelt around our table and i offered a prayer. I told god that was were stuck. totally stuck. that we wanted to help them, but had no idea where to go next...we then just put our faith and trust in him and were led and guided to a new plan and it ended up being PERFECT for them that night, seeing David prayed and Vicki ALMOST/practically committed to baptism ;) It was funny- at the end of our lesson I said to David, "David, will you say the closing prayer" (us missionaries already kneeling/trying to show him we expect him to say yes) and of course, he said, "ahhh.......get Vicki to pray"...all I said back was, "David..." and he started kneeling as he said, "ok teach me how to pray" hahahha. He is so awesome. Leaving his and Vicki's house seeing those great miracles, sister beckstrand, sister kanee and i got in the car and literally just SCREAMED AND HUGGED EACH OTHER, and then offered a prayer of thanks;) I love the happiness from missionary work. it is incomparable:)
This week we had another investigator tell us that he feels like God sent us to him and that he thinks it's true. I love nothing more than hearing that, it really is candy to our ears:) There have been so many other miracles and I wish I had time to share them all with you, but just know i love everything right now:) More importantly, I love my Savior! I am so grateful for the atonement, and love being able to share the exciting news of its cleansing power, with others:) I am so happy that i get to be a missionary right now, it is seriously the best thing ever! I love you all and can't wait to read the emails you just sent me of how your doing! Keep being amazing- xoxooxoxoxooxox
Love,
Sister Ensign
p.s
we celebrated the 4th of July this week. and even made our companion wear red white and blue with us:) we also got to break our fast with a sweet 4th of July meal with an american member. yaaa....so good;) #godblessamerica
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