Mon 9/23/2013 8:52 AM

Life has been good here in Chelsea for the past two weeks with many wonderful experiences, opportunities for growth and many tender mercies and blessing from the Lord. Everything I will write about will be from either 2 weeks ago or this last week (it is all jumbled together now since it has been so long).

After one of our District Meetings we went out with the Sisters- Sister Hileman and Sister Laudie to meet with one of our investigators.  Her name is Micah and agrees with a lot of what we believe, but is very content with her religion because it teaches a lot of what we teach.  Before we went, we went to a little deli for lunch and I felt impressed to do a quick 1 meal fast, so I did and watched everyone eat.  We got Sis. Hileman to play her Ukelele for the waitress there which was fun.  As we went over to Micah's home we prayed and prepped a little bit more beforehand. We ended up sharing 3 Nephi 33 with her, and talked about the Book of Mormon and the Priesthood of God, since we were there to give a blessing of comfort since her husband passed away a little while ago.  We started the lesson by singing a hymn and the Spirit was so strong the whole time!  When we gave her a blessing, Elder Sompi was truly led by the Spirit and said things that were beautiful and that she truly needed to hear.  After the lesson we shared with her the love that we have for her and bore our testimonies.  It made for quite a wonderful visit.  There is so much power in being able to work with Sister Missionaries because they see and handle things so differently than we do and when we are able to work together like that, miracles happen!  After we were filled with such joy and gratitude we said a pray of thanks right away and such a sweet Spirit followed.  It was truly an amazing experience.

That weekend we had an International Dinner at the Church.  There were dinners from where every member in our ward was from.  It was a lot of fun; dancing; music and a lot of non-members that the members brought.  We had our little American dessert table that we all pitched in together for. We couldn't afford anything too crazy, so we just made cookies and brownies.  It was a great time.  We met together and prayed really fast to see what the Lord would have us do to help peak the interests of those there.  During that prayer the Lord, in his great mercy and love, showed me something that I will never forget and am so grateful for.  The Lord truly does work in mysterious ways.

This last week, there has been a lot of correlation with the sisters and other elders about the area and we have a lot of people to meet with now!  We met with a less active family named the Lapops and had two great wonderful lessons with them.  The first was only with the wife and a member we brought with us.  We shared with her how Christ wants her and her family to come back.  That we love them and need them back.  It was a great 1st lesson with them.
This last week we went back and the husband was there.  We had another great lesson with them. They opened up to us and I felt like I needed to share with them an experience I had and had typed up for the digital mission about forgiveness and forgiving others.  It really helped them open up and strengthened our relationship with them.  It was a great visit and the Spirit was so strong as we invited them back.  The husband works every Sunday, so that will be a bit of a challenge, but he has such a strong testimony and actually served a mission.


This last week I was asked to give a training on bearing our testimonies.  I prayed that the Spirit would be there and work through me that we all could be more effective representatives of Jesus Christ and help people come closer to him through our testimonies.  The Lord in his great mercy blessed me to be able to do this.  The Spirit was so strong and the Love that was in that room was overwhelming.  We then felt impressed to have a testimony sharing meeting which was truly beautiful.  I love my district so much and am so grateful for each and every one of them.
After this we went home and I crashed and took a nap, since Elder Freeman got me sick and I had nothing left to give.  After my nap, we went back out again.  It is amazing to me how strong Spiritual experiences just zap the energy right out of you.


Saturday I spent a lot of time prepping for a talk for Sunday.  We were given the opportunity to have a missionary sacrament.   Sister Hileman and I were asked to speak and we all sang The Spirit of God.  It was an amazing experience.  Anyway, I was trying to prep all day and couldn't seem to get anything.  I remember James 1:5 come to mind and also D&C 6:8 as well. So, I went to my knees and asked the Lord what he would have me speak on, expressing all my desires and reasons behind my asking for guidance.  After kneeling and pondering what the Lord wanted to tell me, I received the prompting to focus on the Atonement and missionary work.  To read Mosiah 4:11 and some other scriptures and that it would be given me what to say in that moment.  It was a wonderful spiritual experience and then I received a warning from the Lord that Satan would try to get me frustrated that day and to stay faithful and keep busy.  I know that with all my heart this was an answer to my prayers because a lot of dumb little things came up that day that Satan was trying his hardest to get me frustrated.  But, because of the heads up I was able to stay focused and busy.  It truly is amazing how the Lord is aware of us and gives us opportunities to grow like that.  We went out and invited a lot of people to church the next day.  We came back around 8ish and I tried prepping again with not avail, so I just decided to prep scriptures. I still had nothing though and normally I would be freaking out, but the Lord was blessing me with his grace and love.  The next morning I woke up and poured my heart out to the Lord again and he comforted my soul and so I moved forward.  There were doubts that came to my mind as we went to church, but I kept remembering my experience and moving forward pushing those doubts out.  Sacrament was such a beautiful meeting.  Sister Hileman went first and did a fantastic job speaking about grace and miracles, and then I was up. I had no idea what to say but the Lord granted me to say what was needed to be heard.  After, we sang our Hymn and it was a very moving experience for everyone.  Later that night we had dinner at a member's home whose son and his wife are less actives and we had a delicous meal and sang a lot with them and developed our relationships with them a lot.  We had a beautiful lesson about Christ loving his sheep and how he goes and looks for those who wander off to bring them back.  The Spirit that was present was so strong and that led them to ask for a blessing.  They asked me to give the blessing of comfort, and it was such a moving experience for me.  As I placed my hands on her head, they were no longer mine.  The words that came out of my mouth were not mine.  There was an overwhelming presence in that room and later words came out of my mouth that introduced them.  None of us saw them, but Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's presences were in that room letting this daughter of their's know that she was loved.  When these words left my mouth the Spirit confirmed them and the room was enveloped in such a sweet, loving Spirit.

Brothers and Sister, I know with all my heart and soul that we are sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father and that he is aware of each and everyone of us. I know and bear my solemn witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the World and He loves us more than we can ever come close to comprehend.  He shed His precious blood for each and every one of us, being spit on, mocked and gave his life willingly for our sakes.  I know that He lives for I have felt his presence so many times in my life.  I know that as we turn to him in sincere prayer and express all of our desires to him that he will bless us with the things that we stand in need of.  I know of these things for myself and what joy, what peace and what gratitude I have that God in His great goodness, His great love and mercy to me has made these things known to me as a result of my desire to find out for myself.

I know that all men and women can come to know what I have come to know and even more as they turn to the Lord and truly, truly come to know Him more than they did before and to continually strive to know Him better.

I urge all of you to seek for ways to do just this, come to know your Savior and Redeemer.  Come to know what love and great blessings He has in store for you.  A great way to start is by reading the Book of Mormon which is another testament of Jesus Christ, which truly does teach us how we can come to know Him.  I know these things are true and I leave you with my solemn witness, in the sacred name, of Jesus Christ, amen.