Happy Monday everyone!!! We have been really blessed this week with lots and lots clouds, which has taken it from boilingly hot to not so bad. We don't have smartphones or computer access to see the temperature, but it is HOT. We really had a very great week though, full of spiritual experiences and miracles.
In Carawara this week we had a miracle with our new investigator Magnolia, who had just randomly shown up at church a few weeks ago, (divinely designed) and we had the opportunity to begin teaching her. She has been so prepared by the Lord from past things that have happened in her past life. This week she had an amazing spiritual experience in the Book of Mormon and accepted a date to be baptized on the 27th of October. We had just given her the Book of Mormon less than a week ago, but didn't have a whole lot of time to talk about it, so we left her to read the introduction before we came back. A few days later we returned to teach her about the Book more in depth. She told us that she had read the whole introduction and the testimony of the three and the eight witnesses, and had a very spiritual experience. She said that as she read through the introduction that she "felt full of the Spirit" and that she felt that the Book "had life." She was just amazed at the testimony of the 11 witnesses as well, and she just felt for herself that the Book was true. We felt strongly that we should invite her to be baptized, and she accepted a date for the 27th of October. Just yesterday we another lesson with her, and she proceeded to tell us that just that day, after arriving home from church she received the news of a tragedy that happened in her family. We were going to teach her about the plan of salvation that day starting from the pre-earth life, but we decided to skip to what happens after we die. She mentioned about 3 times during the lesson, "I'm so glad that I'm a part of the true church." She expressed so much in comfort in what we taught her about the afterlife, and was so grateful to have this knowledge from the restored gospel. Even after only having met with us for about two weeks now, and having received the Book of Mormon less than a week ago, she already believes that this is the true church, and is already telling all of her friends and family about it. Teaching her about the plan of salvation made a visible difference with her, and when we were reading from Alma 40 about the Spirit world, she was starting to tear up. As we were about to leave she told us that that lesson had really made a difference. It was an amazing spiritual experience for me in many different ways. It was no coincidence that God has sent her to us at this time in her life. I thought at the beginning of the lesson that we should just try to teach the whole plan of salvation in order, but then I felt that we should focus on what happens after we die, and we decided to do stray from the original plan to do so. So many things have been happening in her life, and I fell that God sent her to us just at the right time. That was definitely my spiritual experience for this week, seeing how God has prepared her in so many different small ways, and how the Spirit has worked through her and has testified to her of the truthfulness of the church and the Book of Mormon. It's been such a wonderful experience, probably one of the best experiences on the mission so far, among others. I'm so grateful for the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and for all the blessings of it, including the Plan of Salvation, and the knowledge we have of where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going after we die.
Other than our adventures with Sister Magnolia, there have been some other good experiences. We had the pleasure of meeting with President and Sister Baird this past week at the new mission home for lunch, which they are almost done moving all the furniture and stuff into it. It's a blessing to be able to serve on the island and branch where the mission home and mission president are for sure.\
Well thats about all for this week. Have a great week!
Elder Porritt
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