Role plays, Park People, Painting

September 22, 2014

Y'all!

Georgia is simply gorgeous. We helped some members moving in paint their house last weekend, and on the drive there, we just couldn't believe how beautiful it was. Sunny, Cauliflower trees (thus dubbed by me, basically bushes of green everywhere except the road), and a mere 73 degrees or so. Perfect day. We had fun painting, too. Sister Hawkins and I had some good laughs and the members really appreciated the help.

Comfort, the African lady who came to church last week, is preparing to be baptized on October 18th! We taught her twice this week and she came to church again in beautiful African attire. When we go to teach, she's already outside waiting for us. She faithfully reads the chapters we leave and takes thorough notes of the key points. We left 2 Nephi 31 with her last time, and since she noted the theme of baptism, she went ahead and read the sunday school manual chapter on baptism, as well. Her accent and the language barrier make communication difficult, but she's smart and can teach it back to us better than we taught it in the first place! Last night she said with great emphasis, "I am ready to repent, and be baptized, and join Christ's church!" Oh, well then! We can work with that. :)

Part two of her miracle! We found out that her son is currently taking the lessons in Ghana, her home country! In her recent Ghana trip, she would sit in on the discussions there, and now she's learning herself here in the States. Her family is being united on all sides of the globe. 

Edwin has concerns with coming to church because his family traditionally always goes to their church together. We're planning to organize a church tour with Edwin and his family so they can feel more comfortable with the church. He wants the gift of the Holy Ghost-- he feels "gladdened" and "enlightened" when he reads the Book of Mormon and prays, and wants to feel that way all the time. We're hoping he'll accept a baptismal date on our next visit. 

The "Shaqs" family and Keo & fam are both on the backburner for right now. We love them dearly, but neither are progressing. We'll check back with them in a month or so.

Queen, who hasn't been to church in more than twenty years, came to the ward picnic and church tour! She said it was a miracle because she walked more than she's been able to in years, and during the church tour she bore her testimony strongly of the Atonement. Her health has kept her from church, she was too sick to come yesterday. But we're praying she'll feel well enough to come next week. After the picnic, she sang us three songs that she wrote about Jesus. They were beautiful gospel songs..I wanted to start swaying and oohing and echoing with amens and halelujahs. :) We love her and I love seeing the Spirit start to park alive in her again. 

Ebi is doing well. When we went with a team up, her usually organized, tidy home was unorganized and she was overwhelmed and stressed with her son, family situations, work, and more. We read some comforting faith scriptures in Alma 32 with her, and that really helped. She feels the Spirit when she reads the Book of Mormon, and she says her number one priority right now is building a relationship with God. She has a bright light about her. This week we'll invite her to baptism.

We had a miracle with role-playing this week! It was with Jason, the history buff, because of a role-play (where we practice teaching each other, taking the role of our investigators) earlier that day in our studies. Jason has avoided all spiritual aspects of our visits, and has severe anxiety issues. When we bring up prayer or spiritual things, his gag reflex kicks in and he has to excuse himself momentarily. In our role play, I was Jason, and we practiced inviting him to pray with us. As we role-played, sentences and images of what Jason would do and say came to my mind, so I acted on those. I made it pretty difficult for Sister Hawkins; I said no several times, asked irrelevant questions, changed the subject, brushed it off, you name it. But Sister Hawkins was patient, taught beautifully even though we had some long pauses as she figured out a response-- and eventually I accepted the invite to pray. 

Well, Jason's lesson went almost exactly how we had role played it. He avoided and avoided, but we kept bringing it back to prayer. He eventually tried to close it by saying he would pray next time. We bore our testimonies, taught him how, but he continued to refuse. I felt prompted to say, "Jason, we want to invite you one more time before we leave. Will you pray with us?" He fumbled with his hands, "Well, what kind of things would I pray for?" We helped him make a small list, then he offered a simple prayer, mostly for us. It was awesome!! It was the first time he's prayed aloud with people, perhaps at all, in years. We knew the Spirit had guided our role-play and prepared us to listen to the Spirit during the lesson. 

We went contacting at a huge, popular park on Saturday night, and had great success! We had fifteen meaningful conversations in forty-five minutes. I had so much fun doing it, and people responded much more kindly than when we knock on doors. :) One girl in her twenties had actually met the other sisters in the area a few weeks ago, and said she'd come to church. Another had attended the LDS church regularly in high school, but eventually lost interest. He said he would look into the church again. Another is looking for a church nearby, and his name is Lorenzo. With a name like that, you pretty much have to be a Mormon. ;) 

I love yall. This week's scripture: 2 Nephi 3:8. God makes us greater when we try our best to do His work.

Love,

Sister Taylor

P.S. 

I and Sisters Davis, Johnson, and Hawkins.

Enjoy the Karate Kid tribute. 

And I am stalwart as always.