Woodstock Letter #8

Hermana Hoer

Guess what??? We are going to A BASEBALL GAME!!! Next Tuesday is our P-Day  because of the holiday, and President Doll gave the mission permission to go to the game! I am so stoked! I have the perfect companion for this opportunity: we're both softball players and avid baseball fans, and we have a great district of Elders to go with.

The last several days have been full of miracles! And great experiences!

Both Aline and Martha (our miracle women) have been avoiding us! We are so sad! We have worked so hard with them, and we're doing all we can. It's a sad point for us, but the Lord blesses us even in those times.

We had a really neat lesson with Mariah Rodriguez. We taught the plan of salvation, really focusing on Temples. The lesson was full of inspired questions and testimony. She is receptive and open hearted. She was waiting for us with her Book of Mormon for our appointment. She double read her chapter, and marked it with a highlighter. I had a personal experience during the lesson in which I felt so confident to testify that part of her individual mission in this life is to find the Book of Mormon, this Church, and that doing so will change the course for her children, grand children, and great grandchildren, as well as her parents, grand parents, and great grand parents, etc. She knows that she will come closer to Christ through the things which we have taught and will teach - she expressed such knowledge as she closed our lesson with a prayer. SHE IS AWESOME!

On the way leaving that great appointment, Hermana Stuart suddenly told me to pull over. I did so, and she ran out of the car. Obedient to the White Handbook, I followed (don't worry, I locked the car first). She'd seen a man and a young girl propping up a camera to take a picture. She offered to take the picture and we all got to chatting. The girl was so certain that she'd seen Hermana Stuart before. I spoke a lot with Martin, who happened to be her uncle. He is only in the States for a few days, and has not been here for over ten years. We had a great conversation, and he committed to sit down and meet with the missionaries when he returns to Mexico. What are the chances?!?! Of the few days that he is in this country, that he would be outside (giving us an excuse to help), and we would be driving by at that exact moment. Pretty cool. We had felt prompted to visit another investigator, and had been on our way to their home when we saw Martin. The investigator was not home; but, we think we were only headed there to find Martin anyway.

Sunday after Church, we met with Liz. She set a baptismal date for August 4th. It was quiet and the Spirit was strong as we stood there sharing testimony that came straight from the Spirit out of our mouths. She basically put herself on date!

Sori Jimenez has been inactive for over a year, and she came to Church yesterday! She was crying tears of joy. She talked to us about her next step: baptize her son, and help her other son get on a mission.

Two weeks ago we met Vicencio and Jaime. They told us to return not the following week (Mother's Day), but the next (yesterday) at 7:00 pm. A member of the branch happens to be friends with them, and he accompanied us to the appointment. We arrived to a herd of cars and a dinner party. Hermano Jimenez said, well, they'll invite us to eat too. So, we borrowed from his courage and entered their party. (Hermano Jimenez later told us he was actually really nervous about going in.) We introduced ourselves and sat down without putting ourselves in the spot light or drawing excessive attention to ourselves (as much as possible...we stand out a bit). Vicencio and Jaime's sister - jokingly - told us to walk over to all the men, tell them to set their food and drinks aside, and listen to the Bible, because that's what they invited us to do. So, we did. We boldly put ourselves in the center of attention and announced that we were going to share a message and discuss God's word. We began with a prayer. Things were still a little rowdy as we began, but, with time, everyone began to settle a bit and really listened and participated. There were 17 people there! Most are from other areas. We ended up giving out a Book of Mormon, and being invited by the hosts to return. I think they were really impressed that we were so courageous and firm even though some were making fun of us at first. One woman came up to us as we were leaving. With tears in her eyes she told us that we came at just the right time, and she knew that we were sent by the Lord. Another ran to get her kids so that she could introduce us, as did another with her daughter.

I loved our recent Zone Meeting. I was especially impressed with our Zone Leaders, Elders Valdez and Fisher. They are both humble and strong leaders, full of faith and hope in their callings. They are inspirational leaders. I also loved President Doll's session about finding people to teach. Hermana Stuart and I are both really pumped up for this area.

I was reading in Alma recently and something new stuck out to me in chapter 32. Verse 40 says something about looking forward with an eye of faith on the fruit. Alma 32 uses the analogy of a seed growing to a tree and then producing fruit to explain faith - planting faith, then continually nourishing it, and then eating of the fruit it provides. As I read verse 40, that line stuck out and I asked myself, "what is your fruit?"

What is your fruit? That's a good question. What is your goal? What is your expected result? What are you hoping to come of your faith and actions? What are you working towards? Know your fruit. Know what you're working towards and focus on it - keep your eyes on it. Keep your heart, mind, and actions directed towards it. Recognize small and large bits of progress towards it. Don't get distracted from your fruit. Sometimes, we don't have an eye of faith on the fruit, so we end up satisfied with the sprouted seed or a budding tree. Even a large, powerful tree. Know your fruit, so that you don't settle for the seed or the tree without the fruit. Of course, it isn't bad to plant the seed., to see it sprout. It isn't bad to see the tree begin to grow, and strengthen. However, each of those steps is not all that you can have. Know your fruit, and stay in the game until you partake of it.

Proverbs 29:18  "where there is no vision, the people perish". Know your fruit. Have a vision of what you can accomplish, of what you can receive with God's help. Without a vision, we're stuck with only part of the potential. Know your fruit, then work to eat it!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Love,

Leshelle