October 15

Man, I am so tired this week! We have been so busy I can't even TELL YOU! I will definitely be one of those who sleeps for the first week I am home from my mission. I already feel dead.... yay for being a full-time missionary! This morning I was reading in Alma 26 and it is Ammon exclaiming the joy he feels in the work of the Lord. There is a verse in there that talks about how they went forth proclaiming the word of the Lord which was in them. I thought about that and just smiled. I always knew the scriptures applied to my life but on my mission I feel that the scriptures have really became a PART of me. It was a really cool realization today. Okay, now for the good stuff! The Miracles from this week! Well, this week was just really crazy! I set a new record for how many lessons in one day that I've had! We had 4 lessons on Thursday! All with men! So they all had to be joint teaches! Luckily we have a willing Senior Couple who are able to help us out a lot! The lessons each got progressively better! And the last one we committed him to baptism!!!! Heck yeah! It was such a good day! That night, I went to pray and Sister Hatch was in the Bathroom, so I took the opportunity to pray out loud. I just spoke to Heavenly Father as if he were sitting right next to me :) It was so cool! I felt him talk back in my heart and in my mind! I felt I should ask him where we should go to contact the next day. He told me. "Buchthalen" I said, "Okay. Should we just go dooring or walking on the street?" He said, "Walk on the street." I said, "Okay, mach mal so!" And then I asked him to please allow Sister Hatch to receive that same inspiration so that we can be in unison with our decision. He said he would gladly do so. I thanked him for the inspiration and said good night. The following day, we had planned to have weekly planning and then go to this place called Rafz to go by on a former investigator. Around 4 or so, I asked Sister Hatch if we could just call this person in Rafz and go contacting somewhere else? She said, "Do you feel like we should go somewhere else?" I sheepishly said, "Yes, we need to go to Buchthalen." She said, "I was thinking the same thing earlier today and I didn't know why?" Ha, I knew why, but we then finished planning and headed for Buchthalen. While waiting for our bus, we met a woman named Lurdas, who loves to talk about God and Jesus Christ and agreed to meet with us this coming week. We were feeling pretty good about it too! We then took the bus to Buchthalen, got off and were trying to decided which way to go. We decided downhill would be a lot better than climbing another mountain. We started walking and Sister Hatch asked if we were dooring or just walking. I then began to relate my experience from the night before and before I could finish, I found myself speaking to this woman. We told her who we were and she said she was Reformiert (I don't know what that is in English) and we asked her about how her faith has helped her? Before too long, she was in tears. This whole last week, I had been preparing myself to talk to someone who was crying, and I thought a lot about what I would say to them.) I looked at the woman and asked her sympathetically why she was crying. She told us about her daughter who desired to cut off all contact. This woman was in serious contemplation if the Lord even loved her? I looked her in the eyes and testified that the Lord indeed loved her and he had sent us to her. I related again my experience from the night before to her and she asked if we could come to her home and talk a little more. We said of Course we could and we walked with her to her home. She told us more about the situation with her daughter and how it is so hard for her to know what is true and doesn't understand why the Lord would have her suffer so much. As we talked more about the gospel, she finally opened her heart and she felt something. Something powerful. We testified how our faith in Jesus Christ has been the only thing that has really helped us through these hard times. She gladly accepted the Book of Mormon (when she found out it was free) and invited us back for this coming week. The Church is true. Miracles happen every day! Was this a coincidence... NOT A CHANCE!!. There are no Coincidences in the Lord's work. EVERYTHING happens for a reason. I wish you all a wonderful week! One filled with miracles and thanksgiving! I love you!! Love, Sister Fokken