The Miracle Week

Hey Family,

I hope you have all had a great week! And that you are staying warm. It's starting to get cold here at least... Tight season has officially begun! Also I wish I had some cool fall leaves pictures to send you, but the leaves went straight to brown this year in West Virginia. Everyone is upset about it. Come on nature!!

The work here in ___ is going fantastic!! I feel like we've been trying to light the fire here these last few weeks, but we'd only gotten the kindling to catch flame- none of the logs that make for a great missionary work bonfire though. But this last Saturday, a log finally caught flame! The work here has just exploded, all in one day! We taught 6 lessons (which is A LOT for our mission) and picked up 4 new investigators. All in one day. And these investigators are awesome.

One of those investigators is Nora, and she is the perfect example of a person who has been kept from the truth because she "knows not where to find it."  For years, she has thought that Mormons were crazy polygamist fundamentalists who have as many kids as is humanly possible, and therefore avoided it. But recently, she has been praying that God would lead her to the church that she needs to be attending, and voila, He provided the way for her to run into missionaries! We were trying to contact her neighbor, and she was outside on her balcony. We started talking to her, and she accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and set up an appointment with us. At the appointment on Saturday, she told that when see saw us, the Spirit told her that we were the people she needed to talk to. And then we had come and talked to her and dispelled her misconceptions, and so she knew that God had sent us to her. God truly does answer prayers!

Another really cool experience from the week was meeting JC. He is the father of this awesome little family, and they have been so prepared for the gospel. A number of years ago, some missionaries had stopped by his house after a storm, and had helped him clear away a fallen tree for free. They apparently were never able to begin teaching him, but that experience obviously planted a seed because he was so open to talking with us and hearing our message. It gives me faith that even when things don't lead to immediate conversions like I sometimes hope, that none of my efforts are being wasted.

In my studies this week, I have come to a deeper understanding of humility and agency, or ability to choose. They are both so important!! I kind of always thought that they were conflicting principles though...(Until this week!) I had always wondered why God would give us the ability to make our own choices and be agents unto ourselves if he wanted and expected us to surrender that gift to follow Him. This week though, I realized that it was just the next step in our progression! From the very beginning, there has been only one way to get where we want to go, and that the commandments are just the trail markers on that path. Choosing to follow Jesus Christ doesn't mean with give up our freedom of choice, it just means we trust God enough to make our decisions based off his counsel. It takes humility, but it will always leave us happier in the long run. 

Love you all!

Sister Ward