Monday, July 7, 2014

"Cat or Tithing, Everything is Possible, & Happy MLC Birthday America!"

Hello hello.

Oh man. This week was too crazy. I don't think I have had a minute to breathe this week. So let me take one now.
...
Ok, we're good. So should we chat now? Ok cool.

THIS WEEK WE...

1. Went on exchange with the Horseheads sisters. I had the joy of spending a day in the life of Sister Peterson. It was super fun. But, here's my best story from the exchange...

Sister Peterson and I go and teach this less-active lady (we'll call her Pat). So Pat has recently decided that she wants to come back to church. Sister Peterson and I go in there to teach her the restoration, and help her make the transition back. We are teaching her the restoration lesson and it's all going super well. The spirit is strong and the discussion is really flowing. So as I know I've mentioned before, part of this new teaching method is that we ask them to say the closing prayer, asking a question, and then we have a minute of silence for them to receive an answer and feel the spirit. So she starts saying her prayer and she asks what she can be doing better to live up to what God wants of her. It was a really powerful prayer. Then at the end of her prayer she instantly goes, "I don't need a minute of silence. I already got my answer!"

*The following is the conversation that followed this statement."

Sister P - "That's awesome! What was your answer?"

Pat- "I know I need to start paying my tithing."

Sis L- "That is amazing! I definitely know that as you pay tithing, blessings will come into your life....."

Pat- "Yeah, I know.... But I don't know how I'm going to do it! I don't have a lot of money."

Sis P- *testifies about the importance of tithing and how God will provide a way*

Pat- "Or I have another idea! What if I just payed partial tithing until I saved up a reserve fund in case of emergencies... like what if my cat got sick and I didn't have enough money to take her to the doctor... and then she died. No. I can't pay tithing, because then my cat will die."

Sis L- "Pat, I know if you pay your tithing that things will work out! God will provide a way."

Pat- "No. I know that even if I did pay my tithing and the church helped me out, my cat would be dead by the time they got me the money."

Sis P- "Is your cat sick?"

Pat- "well.... no...."

THIS IS THE STORY OF MISSIONARY WORK IN NEW YORK. ugh. We walked out of that lesson kind of ticked and then I looked at Sister Peterson and I was like, "That lady won't pay tithing, because her cat MIGHT get sick. What is wrong with New York?" And then we laughed. Oh how I love these people.

2. Then we worked our tails off in our area. I swear I have never taught so much in my entire mission. What I've learned recently is that if you believe that something is possible, and you have faith that Heavenly Father will make it possible, then it will happen. I just think of the scripture in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." That is so true. There is nothing that doesn't fall under the "all" category. If we have faith that Heavenly Father will help us do something, we. can. do. it. I have never seen this be more true than these past couple weeks. I mean, this very week we found 6 new investigators! It's so amazing. People are making progress, miracles are happening, and its all because this is the Lord's work, and He's getting it done. Let me tell you about a couple of the people we found/ taught...

              - Randy. Super cool guy who was really receptive. When we asked him if he knew what a prophet was he gave us this analogy. Picture this, you are walking around in a dark room with a map on the floor. We, only have small flashlights to see the map on the ground, but prophets hold a huge flash light. If we stand next to the prophets and listen to them, we will be able to find our way. It was so great. As Sister Glenn and I walked away we were just like, "Dude, he's going to be Corning's next branch president!"

            - Vanessa. This week we saw some serious progress. Its almost like she doesn't want to believe us, but there is something that keeps drawing her in (probably that our message is true). This week we talked with her about prophets and she was like, "I have always wondered why there isn't more unity... I guess a prophet does make sense!" You guys THIS IS HUGE. So hopefully more good to come.

            - Jeff. He's an 18 year old kid who is super smart and solid. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and the whole time he was like "no way this is so cool! My mind is seriously blown!" ah I love it!

Missionary  work is too fun! :)

3. We also went down to Utica for MLC which is always fun. Some possibly big announcements were made. We will see what happens with those, but they got all of us pretty stoked. Including President Wirthlin who said, " I'm just really pumped!" oh yeah, this was how we spent our Fourth of July! Happy Birthday America! We will sit around and discuss missionary policies for you.

Anyway, life is good. We are blessed. We're never slowing down. Love ya all.

XOXO,
Sister Langford

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