Semana 3 en Kerman

On March 31, 2014 Hermana VanWie sent this letter:

Querida familia y amigos –

Hola! Como estan? Este semana fue excelente! We were super busy and we had the wonderful opportunity to go to 2 conferences: Sister's Conference and the General Women's Meeting.

I               so loved Sister Conference this week! ( A conference when all the Sister missionaries in the mission meet together) I learned so much about myself and what my Heavenly Father expects from me. I learned how to find more joy in my life:
1. Love who you are around! Don't expect too much from others and then you won't be disappointed.
2. Have good self -esteem. Have confidence in yourself and the Lord because with Him you can do all things.
3. Love God and understand who He is. In order to become more like Him we must understand who He is and the relationship He has with us.

I learned that each of us is on our own path and that to be perfect on your own is not a requirement.  During this conference we got to go out and invite people to be baptized as well. When they told us this, we knew exactly where we wanted to go--a street that we had previously been lost on. We went right to the street without problems and the second house we knocked on we found a woman named M. She had previously talked with missionaries but had since lost their card and never had the chance to talk to them again. She had been praying for a way to get in touch with them again and a few days later we showed up. I love this work!!!

This week Sister Zollinger and I worked really hard! We found 5 new investigators, contacted 6 referrals, and had a member home lesson! Although we did not reach the goals we had planned we still accomplished a lot and saw many miracles. 

This week started with Tuesday. We had just finished being with Sister Crandall and we were ready to go out and work! We were doing our hour of finding time and we decided to just knock one more house on a certain street. We saw a man across the street in front of a house with beautiful roses. Naturally, we went and talked to him at first about the roses but soon realized he had a big faith in the Savior and loved music. As we testified we felt impressed to share a hymn with him--we only had Spanish hymn books. But, we sang him a song, "Soy un hijo de Dios." As we sang I could feel the Spirit envelope us. When we ended the hymn he was crying. He felt so good and we had the opportunity to explain to him what the Spirit is. I love the power that hymns have--even in a foreign language they testify of truth that people of all cultures and ages can understand. The Spirit and music are truly universal languages. We then went back and taught him again later this week about the Spirit World. It was wonderful to see the peace that came from him knowing where his grandmother is right now. The member we had with us also bore powerful testimony and that allowed him to feel even more comforted.

Wednesday we gave a training in district meeting about evaluating lessons right after they happen. We talked about the importance of 25-25-50 and that a lot of the learning about the investigators and their needs happens as you talk about the lesson directly after you teach it.

We also had an amazing lesson with a woman named S. We met her last week, but this time we were actually able to teach her. She lives on the street that our "mystery man" was supposed to live on. As we taught the lesson we found out why we had felt impressed to go to that street. She had prayed us there! As we taught about Joseph Smith, the Spirit testified that what we were teaching is true and she was able to recognize it very quickly. We had the wonderful opportunity to explain to her what it was and to invite her to be baptized. She has a baptismal date for April 20. We are so excited to continue teaching her. As we continued talking she explained how happy she was that she met us. A week before she had been praying to God for more guidance in her life and for Jesus Christ in her life. The next day we knocked on her door and explained that we were representatives of Jesus Christ. She couldn't believe that her prayer had been answered so quickly. We know that that is why we were guided to that street--to find her! She also explained that since we came by she hadn't fought with any of her family. I know that the gospel blesses families and we need to always follow the promptings of the Spirit--we may be answering someone else's prayer. Right after that we saw a beautiful full double rainbow

I loved the General Women's Meeting (a meeting for all the women of the church – young and old) as well! I learned a lot, but more importantly I felt encircled in the arms of love of my Heavenly Father. As I reflected on what I had learned from the Meeting I thought about the song by Sally DeFord "I Glory in My Jesus." How grateful I am for the Atonement of Jesus Christ that allows us to become more like Him and to be truly happy. I know that He loves us and wants us to follow Him. I know He lives!

Thank you for all the love and support you give me and the other missionaries. I know this is the Lord's work and when we rely on Him we will see miracles.   Que tengan una semana maravillosa!

Con mucho amor,
Hermana VanWie