First off, our plot in the community garden has flourished. Just get a load of that zucchini. There were two of those. We gave one away and are trying to figure out what to do with the rest of the other one.
Our investigator, Miriam, is awesome! She's come to church every week, she's reading the Book of Mormon, she prays every day. Those are the big things that seem small. It really wouldn't happen without support from the members of the Church. One of Miriam's best friends in the Church volunteered her home for a lesson and dinner, and during Church she answered one of Miriam's questions better in one sentence than we did in a thirty minute lesson. Members are sweet!
Elder Pritchett and I had some awesome lessons this week. The first was with Danny and Anil. Anil is a member and the two are hardcore best friends. Anil helped a ton with the lesson and right before the closing prayer he was like "Hey, can I have a minute to bear my testimony?" and we were like "Yeah, sure." Really, on the inside though, we were like "AWW YEAH! IT'S TESTIMONY TIME." Anil then told Danny how much his friendship meant to him and how he knew the Church and the Gospel could change his life. It was beautiful, bro-hug included. Seeing members reach out in love to their friends just makes me smile. It makes me wish I had talked more with my friends in high school, not necessarily be sharing the Gospel, but by being a sweet friend. Now that I think about it, I wish I had just made a big plate of brownies every week to share. I guess being a missionary has changed me a little bit already. Still looking forward to more change.
One other lesson was with two girls on their porch. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how you can gain a knowledge of its truth by reading, pondering, and praying about it. Then they asked about the Church's stance on a really controversial topic, and you know what we did? We answered using the Book of Mormon. If a person has a knowledge that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, then Joseph Smith, who translated it by the power of God, was a prophet, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as founded by Joseph Smith is Christ's Church. And so I don't need to have doubt in the Church's stance on this controversial topic because I know that the Church is being led by a prophet of God. Using the Book of Mormon to respond to people's concerns is awesome. When I was in the Missionary Training Center, I was like 'Here, let me explain to you why this is right or why this is wrong.' Now I realize that all I need to do is let the Spirit work in me and bear my testimony so that the Spirit can bear witness of the truth to them.
Sorry to drop off on a preachy note.
Love,
Elder Jon Harrison Richins
I guess one of Haverhill's nicknames is Queen Slipper City. Huh.
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