The Errand of Angels: Week 45 All Children of God

Hello Everyone!!

My brother and his wife welcomed a new baby into the world this week, Brandt Jenkins. I know that families can be sealed for time and all eternity! He is so sweet.

So, this week was awesome! We worked so hard and had so many tender mercies!! We also had so many... odd... situations. It has been a growing week and one to definitely look back at and laugh at.

Funny of the Week: Well, this week their were a ton! But I will share a simple one... Sister Fox and I were hooking up our bikes to a stop sign and she smacked her head right into the sign. Luckily, she had a helmet on, so it bounced right off. Sadly, this happens to us quite a bit. I am SO grateful for helmets. Except, I also hit my head a good once a week on the car door. Haha. Maybe I should wear a helmet driving...

Highlights of the Week: So MANY!! We met with multiple less actives who were marked by previous missionaries as "not interested" or that they just simply couldn't get in contact with. It's amazing what a simple call or an inspired stop by can do. Many of these less actives are ready to come back. One less active that previously wouldn't let us in, is now coming to church every week with other members, has stopped drinking coffee, and is meeting with us weekly. Its a huge blessing!

We also were blessed with five new investigators! We have a beautiful new family that we are teaching. They have two sons and are loving the lessons. We taught about prayer last week with the Restoration and they were ready to start doing.

We have another two new investigators who are anything but what someone might say is the ideal investigator. They have tattoos, piercings, gauges, dreadlocks... you name it. We found them while visiting a referral. We started talking with them and they loved how friendly we were. They wanted to learn more. They know God has put us in their life. It's been an interesting process with them, but what I have to do is remember to view them in white, because that is their potential and how God views them. It has been so sweet.

Lastly, we have an AMAZING new investigator who was given to us by other missionaries. She is so very much prepared and has been taught so much. The only thing holding her back from baptism right now is smoking, which I have learned, can be a very difficult thing to stop. She wants to though. She is so solid. She basically shouts to the world (not joking) every time we see her that this is Christ's true church, that The Book of Mormon is true, that church blesses your life, that God loves us, that Christ is our Savior... you name it, she shouts it! It is beautiful. She tells all her friends how happy this gospel makes her. She is so awesome.

Another highlight of this week was going with a member family to their neighbors' homes and inviting them to an activity. Some of them are really getting excited about missionary work and realizing that it isn't so scary.

We had an investigator show up at church! We hadn't been able to setup an appointment with him for a couple weeks, but had dropped by and seen him a couple times. He just showed up and it was great. He has some friends in the ward, which is nice.

We met a great potential investigator yesterday that had so many questions for us... it really made me think. We tried to go by the Spirit, and she loved it... we really try to keep lessons to 45 minutes or less, but she just kept talking and asking for almost double that. In all that time, one of the most powerful parts were Sister Fox's and my stories about deciding to go on a mission. She said God was speaking to her in that moment and answering some of her prayers. She wants 30 days to read and study before we meet again, but is okay with us keeping close contact before then. It will be interesting to see what happens with this. I know God leads us to where we need to be and who we need to talk to. She also said I was a "beam of light." She knew that I really believed what I was sharing was true and that I LOVED it. She said that multiple times. It is true. I love Heavenly Father, I love Jesus Christ, I know this message is true. I want to shout it to the world, just like our investigator.

Thought of the Week:I had a great reminder of how important it is to stand in holy places. We had a situation where we chose to leave a situation this week. I firmly know that the adversary is working his hardest on missionaries. It is so important to always be careful to stand in holy places. Many things I see almost daily have never been temptations of mine, but I also know that I need to protect myself and stand in holy places. Luckily as we live worthy of the Holy Ghost, He guides us to know where to go, what to do, and what to say. He will protect us from danger as needed, but we also need to heed His warnings. We want to stay as far away from the line as we can and be facing God in order to stay away from being sucked down to the "gulf of misery and endless woe." (Helaman 5:12) http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/hel/5.12

Invitation of the Week: This week Sister Fox and I taught a lesson about laying down our "weapons of rebellion." Alma 23:7 says:

"For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren."

We decided on our own weapons of rebellion to lay down and never again take up. Will you do the same this week?

Keep up the great work!

Sister Jenkins