Tender Mercies!

Hello! How are you all?? I am doing so good! I have a bunch of stories to tell you all!

This week started out slow like the past couple of weeks, but Hermana Wonnacott and I are over the moon about how the week ended!

So, we contacted a lady like two weeks ago, and she gave us her address to go to her house.  We were so excited, but she lived SO far away. We had an appointment to go see her on Tuesday. So we start walking and walking and walking, and we were exhausted. We thought about going and seeing someone else because even though we had been walking forever, the lady was still so far away, but something told us that we needed to go and find her.

We finally get all the way to her house and guess what...it was a fake address. We were so bummed! As we turn around to go home a lady asked us if we were lost,  I was so surprised. We seized the opportunity to contact her. She said that she would love to see us in her house and pointed it right out to us! We were smiling so BIG after that. What a miracle, seriously! We made an appointment to go by and visit her the next day, and oh my, they are so prepared! On Saturday, we challenged them to be baptized and they accepted. They just have to get married now! haha, but they are the best! They have even invited us over to dinner two days this week! They have two little kids that are so cute as well!

Then, on Friday we had 30 minutes to kill before we needed to go get Kanzi for the Branch Christmas activity. So we decided to go see a lady that we contacted on the street. I wasn't all that excited to go because she didn't show much interest, but we went anyway. Guess what? She wasn't home, BUT! her son was. We once again seized the opportunity to contact him. I had an impression to share the He is the Gift video with him. So, we sat down and started teaching him. We challenged him to be baptized right then and there, and he said YES! We invited him to the activity and he showed up. HOORAY!

It was unbelievable, we met him and in 30 minutes- he agreed to be baptized,  and to go to the activity! I almost cried. He showed up and bonded right away with an investigator from the other sisters in the Branch. We had a blast, and then we went back and saw him on Saturday. We taught him the Restoration and challenged him to be baptized on the 27th of December, and....HE ACCEPTED!

We gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him to read 3 Nephi 11. Then we invited him to church the next day! He went to church and afterward we were able to read 3 Nephi 11 and pray with him. It was so wonderful! He seriously remembered everything he read and everything we have taught him! I don't think I have met somebody so prepared my whole mission. When we asked if he had any questions about the lesson. He said, "Well, I have one question....What time do I need to be here on Saturday for my baptism?" :)  I think we just laughed out of pure JOY. He is so ready to become a member of this Church.

Then on Sunday night we went to an appointment and nobody was home. So we walked a little and then paused to figure out what we were doing and we hear "HEY!" So we look up and this lady says "Who are you? What do you do?" Once again we seized the opportunity to share the He is the Gift video and they invited us in their house. They told us they had been waiting to get baptized, but they haven't found their church yet. UM? What? They said that's why they stopped us in the street. They are legally married, (a huge surprise) and they have twins that are 16 years old. They asked us when we could come back again, we set up an appointment with all of them. We also challenged them to get baptized and they accepted!

These are all of the Tender Mercies that we have experienced this past week! We know that it is because of all the work we have done with He is the Gift. We have been working so hard, I mean like working harder than I ever have in my whole life, and honestly were a little down because we weren't seeing any fruits of our labors. I think Heavenly Father knew that we needed to work on our patience. I have to say I am so grateful for all of the blessings we have received this week, it was so worth it!

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful Christmas!

Hermana Riedelbach