Resolving Concerns

Sister Graff & me

OH MY GOSH!- I love it here! It's so much fun. I love serving with Sister Graff. She is amazing. I'm sad that she'll be going home at the end of this transfer because we'll only for sure have six weeks together, but it's all good. We will make the most of every minute! Also, Historic Liberty Jail is just.... ah so great. Words cannot even tell you how spiritual and powerful this place is. I feel so, so, so blessed to be able to end my mission in this area!

So my first night here at SCV... we visited with an investigator that hasn't really been progressing for about a year. When we got there I was surprised to find this 76 year old woman from Boston with quite the feisty attitude. I instantly loved her, and just felt like I could be very bold and upfront with her. I love being real on the mission. It's just the greatest, and I love it when people appreciate my "realness." So we got talking, and eventually made our way to a gospel discussion. She just had this big wall up and so I finally was just straight up with her and asked her what has been holding her back. She said, "I like this doll, she reminds me of me (in her Boston accent)." Long story short, we had one of the most powerful lessons. We sang a song for her which really brought the spirit, and then she opened up to us about her life and all of the things that she had been through and just how she had lived on her own since she was a teen and how she felt like God had abandoned her. And so I told her that God hadn't abandoned her but that she had abandoned herself from God. IT WAS SO COOL! She finally realized that God had been in her life all this time, but was too far away from him to ever realize it. Sis Graff taught her about baptism and the power of being cleansed from all of our sins and mistakes and being able to let go of the past. Audrey was deep in thought and said, "I don't know, but I will think about it." Audrey kept telling us how she had hit rock bottom and couldn't go anymore and just wanted to be done with her trials, but we told her that's not the way the Lord intended it to be. He wants to hear from us, and so we taught about prayer, and right then and there, she opened her heart to God and started praying, and was crying- and it was just awesome! We really had a break through appointment with her in the entire year that she had been taught she told us she had never told the other sisters this or cried in front of anyone. She is one tough woman. Ha, it was just so cool to see how the Lord puts people in our lives that we can relate to so we can help them. I love it!

Then, the next night we taught Ola, another one of our investigators from Nigeria. He heard about the temple open house back in April, took himself, and then referred himself to learn more about the church. He is the coolest guy ever! Well, Ola has had some reservations about being baptized, but loves the church and during our appointment with him we found out that when he prays he only thanks Heavenly Father and doesn't ask for anything because he feels like God has already given him so much (ya, that's just how humble he is). So we told him how important it is to ask God for the things that we stand in need of and how that is the only way that we can receive answers and make decisions.. The members that we were with bore some powerful testimony of receiving answers to prayers and Ola was like, "Yes, ok I will try to do this." So I was super excited because now he can gain a relationship with Heavenly Father and know what he should do about being baptized. I love resolving concerns. It gets you all sorts of places.

Oh ya, Saturday I got to go to Platte City (which is only 20 min away from my new area) to attend a baptism of someone that I taught, Ashley. She was the first in her family to get baptized and her husband and daughter are planning on following suit come September. It was such an awesome baptism and I was so grateful I was able to go and to see all of my family in Platte. I love that area so much. It just felt like home when I got back there. The Lord is just so great. My whole mission I've always wanted to see a family I taught be baptized, and now here it is-happening. It just doesn't get any better than this!  

Church on Sunday was just great. The ward was very welcoming and almost everyone got "Conrow" right.. A few still said, "Conroy" but I guess I'll forgive them ;) I've been able to take a few tours through at the Jail and I love it so much. I love the insights that the people have as they come through. It's just very spiritual. I feel like such a lucky duck to be serving here! Well, everyone I love ya lots and lots!

Love, Hermana Conrow :)