The 11th Hour!

So this week was definitely a continuation of the test of my faith. It was HARD. Ha I will be honest. We could not find anyone that wanted to listen to us, or had time to meet with us. It was just like, "come on, really? You don't have time for Jesus?" Sometimes, I just don't understand. But I know that the Lord has a plan for all things.

This weekend, was our miracle weekend. Saturday morning we received a referral of this lady who had come into the Visitor's Center in Indy and was interested in learning more. We haven't been able to contact her yet, but we're excited to meet her. Then a couple hours later, while I was serving at the Jail, this man called from Kansas and told me about how he met this lady on the plane the other night and he invited her to come to church. I won't lie, in my head I was thinking, "ya, I don't know if she'll actually show up, but sweet." I know, such little faith right. Well then, he went on to tell me how spiritual their conversation was and how sincere she was about wanting to come to church because she hadn't been to church in 7 years. He said that she was from Argentina and didn't seem to know a whole lot of English (which scared me because my Spanish has been dropping since we haven't been teaching in Spanish). Long story short, she texted him again Saturday and told him that she was planning on coming to church. So we're thrilled to death. Then we go out into our area that night, and all night we had no luck! So we're sitting in our car at 8:30, have to be home soon, and we see these 2 ladies sitting outside talking so I turned to Sister Graff and said, "Let's go talk to them.." With a little hesitation, she agreed. Boy was I so glad we talked to them! Turns out one of the ladies, Missy, had gone to the temple open house in April, and LOVED it! She said how good she felt and how symbolic everything was and how much she loved it. We started teaching her about the Book of Mormon and how it came to be and how it can change her life, and she said- "Oh my goodness, I would love a copy!" So now we have a return appointment with her and are so excited to start teaching her more!

 THEN- on Sunday morning we're waiting anxiously for this lady, Lorena (the one from Argentina) to show up, and 9:00 comes around and nothing.. So I checked our phone, and low and behold she was calling the minute I looked, so we got out into the foyer and she tells us she's on her way. I was so shocked, I couldn't believe she was actually coming. Well when she walked in the doors, she was with her boyfriend, and their 2 kids! So now we have a whole family at church, and they were just the nicest people! After sacrament was over, the boyfriend said, "I have a few questions for you girls.." So we start talking to him and he tells us how much he loved church and how he used to go to a baptist church but hasn't gone for a couple years.. He talked about how good he felt inside, and just how welcomed he felt. They both loved it so much and invited us to come over and teach them more, and they even said they'd feed us dinner! Haha, that's always a good sign! Man, it was just the best day ever at church. So many miracles had come our way.

Sister Graff and I were talking about how because this week has been so hard, we've felt a lot more gratitude for the little blessings Heavenly Father gives us. We also talked about how this has been one of the hardest weeks of our mission, but also one of the most miraculous because of those tender mercies at the very end of the week. I know the Lord truly does show forth His hand, AFTER the trial of our faith. He's just blessed us so much, I could hardly believe it, and I'm sure we didn't even deserve half of what He gave us. I couldn't help but think about the Prophet Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail and how the answers to his prayers did not come until after he had been imprisoned for 3 horrible months in that freezing cold jail. The Lord loves us, and that's why he allows us to go through certain trials. I definitely have felt a closer relationship to my Heavenly Father and Savior this last week, and have felt more gratitude as well. I just love being a missionary. When my sweet aunt and uncle came through the Jail the other day, I just realized how words cannot express or even come close to explaining how much I love being a missionary, and love serving out here in this incredible mission. My life has been changed. And I honestly will forever be indebted to Him for allowing me to serve a mission. This work is amazing, I love the Book of Mormon. That book is the word of God and it has also changed my life and carried me through some of my hardest trials. I promise if you read it everyday you will be filled with the spirit and grow closer to your Savior. I love you all! 

Love, Hermana Conrow