From Ether 12 we learn that miracles are wrought by faith. "It was by faith that Christ showed himself unto our fathers... it was the faith of Alma and Amulek that caused the prison to tumble to the earth.... it was the faith of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the change upon the Lamanites... it was faith that the three disciples obtained a promise that they should not taste of death." Well, we could also add in there that it is by faith that miracles are happening in the Washington Vancouver Mission.
This week has been full of miracles. We have put three people on date for baptism, something that is going to bless their lives for the rest of eternity. One of which is a girl that we haven't met with in almost three months. We were going to go find some less active members of our church when I had the strong feeling that we needed to turn around. I told Sister Cone and she immediately did a U-turn (what a good companion) (Sister Owens is also super awesome). As we were driving I saw Pani's apartment building and the spirit told me that we needed to go see her. We showed up at her door unexpectedly and her mother let us in. We were able to read out of the Book of Mormon, teach her the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and put her on date for February 28!
Another one of our investigators got to meet the presiding bishop over the whole church, Bishop Stevenson. He asked her when she was being baptized and she said, "We do not have a date set." She then confessed to him that she had been reading and praying and every time she opens up her scriptures it says something about baptism. Bishop Stevenson concluded, "Well it looks like you have your answer!" I stood in awe as a General Authority of the church told our investigator what we had been struggling to say. Both her and her son were very excited about it and she is going to pray about when to be baptized. Earlier that morning we had been contemplating not bringing her at all. As Sister Cone said," I feel like Lourdes doesn't need to come to the adult session if she is coming tomorrow", the Spirit let us know we were wrong. Because we recognized this prompting Lourdes was able to have this wonderful experience. I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost and the opportunities it leads us to.
These are the kind of blessings we get when we follow the guidance of the Holy Ghost. I am still working on it. Sometimes I think "Oh, it is just me thinking that randomly." But I have learned to just go with it. As David A. Bednar said, "Stop worrying about it!" If it is a good thought then you need not try and figure out if it really is from the Holy Ghost or not. We need to just do it and stop worrying and do it. I am not perfect by any means and I am improving all the time. But it has been a great lesson to learn. So I would challenge all of you to act on your promptings! Try it out and see what happens. If you never try you might never know the amazing outcomes that can happen.
