A Tour and New Miracles

Hey Y'all!

This past week started of HOT and HUMID! Yuck! It reached 97 degrees several days, how crazy is that?! But the works still goes on, no matter how hot or humid it gets here in the Georgia Atlanta Mission. :) 

This Thursday we had the amazing privilege to have Elder Craig A Cardon of the 70 over for a Mission Tour. We got to hear many wise words from him. :) One big thing that really stuck out to me is our purpose as missionaries. We are the literal arm of the lord. Over and over in the tour it was stressed to us that we are our Heavenly Fathers children, with a special calling at this time to serve and help his other children. The Lord's arm has been extended and we are that arm, reaching out to His children to bring them back to the fold. How amazing is that?! It made me really appreciate and take more seriously my role as a representative of Christ. This was my first time having a general authority out with us, and it was the best experience ever! :D

After this amazing conference, we had a few great miracles. The first came as a testimony to both my companion and I, and also to one of our members who is our visiting teaching companion. In the mission we have started involving the missionaries more in visiting and home teaching. We went out with Sister Jensen to go see our assigned sisters who were very less-active. We first had dinner at Sister Jensen's house, where we noticed that she appeared to be at the end of her rope with her two young children running around. You could tell she was a tired mom, ready to send them away if she could. We almost decided to cancel on her because her babysitting set up fell through, but last minute she was able to get a babysitter and we were off! The Lord truly does bless us when we try our hardest. 

The first woman we saw connected amazingly with Sister Jensen! And they became quick friends, but the next woman we saw was the real miracle. Her name is Krystal, and we had been trying to contact her for over a transfer (6 weeks) without a sight of this woman. We had never seen her before, and as we got out of the car to her apt complex, I had little faith that she would be home. However, as we turned the corner to her apt, there she was, sitting outside! I was surprised and excited. We sat down and talked with her for a long time, discovering a lot about her past. She is a young single mother of two kids, one 10 and the other 7. She stopped going to church at a young age because of a lot of doubts that Satan put in her head, but as we talked to her more she kept realizing that she was happier at church than she has ever been out of it. She told us she needed to come back, and was ready. Her 10 year-old son has yet to be baptized, we discovered. So that day we set up our first appointment to start teaching him the lessons and preparing him for baptism. It was truly a blessing that we went out and saw these women. Sister Jensen talked with us after about how she needed that, and how she had doubts visiting less-active women, but that after our lessons with them, she knew why she was their assigned visiting teacher. She related to these women in a way that we as missionaries could never have. And she was able to help them and share her testimony with them. :)

Erin, Becca and Sister Tracy

The other great miracle came the next day when we had the great opportunity to go out with a RM visiting the mission. She had served in PTC for 17 months and was coming back for various reasons and decided to shoot us a text to see if she could come out with us. We jumped on the opportunity and went out with her in the morning. :) Our first lesson was with Heather and Debbie, where we taught the restoration. The lesson was very powerful. :) This sister was the best team up for this lesson. She testified of the truth in this restored gospel and really let our investigators know that God loves them. At the end of the lesson we invited them to baptism and church as well as a return appointment to see them this week. They will be attending church this Sunday if all goes well! At the end, we were even able to get Debbie to pray. :) The spirit was so thick in that room, you could cut it with a knife!

This week has been filled with tender mercies and miracles from our Heavenly Father. Answers to my prayers peppered the days and really assured to me that I have a loving father in Heaven, and that this is the true gospel. This fathers day, as I was reflecting on the amazing example and loving parent my father was, I realized how loving God was too. In 1 Nephi 11:21-22 it talks about Nephi and the angel that comes to him, showing Christ and describing to him about the vision of the tree of life and the iron rod which his father Lehi saw:

"the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?

 And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things."

This scripture hit me in a different way than ever before. I realized as I read it, that I have a loving Heavenly Father. That He sent his only begotten son to earth to save us. Then, he sent us the way back. The tree in Lehi's dream is the pure "love of God." The pure love of a Father who wants nothing more than to see all of his children return to him. This pure love, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the most desirable above all things. It is the only thing that can make us eternally happy. And we are given it freely, all we need to do take it and live it. I love my Heavenly Father, who gave me a way back to him. I love my dad who showed me this gospel as a young child, so that I could grow up in it and eventually teach others it. This gospel is the Love. Plane and simple. And as we come to recognize it, we understand how it can soften the hearts of others and penetrate their souls, making them desire it above anything else. I hope to see that in my mission and in myself continually. :) 

Y'all's Southern Bell,

Sister Welch