From: Kristen Owens <kristen.owens@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 10:36 AM
Hola Familia,
So this week was pretty incredible. It's been pretty hard to find
new investigators to teach, but Sister Randall has been amazing at being
diligent and obedient. We've met with a lot of members and less active
members and have been tracting a lot. But, several things happened
this week. For the first time on my mission while tracting, someone
asked us to come back! Dun Dun DUUUUN. I was pretty much in shock on the
doorstep haha But, we are going back this week to teach them so pray
for that will ya? We also went to an appointment and got there a few
minutes early so we got out of the car and started talking with this
man. He is from Ukraine and speaks Russian and Ukrainian so we offered
to teach him english and we set up an appointment to come back to meet
him and his wife. He was a sweet old man :)
I have been called to serve in Minnesota, but boy do I feel like I'm
in a different country every day. It is so diverse here! We meet so
many people from Africa, Russia, Europe, etc. it's really fun. Here is
the miracle of the week/probably my whole mission:
Sister Randall and I were going to a dinner appointment on Saturday
night at a member's house. We had tried calling and calling but no one
answered all day or the day before, but we decided to show up anyway. No
one ended up being home so we talked to the neighbor that was outside
and she said she would tell them we stopped by, etc. As we were walking
away, a family across the street called us over. We walked over and
the daughter said her mom wanted to talk with us so we sat down with
this sweet lady named Martha and started sharing a message. Basically
she asked us to teach her what we knew. She is from Togo Africa and is
here for about six months visiting. She speaks very little english and
mostly french. She said she told her family she couldn't go with them
to the park because she felt she needed to talk with us and knew we were
servants of God. She is the SWEETEST lady ever! we sat down and taught
her the plan of salvation. It was hard to make things super simple but
she understood what we had to share. We asked if she would like to
learn more and if we could come back and she said YES! She told us as
we were talking with her "I am talking with God right now." She knew we
were servants of God and said she was looking for truth. Hiii, that's
our calling! GOLDEN. So we invited her to come to church and she did! It
was pretty cool though because in Gospel Doctrine class she sat next to
a brother in our ward and he knew french so he ended up translating the
whole class for her and also went to relief society with her to
translate as well haha it was sweet! We found several other members
speak french too so that was fun. She rode home with the sister we are
living with and had told her that even if she couldn't understand the
language, she could feel it. She loved it. It was so incredible! and
she is totally coming next week! :) We are really excited to work with
her although the language may be a barrier but we have several willing
members so thats great! It was such a neat experience. I am humbled to
be a servant of God, He really is preparing hearts everywhere. I'm
trying so hard to be a consecrated missionary and I get so frustrated
with myself at times because I'm not perfect-ha, will i ever be?- but I
know He knows my heart and the hearts of my investigators and the people
here.
This week I tried to study love and the Atonement. I learned so
much. I can feel my own faith growing in the power of the Atonement. I
need it every single day. This gospel is simply beautiful and
beautifully simple. It's hard to teach it sometimes to people who have
never heard of anything, but when the Spirit is there, it's there and
makes all the difference. I'm learning so much, I feel like I should
know more than I do, but I know it'll come with experience. I'm trying
to live every minute up. Anyway, the Lord is guiding this work. I love
the members here and the people here. Without the members in missionary
work, we can never be successful as a church. Try hard to prayerfully
consider someone you think needs to hear a message of truth and hope and
love. Share your testimonies and don't be afraid to invite others to
come to church or activities. Be natural about it :) Sometimes we don't
realize what we have been given as members of His church. We have the
truth that so many people are looking for. WE have the peace and the
joy and the only way to be happy. Share it with others, even if they
don't accept it.
I'M SO EXCITED I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNT!!! :) And he/she better be
named after me ;) I can't wait to meet the little tyke. CONGRATS SHEA
AND NADINE AND MAKENA!
Time is going by so quickly. I can't
believe I've been gone over a month now. AH! I am still getting use to
everything and learning how to do it all..at times I get nervous and
don't know if I can, but then I think of all of you family and get
motivated by your examples. If you did it, I can too! I have nothing to
complain about, Heavenly Father is watching over me and this area. I
love it here, I really do :)
Tell Heidi congrats!!! That really is soo exciting! :) She'll be an
awesome missionary! :) And the Wadsworths! that is so fun! :) I'm so
happy they got a girl and that they surprised Patrick haha I can't
believe he is home already--crazy how fast time flies! Hope all is well
over there.
I miss you all and love you a lot. Thanks for all the letters you
wrote me! :) 'bout made me break down and cry right here in the library
:) (notice how i said library and not liberia hehe) but i kept myself
together don't worry.
I hope you all have a great week! :) And I hope the summer is going well!
I LOVE YOU! talk to you soon,
love,
Sister Owens
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