It shall be given you in the very hour...

I  YSA! 

This week has been so great! We've been able to make a lot of appointment and find things to do with our days besides tracting or street contacting! It's so exciting! :) 

We've been working really hard to get to know the members here and start building relationships with them so they feel comfortable referring their friends to us, or asking us for service and that kind of stuff! So we met with most of the Relief Society this week and that was really great! A lot of them even gave us names of other sisters in the ward we could try and stop by and see:) 

One of the sisters we got to meet this week was Robin. We actually didn't even know that she was less active until we were talking with her and she told us she was! She was baptized 5 years ago and has the most amazing testimony, and sweetest personality ever! She is just one of those people who the minute you meet you want to be friends with forever! 

Then a few days later we had an appointment to meet Jarios, a recent convert in the ward, and we needed another person to come with us to the lesson. We text our RS president and she asked Robin if she would come and she said yes! We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon, and our favorite scriptures and stories from it and the amazing lessons we've been able to learn from them! Robin shared a scripture from Alma that I loved, and then Jarios shared his testimony of how he came to find the church and he knows it's "the one." It was such a cool experience to sit and learn from the two of them! And after the lesson Robin told us we could call her anytime and she'd love to come with us to any appointments we have!!! We're hoping that she will come to family home evening tonight so we can slowly help her ease into coming back to the ward! :) She is so amazing and I know she would bless so many lives by sharing her testimony and knowledge with others:) 

So like I said earlier, this week we tried to reach out and meet a lot of the members of the ward. One of those people was another recent convert named Ben. We sent him a text saying we were the new missionaries in his ward, and asked if we could meet him sometime this week. He replied by telling us that he isn't associated with our church anymore. At that point, we didn't really know how to respond because we didn't have any other background information about him, so text a member in the ward Steven who told us a little more and said he would try to reach out to him. 

We had a meeting planned with steven and some other members of the ward later that week and right before we got there Steven sent a text and said Ben would be there too... We we're really sure what that meant so when we got there it was a pretty awkward situation. We had just wanted to meet ben and get to know him a little bit, so when we realized about 20 minutes into an awkwardly drawn out conversation that steven thought we were going to have a lesson with him, we had to make up a little impromptu spiritual thought. Needless to say I was glad when the meeting was over:P Afterwards we did set up a time to meet with him again. 

We planned to see him sunday at 4:30, and I was SO nervous about it! I had NO IDEA what we were going to teach him! We dedicated the next several study days to Ben and trying to figure out what we could say that would help him. But to my despair I felt like i wasn't receiving any direction whatsoever!

And then Sunday came around and we had to make a plan. Sister Ence came up with the great idea of just reading a chapter of the Book of Mormon with him and then discussing it. Then we went to church and to our surprise, Ben showed up for the 2nd hour and stayed until our lesson at 4:30! 

After the 3rd hour was over we went outside and had our lesson. We asked him a little more about his story and how he came to find and join the church, and a little bit more as to why he left. Then we read Mosiah 24 with him. We stopped every few versus to discuss what was happening and apply it back to our lives. I felt the lesson was going as well as I could have hoped for, and then the Holy Ghost took over the lesson. We started talking about his life and his testimony, and the hard things he's going through right now. He is at a point in his life where he feels like he doesn't have anyone who cares about him or that he can depend upon. 

I was able to relate a story from life to him (Clarification: just college when i didn't have friends. My family has always been there for me<3) where I felt like I was alone too. I shared how in that time I turned to the scriptures and found friends and hope in their stories and in Jesus Christ. We talked more about the Book of Mormon and Prayer and how Heavenly Father wants him to know that He and Christ will always be with him. We promised him that if he would take the time to read in the Book of Mormon everyday and pray to know that it is true, and this is Christ's church, and this is where Heavenly Father wants him to be, that he will receive that answer, and be able to feel of their love, and find greater happiness in his life. 

It was an amazing spiritual lesson that I felt came out of nowhere! I was so grateful for the Holy Ghost and for the promise found in Doctrine and Covenants: "Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your mind continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be metes unto every man." I know that because we took the time to study out what we should teach Ben, the Holy Ghost was able to speak through us to help him hear exactly what he needed. 

later that night we got a text from our RS president who had talked to Ben afterwards and she told us that Ben had said he loved the lesson and didn't want it to end, and wanted to cry the whole time because he felt so hopeful.

So overall it has been an amazing week with many miracles! We are so hopeful for the things that are going to happen this transfer!
I love you all!
Have a great, safe week! 

and always remember how much you are loved!! :) 

Love, 

Sister Dobyns