Well, some sweet things have happened since the last time I wrote. Let’s start from Friday: me and Elder Hanks went out and had some very good experiences. We started to contact at Brixton Hill and we met Edmund. Me and Elder Hanks were walking down Brixton Hill, just contacting on one side. Elder Hanks saw a girl with her son and said, “We need to talk to her.” So we crossed the street, but he never said anything to her. Right when we crossed, a man came out of the shop and we talked to him instead. We told him that God has given us more of His word. He listened to us, and we told him we have a living prophet today, and asked if we could sit with him for ten minutes and share a message with him.
HE ACCEPTED! We crossed the street and taught him in a little garden (or common) there, and recited the First Vision. We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon, and promised if he would read it and pray, he would know of its truth and by the power of the Holy Ghost, and that he would know that God has restored his one and true church with the proper authority on the earth. He then said, “I usually do not talk to people, but I felt something when I was in the shop. I was going to buy a beer, but then I said ‘no,’ and right when I walked out I saw your badges with the name JESUS CHRIST.” If Hanks did not listen to that prompting to follow the girl across the street, we would not have met Edmund. He accepted a date for the 11th of July, and this truly was a blessing from heaven!
Now whenever we visit him, he tells us that he has cut down smoking already from 60 cigarettes a day to only 5 a day. And he said when we visit he wishes he could have that feeling every time we were there. If we were not being obedient, we would not carry that presence with us. The Lord truly has blessed us with people who know and understand what we teach!
We also started to teach Beverley and her son, Jordan. Beverly is a former investigator and now has time to listen and to hear the message—she wants to be baptized on the 11th of July. We taught her son the next night and he wants to be baptized on the 11th of July as well! These are truly miracles the Lord is blessing us with, and that’s not all the Lord helped us with.
Sunday, we woke up and we were having a really bad morning. We had started fasting for our investigators and praying. All five did not come to church, so we had a really bad morning: stressed and tired and hungry. But the day went on, and testimonies were strong in Fast and Testimony Meeting.
Then, we had an amazing experience . . . we got to go to the London temple! Our investigator Lorena called and said she wanted to go and see the temple with us! She told us her daughter was going to come as well. We were stoked—her daughter never sits in on our lessons, but lately she has been having dinner at her house with us and listening to the discussions, so she wanted to see, too!
We all went and toured the grounds and saw all the amazing things there. We watched the new Joseph Smith video (well newer, anyway). The power of the Spirit that was felt, and the power of the movie truly was amazing! I felt the Spirit as I never have before. It surged through me like a power charging me up—I was on a spiritual high, and it felt so good. Especially at the part when Joseph stands and says, “Silence! Silence, ye fiends of the infernal pit!” to the mob of men who were bragging about the horrible things they had done to the early members of the church. Really powerful and strong!
I know this experience will strengthen Lorena and her daughter—they enjoyed the temple so much and took so many pictures and loved the whole tour and the Visitor Center. They were glad they had the experience to come and to feel. I know the Spirit touched them in their minds and in their hearts!
This work will go forth, and the blessings are still coming. The Lord has blessed me so much with a loving and kind family, with parents who are strong in the Church, and with a desire to share the Gospel with others! I love this work! It is the greatest work, and has brought the most happiness I have ever had in my life. I thank the Lord every day for the blessings I see!
Continue to pray and to study out the scriptures. Build your testimony like an anchor that holds a ship down in the biggest and worst of storms! Go to the Visitor’s Center and invite non-members to see and to feel (check out 3 Nephi 18:25) so they can have that feeling and know that the temple is the Lord’s house.
I love you all, and I know Joseph Smith was a prophet truly called of God! I’m so grateful for him and for the trials he went through. One quote in the movie stuck out to me. Emma asks Joseph, “Do you ever think the lord asks too much of us?” and Joseph replies, “I never let myself.” That’s what we need to do—no matter what the Lord asks. It never is too much, ‘cause He will be with us.
I leave these things with you humbly in the name of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN!
ELDER COON
HE ACCEPTED! We crossed the street and taught him in a little garden (or common) there, and recited the First Vision. We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon, and promised if he would read it and pray, he would know of its truth and by the power of the Holy Ghost, and that he would know that God has restored his one and true church with the proper authority on the earth. He then said, “I usually do not talk to people, but I felt something when I was in the shop. I was going to buy a beer, but then I said ‘no,’ and right when I walked out I saw your badges with the name JESUS CHRIST.” If Hanks did not listen to that prompting to follow the girl across the street, we would not have met Edmund. He accepted a date for the 11th of July, and this truly was a blessing from heaven!
Now whenever we visit him, he tells us that he has cut down smoking already from 60 cigarettes a day to only 5 a day. And he said when we visit he wishes he could have that feeling every time we were there. If we were not being obedient, we would not carry that presence with us. The Lord truly has blessed us with people who know and understand what we teach!
We also started to teach Beverley and her son, Jordan. Beverly is a former investigator and now has time to listen and to hear the message—she wants to be baptized on the 11th of July. We taught her son the next night and he wants to be baptized on the 11th of July as well! These are truly miracles the Lord is blessing us with, and that’s not all the Lord helped us with.
Sunday, we woke up and we were having a really bad morning. We had started fasting for our investigators and praying. All five did not come to church, so we had a really bad morning: stressed and tired and hungry. But the day went on, and testimonies were strong in Fast and Testimony Meeting.
Then, we had an amazing experience . . . we got to go to the London temple! Our investigator Lorena called and said she wanted to go and see the temple with us! She told us her daughter was going to come as well. We were stoked—her daughter never sits in on our lessons, but lately she has been having dinner at her house with us and listening to the discussions, so she wanted to see, too!
We all went and toured the grounds and saw all the amazing things there. We watched the new Joseph Smith video (well newer, anyway). The power of the Spirit that was felt, and the power of the movie truly was amazing! I felt the Spirit as I never have before. It surged through me like a power charging me up—I was on a spiritual high, and it felt so good. Especially at the part when Joseph stands and says, “Silence! Silence, ye fiends of the infernal pit!” to the mob of men who were bragging about the horrible things they had done to the early members of the church. Really powerful and strong!
I know this experience will strengthen Lorena and her daughter—they enjoyed the temple so much and took so many pictures and loved the whole tour and the Visitor Center. They were glad they had the experience to come and to feel. I know the Spirit touched them in their minds and in their hearts!
This work will go forth, and the blessings are still coming. The Lord has blessed me so much with a loving and kind family, with parents who are strong in the Church, and with a desire to share the Gospel with others! I love this work! It is the greatest work, and has brought the most happiness I have ever had in my life. I thank the Lord every day for the blessings I see!
Continue to pray and to study out the scriptures. Build your testimony like an anchor that holds a ship down in the biggest and worst of storms! Go to the Visitor’s Center and invite non-members to see and to feel (check out 3 Nephi 18:25) so they can have that feeling and know that the temple is the Lord’s house.
I love you all, and I know Joseph Smith was a prophet truly called of God! I’m so grateful for him and for the trials he went through. One quote in the movie stuck out to me. Emma asks Joseph, “Do you ever think the lord asks too much of us?” and Joseph replies, “I never let myself.” That’s what we need to do—no matter what the Lord asks. It never is too much, ‘cause He will be with us.
I leave these things with you humbly in the name of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN!
ELDER COON
Jumpin' so high to accomplish our work!
Lorena, Caroline (the bishop's wife) Hanna Beatah, Andrea (Lorena's daughter), & Sarah Beatah
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