Friday, May 15, 2015

"The Gate of Heaven is Open unto All"

Me and Sister Cavu eating cake that a family gave us.
Beautiful trees like these are all over right now. It's so pretty!
Hello!

This last week was very successful when it came to finding. We found 7 new investigators. First, A, the mom of a potential investigator. We stopped by to see her daughter who ended up not being home.  But A, her mom, invited us in. We only had about fifteen minutes because we were on our way to a dinner appointment so we made it brief.  We asked her a few questions to get to know her a little then showed her the 2 minute video "Because He Lives." If you haven't seen it you should take 2 minutes and watch it at this link: https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-he-lives?lang=eng.
 She loved it. She and her family are from India but they are actually Christian, which is rare in that country. She invited us back and we look forward to our return appointment. It was a very short but powerful lesson.

I think I told you about J, the lady who read the Book of Mormon twenty years ago and still remembers Nephi and how good she felt while reading it.  She asked us to come back and teach her and her husband, D.  We will go see them on Wednesday.

We visited a part member family last week.  The wife isn't a member but she is interested in learning. She actually almost got baptized when they lived in Idaho. Her husband and daughter are less active and they are such a sweet family. It is easy to love them.

The other two investigators are married to each other and this is a very cool story. Again, we had fifteen minutes before dinner on this evening but they reluctantly invited us in. We visited for a few minutes to get to know them and then it was almost time for us to go.  The husband, P, was not interested at all. The wife, S, was a little interested. As it was time for us wrap it up, I felt very strongly impressed to share the First Vision with them. We didn't have enough time to teach the restoration but I gave a brief summary of Joseph Smith and then recited the first vision. I had never done that in a ten minute lesson before but the Spirit could not have been more clear.  I needed to share the First Vision right then before we left.  The Spirit is always so powerful when we share it and especially right there in P and S's home it was very powerful.  Immediately afterward, P had a change of heart and S was definitely interested and they invited us back.  Just in a couple of minutes they both changed completely.  Now they are actually excited for our return when before they barely welcomed our visit. I am feeling very hopeful about P and S.  Please keep them in your prayers.

The last new investigator was S, is from Nigeria. He seemed interested at first, until his friends came and joined us just to bible bash. It was very uncomfortable but once they left we went back to normal and continued teaching. S agreed to read the Book of Mormon and to come to church next week. I hope he reads the with a sincere heart and real intent because I know that if he does, his doubts will melt away.

Last but not least... W (the former FLDS) finally got the call that he was going to meet with a general authority so that he could move along with his baptismal process.  Last Saturday he had an interview with Elder W. Craig Zwick of the Quorum of the Seventy. It went very well. Elder Zwick could see that W was sincere in his desire to leave his old lifestyle behind and be baptized.  So at the end of the interview, Elder Zwick said he would send a note to the prophet and get back to us.  If all goes well and we get the go ahead from President Monson, W will be baptized on May 23rd. We are so excited for him to make this step in his life. He is so humble and sincere and we know that he will go on to do so many good things.

It was such a wonderful experience to skype with all of my family Sunday! They are so wonderful and It made my whole week! Also, good news. Not that I thought I was getting transferred, but the calls were today and I am staying in Dickinson! I say this, because my companion, Sister Capson, had two "one transfer wonders" in a row and so we were worried that President would change it up on her again. But we get along so well (like too good almost) that he is keeping us together for HOPEFULLY three transfers! I am thinking probably at least three since we pink washed.

The biggest lesson I learned last week is that Heavenly Father wants everyone to return to him.  He isn't more concerned about one person's salvation than He is about another's.  This last week as we let the Spirit guide our words and actions, Heavenly Father led us to everyone and every place He wanted us to go talk to or just stop by and say hello to. We followed all of the promptings as we committed each other to do last week. Some people, many people actually, that we were prompted to talk to weren't even interested.  But we knew that Heavenly Father wanted us to go see them anyway.  We didn't doubt any of the promptings we got.  Heavenly Father probably knew they would not be open yet but He was planting seeds and letting these people know that He loves them and hasn't forgotten them.

Helaman 3: 28 says: "Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the son of God."

The gate of Heaven is available to everyone and Heavenly Father will direct us to talk to everyone to give them a chance. It is their choice to accept it or not and not everyone does.  But Christ suffered for everyone; not just the people who were going to accept Him, but every single person. Everyone has the chance. I don't doubt when someone rejects us, because I know that Heavenly Father wanted us to go talk with them anyway.  Our purpose as missionaries is not to just baptize people.  It is to share a message of hope and bring others unto Christ and to declare repentance unto every nation.

Make sure you share the gospel with everyone, not just those who might be interested but everyone when you have the opportunity. 
Shout-outs
Dayson and Harly thank you so much for the nice letters.  You guys are the best!
Sister Wilkins, thank you so much for your kind letter.  It made my day when I got it.
Mom, please send me some stamps.  I have some letters that have been sitting here and I can't send them until I have stamps.  Thanks so much. :)

I love you all! Have a good week!

Sister Park

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