Letter 11 - Miracles Miracles Miracles!!!!!

Hi my Family!!!

Another AMAZING week this last week. The Lord loves the London 1st area :) So much has happened and so little time, so I am going to share just a few of the BEST experiences this past week. I love my mission so much. IT'S THE GREATEST!!!

So Friday was a day of miracles. Everything went right! Sister Mendenhall and I were on Cloud Nine just thinking about all the blessings God has been pouring out on these people. One of the best experiences was on Friday with S.... :)

S.... is Jamaican and we are meeting with her again this week. We had a whole lesson with S.... with her door closed :) hahaha. After knocking on the door, someone yelled "Who is it?!" --> "Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" --> "What can I do for you?" --> "Better question is what can we do for you?" --> *silence behind the door* hahahaha. She told us she wasn't interested, but we just kept talking. We asked her about her life, her family, her job. We gained a relationship with her and quietly slipped in the gospel and started teaching. We taught her the Restoration, we testified, asked questions, prayed with her... It was such a great experience. And this whole time, we were outside, she was inside, with the door shut in the middle. Sister Mendenhall and I laughed so hard after that experience we could not believe what had just happened. I now KNOW that the spirit can soften the heart of a person even through a closed door :) We are so excited to meet her face to face.

Another favorite experience. M...  was a referral from his next door neighbor, E... that we had talked to a couple days previous. We dropped by M... yesterday. He is a Catholic and did not want to hear our message at all. We asked him some questions, found out that his wife was sick with cancer, and focused our message on that. The spirit was so strong, even through our weak and simple words - you could see M....'s sweet 75-year-old heart softening. We sang "Where Can I Turn For Peace," prayed with him, read passages from the Book of Mormon with him, and as he left, he wouldn't let go of my hand he was so grateful that we had come over. I gained such a love for M.... on his doorstep. I could FEEL God's love for His son. I knew that Jesus Christ understood M...'s pain regarding his wife. I KNOW that this message is exactly what he needs. It's exactly what everyone needs. God has a way of preparing His children to hear the word of God. It is our job as missionaries to knock on the door, and then (from the words of Elder Bednar) get out of the way so the Spirit can teach.

We dropped by C.... with the plan to focus on effective prayer and scripture study and how to have a better experience at church. We got to her house and she was a complete different person. She was BEAMING. We asked her how her praying was; she has been praying every night, she recognizes that the spirit gives her so much peace when she prays, and she is excited to start implementing morning prayers as well. We asked how her scripture study was; she said it is getting easier for her to read. She hasn't been reading everyday, but she is SO EXCITED to start a reading log and track her reading every day. We gave her a triple combination as she almost started crying out of happiness to have the Doctrine and Covenants (and she texted us a couple minutes after we left with a question about verses she had already read since we left her house). We asked her how she felt about baptism on January 26th and she seemed fine with it. She says she has to pray first and is willing to talk to her mom about it again. She LOVES the Word of Wisdom. She came to church and was the LEADER of the pack, answering every question, helping the younger girls. I have never seen a bigger smile on her face than when she walked in the chapel, with her arms tightly hugging her new triple combination :) Oh my goodness if I was on my mission JUST to see C.... progress in the gospel like this, it would all be worth it. I love her so much.

Yesterday, Sister Mendenhall and I were in charge of the Youth Fireside for our ward. We were asked to focus on "friends" from the Strength of Youth pamphlet. I just want to tell all my friends out there THANK YOU. I have been so blessed with people in my life who have influenced me for the better. Leaders, high school friends, soccer teammates, ward members, family members, friends' family members.... so many amazing influences who have helped me get to where I am now. YOU MEAN THE WORLD TO ME. I can not express my gratitude enough. Thank you :) I also came to know by this experience that I LOVE THE YOUTH!!!! I hope with all my heart that it is in God's Plan for me to work with the Young Women someday. It is my dream I love them so much.

Well I know this gospel is true. I know that God's Plan is PERFECT. I love the Book of Mormon with all my heart. I LOVE THE COMMANDMENTS. If you want to feel God's love for you, study His commandments (which is pretty much all the scriptures haha), see the reason why He gives us commandments, the blessings that come as we obey His commandments, and the people we become as we do so as well. This gospel is true. Never forget it.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!! Thank you for your prayers for the people here in Canada. We can feel it and See it.

Sister Bodine

ps.

The beginning of the week it was -24 degrees. Schools were closed down it was so cold. But the spirit doesn't stop working in cold weather :) We tracted all night until we literally couldn't walk haha it was so amazing. But the weather is GREAT now. We got up to 3 degrees yesterday! I'm not wearing a coat right now to celebrate haha. It's so much fun. I love the cold!!!!