So, remember the past couple of months how I've been
teaching people who speak Korean and Chinese? Well, this last week Sister
Aldridge and I have been finding people all over the place who speak
Vietnamese.
Last Tuesday we got to do a training for all of our ward
mission leaders and ward missionaries, and it went really well!! Sister Santos
and I talked with our high councilman about it back in October, so I was pretty
excited to finally do it. It was basically the things our mission president
talked about in our last zone conference, but the short version. Our goal was
to help everybody get motivated and to help them have faith that there are
people who are prepared to hear the message of the Restoration in each of their
wards right now. Sister Aldridge and I make a great team, she is an awesome
missionary and a hard worker. We have a lot of fun together, and we have been
trying our hardest to do everything that's required of us.
Wednesday was mission leadership council, and this time the
district leaders were invited. Our focus this month as a mission is the message
of the Restoration, it's the most important message that we can declare, and it
brings the Spirit so strongly to everyone who is open to hearing it. It's the
first thing we tell people about when we meet them, and there's a power that
everyone can feel when they listen.
I know that God loves
us, and because He loves us, the Church that Jesus Christ established when He
was here, after centuries of being lost, is back on the earth today. It's been
restored in it's entirety through the prophet Joseph Smith. We have a prophet
on the earth today that guides us, his name is Thomas S Monson. All are invited
to gain a witness of this for themselves. We will each have a confirmation from
the Holy Ghost as we study the Book of Mormon, sincerely pray and ask if it's
true, and listen in our hearts and minds for the promptings of the Spirit. The
Holy Ghost is God's messenger, and speaks to everyone in different ways, some
feel Him physically, some feel chills, a warmth in their heart, or they start
to get emotional. Others recognize His promptings as feelings, like peace, joy,
and calmness, or enlightenment. Regardless of how you feel Him, you'll know in
your heart and mind what the answer is, and you'll be shown in a way you can
recognize. It doesn't always come at once, but in the way you need it, it WILL
come.
Thursday we had a zone meeting, and to demonstrate something
Sister Aldridge had to get me to try a nasty thing she found at Harmon's that I
think is gross and she loves. It was a grape leaf rice thing? In oil? I don't
really remember. Anyways, it smelled like formaldehyde and I had to run out of
the room to spit it in a trash can. So that was kind of exciting I guess.
On Friday we went on exchanges with Sister Snyder and her
new companion, Sister Malifau. Sister Malifau came here with me, and Sister
Aldridge went up the the River Ridge stake. It was a great experience. That
morning I had read something that talked about how before an exchange we should
pray and ask Heavenly Father to put us in situations where we can demonstrate
correct principles and teach the other missionary, so I did. Later that day, we
were parked out front of a house, about to go in, when we saw all the way down
at the end of the street a man standing outside of his truck. We're asked to
talk to everyone, which can be pretty scary sometimes, but we knew we needed to
do it, so we ended up driving down the street past him, across the road onto
another street, turning around on the that street because it was wider and
going back and parking right in front of the man's truck. We hopped out and
started talking to him and it turns out he's from New Jersey and he's been
thinking about coming back to church because he left when he was a teenager.
When we asked him if he lived near by, he said "no, I just decided to stop
here to have a smoke on my way to my friend's house". He just felt like
stopping there. I have such a testimony that God puts each of us in different
people's paths every day for a reason. God is in the details of our lives,
whether we realize it or not. There were all kinds of amazing things that
happened when we were on exchanges, but that was just my favorite that day.
I love you! Be happy!
Sister Hinkle
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