Week 52

Kia Ora! Today I wanted to share a miracle that started a few weeks ago when I was on an exchange with Elder Malama. We looked at the meal roster and noticed a name that neither Elder Ward or I recognized (her name is Mele). We sent her a text and set up a time later that day for fafanga (dinner) and when Elder Malama and I got there she decided to take us to a Tongan restaurant. As we were walking there she told us that she wasnt a member and said when she went to church with one of the members, the meal roster went around and she decided to feed us! So we were pretty shocked; not very often does something like that happen. Well we sat down and started to get to know her she talked about how missionaries knocked on her door once and just asked for a glass of water. She got to know them and why they were leaving family for 2 years to go to a different country. Since then she always had a soft heart for the missionaries and tried to help them by giving them food or a drink when ever she saw them. After getting to learn more about her we walked back to her place and told her if she needed anything to let us know and we would come help her out. A few days later Elder Ward and I went by her place to introduce Elder Ward to her and try and see if we could do anything for her. She then said, "Do you want to talk to me about your missionary stuff?" We were surprised that she asked us before we could even ask her ourselves! We then discussed a time we can come and visit her again and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. She said that she was very interested in learning more about our Church, that she will start reading the Book of Mormon, and she is looking forward to our visit. This kind of miracle doesn't just happen for some odd reason, we know that it came because we have been diligent in doing the Lord’s work the best that we can no matter what happens during the day. When we do our part in doing the hard stuff, like talking to people on the streets or working in the rain, God WILL bless us. He knew we were doing all that we could and blessed us with this wonderful lady! So after many attempts to visit her again after giving her the copy of the Book of Mormon and to follow up on if she has read from it, we finally got to see her again this last Monday night. We didn't plan on stopping by her house that night but after a lesson that fell through we were trying to find people to visit and she came to mind. We went by and we were able to go in because she lives with some work friends and we sat down and did some getting to know her more and explaining what we would be doing to teach her! She mentioned again how she was very interested in our message. So we started teaching the Restoration. Well I'll skip to the good part! Elder Ward gave an amazing First Vision and after she interrupted and said that it was very very interesting and that she felt goosebumps and couldn't explain her feelings! We said that she was feeling the Spirit testifying to her. We talked more and got to the part of the Book of Mormon. I shared an experience I had about praying about it and she started to tear up.. She was feeling the Spirit and she knew it! We testified of receiving answers about the truthfulness of our message and invited her to continue to read and to pray about our message. She then asked if she could pray for us before we left! We happily accepted and she gave an amazing prayer and started crying as she talked to God about the message we shared. She thanked God for sending us to her and teaching her. She then asked us to keep coming back so she could learn more about what we teach and we left there knowing she felt the Spirit testifying to her! Now this is only the beginning of her journey but we know it is an amazing start and we are hoping a praying for an even better ending! I've never felt the spirit as strong as I did when she said her prayer and I couldn't help but smile. I KNOW that all of this is true and pray that we will all be able to continue to grow closer to God every day!