"How great shall be your Joy"

Week 2, Transfer 13

On the 8th of November 2014, a miracle happened. 

Ashleigh Howe, a recent convert, had the privilege and blessing of watching her beloved angel mother Mary Howe be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The angels were rejoicing and Heavenly Father was no doubt smiling down upon them both. Mary actually reminds me a bit of my mother (they were born in the same year too only a few months apart!).  They have very similar spirits :) I've really enjoyed spending time with her, getting to know her struggles and triumphs, and teaching her the gospel that has changed her life forever. I remember one moment after her baptism, everyone else was out getting food and talking, and we just sat with Mary, just for a brief moment and she held our hands, with tears in her eyes and said 'I'm so glad I met you girls'. The joy that comes from not only sharing the gospel, but witnessing and being a part of someone coming into the gospel fold is indescribable. Doctrine and Covenants 18:15 "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the Kingdom of my Father!" 

That's the highlight. That's all I wanted to write for this week.

Mary's Baptism

I just invite you all, if you're members of the church, to love your friends and family enough who aren't members, to show them how amazing the gospel is and invite them to come and see for themselves. To those who aren't members, I invite you to come and see how the gospel can help you in your lives, to make you the best version of yourselves, to feel the happiness that comes from living what Christ taught. The only way to know is to experience it for yourself, so come and see for yourself. You will never regret it. :)

I leave this all with you, with my testimony that I have a sure knowledge that God is real, we have a loving Father in Heaven who wants the best for us. He sent His son Jesus Christ to help us so we can be forgiven for our sins, and so we have a perfect example to follow so we can get back to Him. Everything, EVERYTHING, which has been revealed to us in its simplicity by prophets of God in the restored church of Jesus Christ, is to bless us, to make us happy and to feel joy. What more could you want? I know it probably sounds too good to be true. And you're right, it is too good, and it's also true, and it's free to all those who are willing to live it.

In the name of my brother, my Saviour, even Jesus Christ, Amen.

xxx Sister Kuhn

        

We saw Rebecca, an African lady who hasn't come to church in a while. She's suuuper pregnant. She has 3 CUTE AS kids though. We love visiting them. She also cooks the BEST AFRICAN FOOD EVER.

My week in a nutshell!

Week 1, Transfer 13

Mary is getting baptised THIS Saturday!!!!!!!!! I couldn't hold that in any longer :) After a lesson with her a week and a bit ago we really felt that she'd be ready sooner than three weeks (which is when we scheduled her to be baptised), so we talked to her, went through the baptismal questions and she basically showed that she was SO prepared and SO ready and that she can be baptised sooner ...so she's getting baptised the same night as Stacey who the elders are teaching. We're really excited for them both. It's amazing how Heavenly Father prepares his children through different stages in their lives to accept the gospel.

Mary is our priority at the moment really, but we're still trying to find and teach everyone else at the same time :) 

We visited Emma (a recent convert) and her daughter Jayla last week as well. We had a lesson with them and then did some service and took her 2 little crazy dogs out for walkies :) Jayla gave me beautiful dress-ups to wear during the lesson as you can see in the photo. 

We also had HALLOWEEN OooOoOOoOoohHhHhH 

We're in for 6pm unless we're at a member's house and they drive us home afterwards. We had a lesson at the Mahoney's house with Talyia and Abbie which was fab. The Mahoneys had all their house decked out on the inside with Halloween decorations, fake black webs and everything. I wish I took photos of it! We were out at about 4pm knocking doors right...I can't decide whether it's the BEST time to knock or the absolute worst because everyone opened their door with big bags of lollies (candy) expecting us to be trick-or-treaters (little did they know). Haha so I just told them we were dressing up as Mormon Missionaries because that's the scariest thing we could think of...we got a few laughs (and a few lollies!). Good old Halloween on ya mission!

 We met with our investigator Domigos from Angola but moved to Portugal 20-something years ago. Sister Salcedo was a godsend because she could communicate with him way better than we could haha He is practicing as a Jehovah Witness but really admires what we're doing. He really feels the spirit when we're in his home testifying and he told us he believes the Book of Mormon is true. He is an interesting man! We met him and his wife and daughter wayyyy back last transfer like when we first got to Shields and we're now starting to see some progression. That's one of the best things on a mission, when you're teaching someone the gospel and you can see that they are understanding and applying what we're saying in their lives and they are gaining a testimony of it for themselves. That's the best :) 

It's a party with Sister Salcedo in the flat. We have way too much fun together. Time is going so fast, I can't believe it was my last fast and testimony meeting as a representative of Jesus Christ serving as one of His full-time missionaries. The Stake President, President Spencer, was at Shields ward as well. He came up and spoke to me after sacrament meeting. He posed such a great question and I've really been pondering it deeply. He asked me if I've made a plan of how I'm going to keep my covenants  I’ve made in the temple for the rest of my life after my mission. It's something that I've been thinking a lot about. A mission is a good foundation block for someone's life, and I hope to maintain the good habits of study and bearing my testimony, but I want to build on it and keep building. This is only the beginning! I am really grateful President Spencer took the time to talk to me about a plan for after my mission. 

I'll end on this lovely story...Abbie and Talyia weren't able to come to church yesterday because they had to go somewhere with Talyia's family, so they texted us late Sunday afternoon asking if we could do a testimony meeting because they weren't at church. So we met up with them around 8pm. Cold as anything outside, we sat/stood on the footpath near an oval by the side of the road, said an opening prayer, and we all bore our testimonies. Since it was Abbie's idea to have a testimony meeting,(she not even being a member of the church yet, wanted to bear her testimony but was a bit shy) so Sister Salcedo, Sister Ahola, and I went first one after the other. Then Abbie bore such a powerful, simple, sweet testimony that she's so grateful for the gospel and the church in her life and it makes her so happy and she knows it's true. It was simple, but so powerful. I could feel the Holy Ghost, we all could. It was such a quiet moment, but I really treasured that mini testimony meeting we had last night in the freezing cold. Talyia bore her testimony at the end as well. She is the most mature, strong, amazing 13 year old I've ever met! She joined the church under a year ago, her Mum is a member and super nice but doesn't attend church, and Tal's sort of doing it all on her own. I just admire her so much. Abbie as well. Those 2 girls have no idea the full scope of influence they have and will have on the people around them for the rest of their lives if they stay strong in the gospel. They are an inspiration to me and all the members of the South Shields ward as well. It was a wonderful way to end a great week :) 

So that was my week in a nutshell! 

Have a great week everyone, I know I will!!!! 

Love you !

SIster Kuhn