Follow the Spirit! (Week 94)

Monday July 22, 2019

Follow the Spirit! (Week 94)

Hello everyone!

 
 
This week was amazing! I have seen the Lord perform so many miracles this week, I hardly know where to start!

 

So, pretty much all of them connect to me seeing the Spirit's guidance. Not that I haven't seen it before, but this week I saw it so strongly and so frequently, it was amazing! We had a bunch of lessons where we went in with a plan, and part way through the lesson, the Spirit told us they needed something else. I guess you could say the Spirit helped us discern what they needed and know what we needed to say. I have a lot of examples, and don't know if I can get through them all, but I will try... So first off, we got four new investigators this week. The first one was a former investigator named Anh Nguyen. I actually accidentally called him last week (but maybe it was not an accident, but rather directed by God). I called the wrong Anh Nguyen, and he agreed to meet so we could get to know each other. Our discussion was good and all, but when we got to sharing about the gospel, he was listening, but only half heartedly. He had some memory of past lessons. We had planned on going into the Restoration. We talked about God and Jesus Christ. We mentioned the Atonement. And then, I got a feeling to talk about repentance and the forgiveness that comes with it. I didn't know why, but went into it. He seemed to perk up. The Spirit was definitely testifying to him. We talked some more about it, and asked if he would like the clean feeling that repentance brings. He said he would. He agreed to keep learning the lessons. We almost stopped there, but then I felt I should invite him to baptism. We explained how baptism is a full cleansing from the feelings of sin (which in Vietnamese, sin and guilt are the same word, interestingly enough). I gave one of the least eloquent invites I have ever done, as far as pre thought word choice goes, but felt to give him a date in August. I pulled out my phone and opened the calendar app. I told him if he wanted we could help him get to and prepare for baptism, and asked if he would like to try to be baptized on the 25th of August, and he said he would! It was amazing! We went into that lesson not knowing what to expect, but I could tell so clearly how the Spirit was guiding us in what to say and testifying to him about what we shared.

 

And another example. So, I think I mentioned last week how I contacted a girl named Japan. An interesting Vietnamese name as the letter J is not in their alphabet. She was studying outside our apartment and we were walking by last week, and I felt I should talk to her. We didn't get to talk much, but I told her we volunteer at a church, and we invited her to meet and learn more about the church. She agreed to do so! Well, we didn't see her again until we got an appointment on Sunday. She was busy in the morning, so she couldn't come to church, but could meet later. We planned to share a bit of the restoration. Then, while we are at church, she texts saying she is bringing three friends! Teaching in a group setting is very different from an individual! And we had never met two said friends and didn't know what Japan had told them they were coming for! But they all came and were good. Honestly, we weren't sure what to share at this point. My companion actually leaned over to me at one point and said "so what do we talk about now?" Also, we had a member who stayed after church, named Anh Duy, and he helped out. Well, it turned into a mini testimony meeting with Anh Duy, Elder Hieu, and I sharing what we believed and how we came to know the church was true. They all were respectful, but I wasn't really sure what to share though. Then I felt to do something I have not really done before, particularly in a first meeting scenario. I usually invite people to learn more about the Savior, how God teaches us, how to have a happy family, or something else pretty specific. But in the "testimony meeting" we had touched on all, and I didn't feel strongly to invite on just one. What I felt was to outline exactly what we do. Missionaries teach five basic lessons, covering faith and beliefs, God's plan, and commandments amongst a few other topics. I told them about the five lessons and how our purpose was to share what those five lessons contain so others can try to apply it, and see if it truly blesses their lives. We don't force anyone to join, but help them come to see for themselves if that is something they want in their lives. We give them enough resources to be informed and truly able to decide. And at the end, if they do want it, they can choose to be baptized a member of the church. And I then asked if they would like to keep meeting and try to apply those things to see if it truly benefited their lives. And they agreed! It was so awesome! We then taught them to pray, and later when texting them the steps to prayer, one said she would try it and hoped to see God's answer, and another said she would pray often! I am super excited for them, and am excited to continue to share with them about the gospel of Jesus Christ! God really does work miracles, and even when we are weak, and uncertain, if we trust in Him and do our best, He will work it all out. Recognizing the Spirit at first is hard. But as we consistently try to follow its promptings and act accordingly, we will recognize it more and more and God will lead us in all we do. This is God's work and He really does direct it. We just need to let Him. There were some other miracles too, but that is what I will share for now.

 

Well, all else seems to be going good here. The members are awesome, and we are finding more people! One other thing I thought was cool this week was in Sunday School. We got to teach. We had a member, who shall remain unnamed, who didn't come to help... No worries though! But we had it planned out alright. But when the lesson started, most people had not read all the chapters in Come Follow Me, and I just felt they needed something else. We ended up teaching in a completely different style with a completely different plan than we had prepared. And it was a lot more fun, interactive, and got the members sharing their own ideas! We had them draw on the board pictures of the stories, and we had a lot of discussion and testimony sharing. And they found a lot of ideas I hadn't seen either! It was great overall, much better than I could have imagined, and I could feel the Spirit guiding all of us to teach each other "the doctrines of the kingdom"(Moroni 6 verse something. Pulling this out of my head here. Love the chapter though, and I use it a lot when explaining why we need to have a church (functionally, not the overall organization, but the building and so forth)). Long side tangent. But it was awesome! And I also had a funny example completely on the spot where I pulled an umbrella from my bag, and asked everyone who the sky rains for. They agreed no one specific person, but everyone. Then I asked what an umbrella does and they said blocks the rain. I likened the rain to blessings from God, and the umbrella as actions that keep us from the blessings. It is not that God doesn't want to and isn't trying go bless us, but it is us who are choosing to not receive those blessings. Cool thought someone else can use in a lesson if they want.

Oh, I also got to help teach a piano class. My companion was the actual teacher, but I would step in and help explain ideas more concretely based on how I understood it when the students looked lost, and think I helped out a good bit.

 

And one last thing, it is starting to rain again... Yay I can get wet! I am not actually excited about that, that was sarcasm... oh, and this week is interviews with President Chiles, there will be a training meeting for leaders and my companion is district leader so I will attend too, and we will go on exchanges with the zone leaders. Lots of good stuff!

 

Oh, and one actual final thing. Today I got some more ao dais. The traditional Vietnamese tunic. I actually got three... but they are cool and unique to Vietnam, and my family encouraged me to get them! But we got to spend the day with a nice member, Anh Vien, who helped us out with that today. I think I have overloaded this email. If you made it all the way here and are not my family, I am decently impressed. Hopefully there was some good stuff in here someone learned from! That is the most important part! I mention fun stuff too, but in my opinion the most valuable things I have gotten from my mission is not ao dais or the ability to speak Vietnamese, but rather the testimony I have grown of the gospel. And also, the Gift of Tongues is real, somehow my Vietnamese has significantly being with a non-native companion with no explanation. Like a really big difference. God is real.

Till next week!

Elder Watson/ Nghiem

 

P.S. I gave a talk on Sunday. I actually transcripted this one. And I wrote it in English first and then translated it to Vietnamese! I added a bit while I talked, but I will post a copy of what I had written (which is more or less what I spoke at church). My talk was on the Book of Mormon.