Week 57

September 8, 2009

Hello Family! How are you all doing? I hope that you had a wonderful holiday weekend! We have had a wonderful week. When I talked with President he told me that he feels so strongly that this is where I need to be. I told him that I feel it too. I have never felt so strongly that I am where I need to be so quickly. It ususally takes a week or so to transition but I felt it the very day I transferred. Anyway I love Los Alamitos! We had a baptism on Sunday! It was wonderful! The spirit was so strong. We had some opposition as always. We almost rescheduled but I just kept praying. It all worked out and Brandy was baptized on Sunday. There were many tears and it just felt so good. I love the spirit! Brandy was a member referral and the family participated a lot. The oldest boy baptized her and the dad confirmed her. The mom told us with tear filled eyes that we had been prayed here and sent here so that this miracle could happen. We weren't the first set of missionaries. Our Heavenly Father has so much love for each and every one of us. Sometimes it overwhelms me to know just how much love our Heavenly Father has for everyone. He is so involved in each of our lives and is always placing people in our path to bless us and help us be better people. It is truly amazing. We had a good labor day. We were able to visit a member family who gave us a huge list of referrals. This ward is awesome with referrals! Everyone is so excited about sharing the gospel. It definitely helps us immensely! We went to lunch over at member's home. They were having a huge pool party and a BBQ. We can't swim but we can eat. It was fun to visit with different members and there were even some non members. It was a lot better lunch than I could fix myself. We went over to Kelly's to do some service. She didn't want us to help but I suggested that we clean her car for her. We took her keys and went outside. It always feels good to have a clean car. We didn't have time to wash the outside but we deep cleaned the inside. She has 4 year old twins. She said, "I don't think that it has been this clean since I bought it." I love doing service! We had dinner with some great families this week. I love member meals. It is especially helpful when you are trying to get to know the members. One family was having family come in from out of town so they said come on over. They had the BYU game on. I put myself to work helping prepare the meal so that I wouldn't watch the game. I heard yesterday that they had won. Their family that was coming in had a recently returned missionary. She had been home about a week and was returning from Italy. She was such a sweetheart. The entire family was very nice and welcoming. They even came to our baptism on Sunday and tried to bring some investigators of ours with them. We also ate with a young couple. They are so awesome! They both are returned missionaries and understand what it is like to be a missionary. We could talk for hours but we can't. They gave us some referrals as well. We had an awesome lesson with a family we are teaching last night. The 3 girls were at church on Sunday. We were nervous about setting a date for baptism but I knew that we had to do it. I talked with President twice last week and in both our conversations we talked in depth about committing to baptism. My companion was hesitant but I didn't say anything. I knew that we needed to do it before we left that house. We were teaching about baptism and we read a scripture in 2 Nephi 31:17. I asked what it meant. This was the response from the 11 year old. She said "So basically the way to go is get baptized and become Mormon." It was so funny. We were all laughing and it really lightened the mood. They understand what they need to do but they are just hesitant because they want to understand everything! We did and we set a date for 2 of the girls. The youngest one was tuckered out and fell asleep before we were done. I know that Heavenly Father helps us in this work and allows to do His will if we test our faith in Him. If we don't do anything He can't help us. Yesterday we were visiting some people in the ward and trying to visit less actives or people we hadn't met yet. We got to a house and Sister Lauchner had remembered knocking it. A not very nice man and answered and in a nutshell said we don't want you here. She was hesitant to try back but I said let's go. We went and the person we were trying to talk to answered the door and we invited her to enrichment. It was so scary. 6 months ago I would have got back in the car. There was more than one experience like that this week. I guess I really have gotten over some of my fears. God has helped me to realize that this is really important and that I can handle it. A Bishop in the area once said in regards to visiting less active/in active members" What are you doing to do? Make them inactive?" It is really true. Maybe they won't listen but maybe they will. We won't know until we do our part as members and continue to love them no matter what. We had 8 investigators at church on Sunday! The Lord is truly blessing us! Bishop Shaw asked me to bear my testimony on Sunday. I tried to follow the spirit in what I should say to touch the hearts of our investigators. I felt it strongly and hope that they felt it as well. I hope you are all doing well! I love each and everyone of you so much! I know this church is true with all my heart! We are truly blessed that we can live with our families forever. You are all in my prayers! Have a wonderful week!Love Sister Mickelsen