This week has been great!
Still doing a lot of finding… and have had some great contacts!
Most of the miracles we have seen have come from referrals. The hermanas called us this week and told us about a family they had found that would like to come to the english ward. They came to church on Sunday, they remind me of the Olarte family! So cute! We hope to get in with them and begin teaching them.
Members in the ward have been sharing the gospel with their neighbors and are seeing a lot of success! We are teaching a couple of them and they’ve been coming to church pretty regularly now. Members here are getting super pumped to share the gospel and the work really is flourishing!!! Our ward council recognizes that and is super involved and unified in building this area up. I am really impressed with these leaders here and am taking notes.
We have seen A LOT of rain this week. But it hasn’t stopped us. It’s funny how Houston tends to “shut down” or “slow down” because of weather changes. The freeway we are on frequently had about 3 inches of water and constant rain flow. Everyone was going like 2mph… so slow! Haha.
It’s sunny today, hopefully we’ll have a long spring. But I’m worried summer will be here shortly. It is beautiful and blooming here. The flowers are beautiful and the pollen is thick. Instead of scraping ice off cars, we pretty much have to scrap thick layer of yellow pollen off of the cars here. I’ve had a stuffy nose for weeks… haha.
We had an amazing lesson this week with Jonnie Mae. The elders in the area have been working with her but we were invited to go teach her to see if we could provide encouragement to keep her commitments. We went in not really knowing what she knew about the gospel and sorta winged it. I’m so grateful for the Spirit. There was extended family there so we taught her about the Book of Mormon, what it is and how it can bless her and her family. We then read the first chapter of Nephi with her. We talked about it after- I felt prompted to invite her to church, we talked about church and church attendance for a bit and then I felt like suddenly time slowed down. I saw two options before me of what to say to her. I could just flat out tell her church was important and that it would bless her, or I could ask her a question to get her to basically teach herself and come to the same conclusion. It was a brief moment but a vivid one. I chose to ask her a question (we are learning about master teaching in our mission and the importance of asking questions). It was so powerful, her response. The spirit was there to draw the truth from out of her and to testify and confirm what she said to be true. She had an ah-ha moment, it was so amazing to witness that and feel the Spirit teach. We were all a little teary eyed and she continued to share her story. We left her with that Spirit in her home and I hope that it motivates her and gives her a reason to act. I hardly knew her. I don’t know if I’ll ever see her again, but it was a special moment.
Things are going great. I love the work and the opportunity to serve.
Sister Jeppson
Heart in Houston 