MISSION MIRACLE

SOME WONDERFUL MISSION MIRACLES:

 So the first one is Illah Matete. She was found by the Bracken Ridge 2 missionaries while they were GQ-ing a bus stop. And she invited them to come over. I wasn't there at the initial teaching, that was Elders Jenkins and Vea. But after Elder Vea was transferred we began teaching her. She had been taught the first principle and the principle of prayer. Elder Jenkins and I began teaching her the Restoration, the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a wonderful experience with Illah, and it was such a miracle because at first her level of commitment and interest didn't seem at the highest, but as we taught her, the Spirit began working in her life. I can remember the more and more we talked of the Savior, and testified of His divinity and of His love, the Spirit was there, of course. Many lessons our fellowship would come out of the lesson speaking of how he felt the Spirit, and how he felt that Illah was a wonderful person, because she certainly is. Illah had an addiction to smoking, but she fully accepted and committed to live the Word of Wisdom. We went through the 15 steps program with her, she did so well, but slipped up after 5 days. But we re-committed and encouraged her more, and the second time she was able to quit. It was so wonderful to see her, reading from the Book of Mormon, and not only that doing the 15 steps program so well! I can remember an experience, where she invited us to have dinner, and before we began teaching anything she asked to be excused. I asked what she was doing, she came back and said she had brushed her teeth!! one of the steps on the program! She was following it so well, i was so impressed. So she was baptized, and she was so excited for it. She loved every moment of her baptism, and she radiated that day, it was such a blessing.

The missionaries involved in finding were Elders Saaid and Hodges. The Elders involved in teaching were Elder Jenkins, Elder Vea, Elder Choi and Elder Jensen.

Teagan is a wonderful woman;  She was actually introduced by Illah to Elder Jenkins and Elder Vea, and was taught for quite some time together with Illah. Teagan at first took some time to understand and process the things that we taught. But the desire seemed to be there, and it was amazing how far she had come from when I first met her, to when she was baptized. This gospel is truly so, so wonderful, and it is such a blessing to see it change people's lives. Because Teagan was there for many of the lessons with Illah, she was taught mostly at the same time. The Spirit working in her life also began to produce increased desire and increased commitment. It was AMAZING, I remember this experience so clearly, so this was the 4th or so week at church, and we decided to follow up on her reading the Book of Mormon and praying. We asked her if she had been reading the Book of Mormon, and she said "Yeah, I read it every night before i go to bed" and this just was so wonderful to hear, and then we asked if she had prayed to know if it is true, and she said she did, but she said "I don't know if i received my answer, but I felt good, I felt at peace" and Elder Jenkins and I just look at each other with a smile and we then asked her how she would receive that answer, then she said by the power of the Holy Ghost. We then asked her if she remembered what feelings she would get if she felt the Holy Ghost, she said she would feel happy, calm, peace, joy, and then we paused and asked her, "Well.. do you think that was your answer?" and then she paused, and thought about it, and then she said "Yeah... Yeah i guess it is!"  Her baptism was wonderful also, she had a great experience, and enjoyed it.

The missionaries involved in finding were Elder Jenkins and Elder Vea, and missionaries involved in teaching were the mentioned Elders, and in addition to that, Elder Choi and Elder Jensen.