A Miracle in Taylor Mountain

13 September 2010

Dear Dad,

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE CAMERA!!! I can't thank you enough for it. It will be great to have and I really wish I knew what happened to the other one. The new one looks like it is working great and is really nice. Thank you.

It sounds like you had a really good Sacrament. As a missionary here we go to multiple sacrament meetings each week so I have been to scores upon scores upon scores of sacraments. Some of them are much, much better than others. We had a couple of really good sacraments yesterday also. One family talked about the Holy Ghost and its influence. It was a very powerful talk.

So like I said this past week was transfers. We only cover half the stake and Elder Fife who covers the other half was supposed to train a new missionary. The new missionary decided that he needed surgery last minute. He is delayed 2 or 3 weeks. So Elder Fife is now in a trio with Elder Durnall and me for the next little bit. It has been way fun and pretty cool covering the whole Taylor Mountain Stake.

Wednesday was absolutely crazy though. Elder Durnall and I had to pack a bunch of stuff and move in with Elder Fife (his apartment is much more central) and get all settled in. Then in the afternoon we found out that a new set of elders in our zone that were whitewashing in couldn't live in the place the mission was planning on. So we got a phone call asking if they could live in Elder Fife's place also. So now there are 5 missionaries crammed into a small apartment. We probably will be moving into our original apartment though--it is just too crowded. We will see what happens.

I will pray that this fundraising book project will work out and be a steady stream of income. That would be pretty neat if it works out. Does Brooke and her family live here in Idaho? Or have they moved?

We had one investigator baptized on Tuesday night. That was a really good baptism and hopefully it will help lead her family in the right direction. She was supposed to be confirmed on Sunday, but was in the hospital. I hope that she can make it and be confirmed this coming week.

I just remembered we had a crazy experience on Wednesday (mixed in with all of the transfer stuff). We went to go talk to a family that we were told might be able to help fellowship someone. We will call her Sis. Smith. We knocked on her door at about 4:45, having never met her. She answered the door and looked completely shocked and very emotional, "What are you doing here?!" We could all tell something was up, so we just asked here how she was doing. She then went on to tell us the following:

Sis. Smith is in the process of selling her trailer. She is married currently but her ex-husband who is deceased was a convert to the church. She never met any of his family. All day long she felt him telling her that she needed to sale her home for cheaper so that the man coming over could buy it. He also told her that the man coming over to buy the home was his brother. He told her that she needed to sale the home to him because he needed to be a missionary. Sis. Smith was talking about this in a manner that was quite extraordinary. Her communications with her deceased ex-husband were extremely real to her. She didn't tell us the were real, but how she described the account. As if he was actually there conversing with her. We are actually confused for a bit about who was deceased.

The deceased husband told her that when the man came over she needed to show him their wedding pictures. So he came over and she talked with him for a bit and said she had something she wanted to show him. She went into the garage and brought out the wedding pictures.

She said to the man, "Who is this in the picture?"

He replied, "That's my brother!"

She then told him what was going on. Of course, he was quite moved. She told him that he needed to be a missionary.

So then we showed up and she had us wait for a while. But eventually we had to leave. Shortly before 7:00 she called us and said that we had to come over, because he was supposed to come back with his girlfriend to see the house again. Elder Fife was with a man on splits. But Elder Durnall, myself, and Preston (RM, team teacher) went over. We sat down and talked with her for a few minutes. We were all way nervous because this man was coming over for a business deal and didn't know we would be there. But we just sat and said we would trust in the spirit. The longer the wait the more nervous I got. But then he pulled up. There were 4 people, with more kids. Two of the men were absolutely huge. I was terrified!

Sis. Smith answered the door, they came in and saw us and were kind of surprised. She told them about us coming over and that it wasn't a coincidence. She said she wanted them to listen to us. So we all sat down and talked about the events that had transpired earlier in the day. They knew that it was all true, that the deceased man really did work from the other side. They had talked to their mother about and she had been in tears and believed it all also.

Preston asked, "Matt (name has been changed), do you feel like something is missing in your life?"

Matt said, "Yes. I feel like there is something more that I need."

Preston: "We have what you need."

A little bit more talk. Then it seemed like the conversation was done.

Elder Durnall asked, "Do you have any questions or concerns?"

A moment of silence. Some kind of shook their heads.

Matt: "What makes the Mormon church different from the Baptist church?" We all smiled at each other. I went on to explain the apostasy a bit and shared the First Vision. Elder Durnall taught and testified. Preston asked how Matt was feeling.

Matt: "That was powerful. True. I can just see the truth of it in you. The completeness. The fullness."

We almost fell off our chairs. We gave them our phone number and are going to help them move in and teach them.

That was a down-right miracle. No ifs, ands, or buts, about it--a miracle.

Things are happening in the Taylor Mountain Stake.

Love,
Elder Call