"Kimball said I could share this recording of her singing in church on Sunday and this story. I will share it the best I can...
The day before church and had the distinct impression she needed to sing in church the next day. Not sure how she could work that out the day before church, she told her companion, and Sis. Denning's jumped right in and said "Okay who do we need to call?" Kimball was nervous as she walked up to sing, but remembered her dad always telling her to imagine she was singing to the Savior. As she said the first 5 words of the song "You Have Nothing to Fear" the spirit bore witness that there were many hearts that needed to be healed that day. She looked up and there were already people with tears running down their cheeks. Near the back she noticed a woman just sobbing. After church this woman approached them and said " I want to be baptized, what do I need to do to get there? You can come to my house, I will go to your house. What do I need to do?"
The spirit wants to work through us, and it can, when we realize we have nothing to fear with the Lord by our side.
Thank you for your example Kimball!
Love my missionary " -Mom
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I get to teach 2 ASL Ladies! Candid picture (The phone we had propped up, ready to start recording suddenly took a picture) of us practicing.
Prayer rocks we made Amanda, Jason, Tony, and Basley Day.
I wanted to quickly record a few things I wish to remember.
The Wednesday before Amanda, Jason, and Basley's baptism we all met at the church to review temples, family history and word of wisdom. Near the end we remembered we wanted them to try on their jumpsuits which were in the car. We ran out to grab them and totally forgot our keys to get back inside. There we were knocking on all the doors to try to get Amanda's attention and of course they were in a room that was far from any doors. Jason even asked Amanda, "Mom, are they coming back?" Well I thought we were! Luckily we remembered there was a window near the room they were in so we were able to get their attention.
We also met the sweetest gal named June. I originally met her at the Sandhills Women Exchange when Sister Smith and I were waitressing at the Cabin. She says, "If I wasn't baptist I would be a mormon!" June worked for a company run by a family of latter-day saints and considers them the kindest people on earth. She calls us and treats us like angels. I hope to begin teaching her. We went to a luncheon with her, Kathy (the lady who owns a church and turned it into a million dollar house. We do yard work with her), and a few other new gals. We gabbed about so many things inculding religion. They are an absolute hoot! I would have never imagined that I would have so many opportunities on my mission (because of service) to sit and gab with a bunch of southern ladies. They all have the biggest hearts and mouths that never stop moving. June is very outspoken and in the middle of the luncheon she says, "Okay ladies! One conversation at a time, we've got too much going on!" Almost all of them are like that. June is leaving out of town and invited us to come and sit at her house while she's gone so that we can keep an eye out for it. I love these women!
Before my mission, in the MTC, in the field, and most recently this Monday I have had the prayer in my heart that Heavenly Father would give me the opportunity to teach the gospel to a deaf family or a deaf person; the opportunity to combine my passion for sign language and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then on Tuesday I recieved a text from the Sanford sisters asking if I could video call on thursday to teach the deaf mom of a hearing boy they are teaching. um.....Yes!!!!! I was so excited and grateful to my Heavenly Father. Truly He hears, remembers, and answers our righteous desires.
In this moment-- after I have been practicing to teach the Restoration lesson and taught my companion (Sister Denning) how to share her pure and simple testimony in ASL-- I feel a closeness to my Great Grandma Wastlund and her two Deaf parents. I can only imagine how they are helping me along this journey, both in my signing ability as well as my desire and passion to continue learning. How grateful I am that I live at this time after the hearts of the children have been turned to the fathers and the fathers to the children.
Funny moments to remember: When Sister Denning realized she has now been on the mission nearly nine months and randomly states the fact, "I could have had a child in the amount of time I've been away from home"....hmmmm
(warning: this paragraph may contain sarcasm)"THE BAND BROKE UP!" Sister Wiley and Andrews (southern pines sisters) shared a quite sombering experience which they had. They walked up to a house where there seemed to be quite a bit of hustle and bustle going on and some very sad people about. They said, "Hello. We are Sister Missionaries." The man with a sadness in his eyes interrupted, "Now is really not a good time." "oh, I'm sorry. Can we help with anything?" The man held in the tears as he replied, "The band broke up..." Sister Wiley and Andrews then noticed the people carrying their instruments to the cars all with no skip in their step. I know it doesn't sound as funny on paper but by golly it was funny to hear. I am so grateful Sister Denning and I were not the missionaries there at that moment for we surely would have laughed.
Today we got a bible referral from church headquarters. Come to find out this woman (Misty) is completely prepared to hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ. She has experienced enough hardship for two lifetimes and is ready to turn her life around. She has already been in the process of doing so and now she is completely ready for us to be her spiritual guides. We asked if we could say a prayer with her before we left and she said absolutely. As I prayed I felt inspired to bless her that as she read and prayed she could feel of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and Bible and that even as she held the Book of Mormon in her hands she would feel of its truthfulness. I could feel the spirit so strongly and remembered that she has a hard time reading. She, though, was able to have the spirit confirm to her in that moment that the Book of Mormon was the word of God. She seemed to be holding so tightly to that book. Her eyes were filled with tears at the end of the prayer.
Towards the end of our interaction Misty said, "I'm sorry I keep looking back and forth at y'all. Your faces look so familiar...I must have known ya from another life". "I'm sure we knew you before this life". Misty then said with tears in her eyes, "I am so grateful someone stole my bible so that I could meet you two". Sister Denning now reminded me that yesterday I prayed to know what my purpose is. I asked Heavenly Father why I was specifically in Pinehurst, NC at this time with Sister Denning. One of the answers, if not THE answer, is Misty. I feel that Sister Denning and I knew her before this life and promised her that we would lift her. Misty has experienced some terrible lows throughout her life and both Sister Denning and I have experienced some very recent lows. Our spiritual wounds and physical wounds are fresh and in the process of healing. Already today I saw that my ability to emphasize with Misty was so much greater because of how recent those feelings of hopeLESSness and then hopeFULness are. Misty's testimony of the Savior is incredibly strong right now. I am excited to be meeting with her again tomorrow.
Today we also weeded Sister Khris Januzik's garden for her. She is not able to walk well because of her hips being offset so one of her legs comes down shorter than the other and she has a crooked back, ouch! She was incredibly grateful for our service.We pulled all the weeds that covered her garden paths. It felt so good to get in and do some hard physical work for 2 hours.
We also went to Chick-fil-a today, YUM! <---Sister Denning's favorite place. She would eat there every day if she could.
Today we also ate with the Kucinski's (Coconut rice with Lime shrimp and Dove Dark Chocolate Ice-cream bars, SO GOOD!). I told Brother Kucinski I am coming back after my mission to do a cooking class with him.
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