Elder May: Chapter 26

I think this was one of the craziest but most fulfilling weeks we have had since Elder Hayden left.  His older brother, Hunter, was sealed to his sweetheart for time and eternity in the Gilbert Temple.  Hayden was definitely missed but he was there in spirit  (or cardboard as the case may be).  We love him and miss him terribly - but we are oh, so proud of him!  Enjoy!!

Chapter 26:

1) Our obedience and diligence today, influences the day we have tomorrow

2) "If the Congo won't come to the Elders, the Elders will go to the Congo" -Brother Rossell (my ward mission leader)

Okay so this week we had the absolute biggest miracle of my entire mission so far. This entire chapter is going to be devoted to this one miracle. I am going to over-dramatize how it went in an attempt to make it extremely epic. 

Tuesday: We went on an exchange as a companionship of three in our area because the zone leaders wanted to take Elder Brau for the day to their area. We strategically planned to evenly teach the lessons from our companionship and Elder Reese's investigators as well. Doing so was difficult with as many people as we talked to and were rejected by but earlier that day we had a zone conference about diligence in the work and it was really good so there was no slowing us down. Tuesday was the inspiration for the first verse. I actually coined that phrase so I take credit for it. 

Wednesday: We are making breakfast for the day and the phone rings. I answer and it is a sister from the ward that is giving us a referral. She tells that she met a young man outside of his house that says his family is Christian and that he wants to find a church to go to. She told him that the church she attends is really close and is a Christian church. He was so excited and told her that his family wants to attend. This sister called us to tell us about this family. She tells me that there is nineteen of them in one house. Obviously a little confused by this I asked if she was sure and she said we can go and make sure on Saturday evening but she will secure rides and everything (yet another miracle)

Saturday: We meet with Sister Gomes and walk to this family’s house. They answer the door as happy as they can be. The father's name is Eecha and as we were greeting him, suddenly people just come flooding into this room. Sure enough, there 19 people living in this one house. There is Eecha, his wife, his father and mother and then his 15 children ranging from 2-18. They are from the Congo and moved to Tanzania and then to the United States. Eecha speaks pretty okay English and the rest do not speak too much so we start teaching and every couple of sentences he translates for us. Every couple of translations the entire family will start clapping and say "Tank you so much!" We leave them with a copy of a Book of Mormon and they are excited to come to church.

Sunday: Using cars from four different sisters in the ward the entire family makes it to church and stayed for all three hours. Tonight we are set up to go to their house and have a family home evening in which Elder Sites and I are going to have a lesson about baptism and what it means. We downloaded the Book of Mormon in Swahili for Eecha so that tonight we can have him read 3rd Nephi 11:23-26 in Swahili so everyone can understand. I am so extremely excited for all of them and you better believe I took my best selfie I could and got them all into one picture. 

 

Also I had the perfect Kodak moment with Elder Sites as he was calling someone that said they'd

attend church and I wanted to share that with you as well. I love you all! Thank you for all of your prayers! You are in mine as well!

Love you all – Elder May