Sincerely, Sister Matheson : Week 42

There were so many amazing things that happened this week I'll just have to brake it down for you in bullet points....

-This week our mission expanded! It now includes the Fort Myers zone from the Tampa mission. It's a third bigger now (I'll send you a pic of the new boundaries). We didn't know anything about it and neither did the missionaries over there. They had a meeting with their mission President on Wednesday where he told them they would now be a part of the FFLM and then President Richardson and the AP's walked in. CRAZY!!! We heard about it in a conference call that night. One of their Zone Leaders became our third AP and they did a few Emergency Transfers. I guess the First Presidency approved this a long time ago, but they were waiting for the right time to officially make the change.

-This week we were going through our List of Potential Elders and found out that one of them had moved. We were able to say a prayer with some of the people who had moved in. We left with them a chapel card and a Restoration pamphlet. As we got to our car we received a phone call from the woman who lived there. She explained that she had been in the Restroom and wanted us to come back to tell her more about our church. We quickly went back and said a prayer with the rest of their family. On Saturday we did a chapel tour with them and on Sunday they came to church! Sadly, they came just AFTER the sacrament, but they still felt the Spirit and we set them all with a date in two Sundays. God definitely provides people to teach when we follow the council of our leaders, (Elder Zwick's training and encouragement for Sisters to work with Potential Elders).

-Nova Had a Baptism on Sunday and two confirmations! Although Sister Anderson and I weren't able to teach them for very long we still were grateful to be a part of their story of coming closer to Jesus Christ. It boosted our motivation to continue finding families in Pines to baptize and confirm.

Funny Story:

We were at Walgreens picking up my prescription and Sister Hartley started talking to this old Cuban woman. As I walked over, the first thing she said was, "You have such nice legs, you have the nicest legs out of the three of you". hahaha oh my....When we left we were saying a prayer with a woman in the parking lot. The Cuban woman drove by and started honking and waving at us during the prayer.

This week I studied Alma 49 in the Book of Mormon. Never before has the Spirit touched me and taught me like it did when I read that chapter. As I read I pondered how Moroni is like our Modern day prophet. When we heed his council and "fortify" ourselves we are protected from the adversary (Amalickiah). It repeats over and over how they were "prepared" which made me ponder on the importance of our time to "prepare" as missionaries. Our study times are so sacred because they truly "prepare" us for the "stones and arrows" that are thrown our way.

Sincerely, Sister Matheson

Pics:

Jason's Baptism