Blessings Of Having A Living Prophet (Week 9: Cerritos)

It's been such a good week here! Being a missionary is the best. We did experience our fair share of rejection, including when we tried to share Scriptures with people at the mall for our zone activity. And there were lots of times when we showed up to someone's house and they weren't there. But I keep on remembering a quote that one of the AP's said the first day which has been so true: "Obedience in the mornings, diligence in the afternoons, miracles in the evenings."

I decided I can't rank the miracles anymore because they are all so amazing. I've definitely gained a stronger witness this week that this is the Lord's work. Miracles this week:

-We were walking to our friend Maria's apartment when a man named Antonio stopped us on the street and said he just moved here from Nicaragua and is looking for a church in Spanish. We taught him three nights in a row out on the street, and turns out he's actually a member! I think he joined the church when he was visiting Costa Rica but couldn't find it when he returned. This is a great example to me of the Savior going after his lost sheep. 

-We were able to teach a second lesson to a family who hasn't been to church in many years. They were unreceptive to church members for a long time but surprisingly they let us in. We felt the spirit strongly in the lesson and they felt it too. Now we are meeting with them once a week and hope they will Come back to church this next Sunday!

-We were looking for the apartment of a member but couldn't find it to save our lives so we were basically walking in circles. But we ended up teaching two people as we were walking around. Then a few days later, we went back and found it right away. The member had moved but we asked the lady who answered the door, Jacqueline, if we could share a message with her and she agreed! So we taught her the message of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and will come back this week to bring her a Libro de Mormón. The Lord's timing is amazing. 

-We had a good lesson with Maria this week. She is so receptive to the gospel. She was telling us though that she had never been willing to listen to religious messages before but one night a few weeks ago, she was praying and told God that she was ready to come back and would listen to anyone. The next day, we were walking to a lesson and stopped her. She knew this was an answer to her prayers!

-Brenda is progressing so much!!! When I met her 2 weeks ago, she was kind of sad and having a really hard time with life. But it's been amazing to see the change the gospel of Jesus Christ has brought to her

in just a few weeks. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying for an answer and attended church again this Sunday. She is sooo happy now. 

After zone council we were doing a practice and Hermana Midence and I were practicing teaching our friend Alyssa about the importance of prophets. She said something that I really loved. She said: "God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But the world is not the same yesterday, today, and forever." This is why we are so blessed to have a living Prophet on the earth today. Amos 3:7 teaches us: "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." In the Old Testament, Isaiah testified of Christ, Noah warned of danger, and Moses helped the people know what the Lord wanted them to do. Today, President Nelson does these same things. He helps us to be spiritually and physically safe and is preparing us for the Second Coming of the Lord.

I am so excited to listen to our Prophet this weekend at General conference!

Love yall!

Hermana Dudley

1.We both went to social media finding accidentally matching with our comps

2.Us with Andre. He's so awesome. His parents won't let him be baptized til he's 18 but he's been taught by the missionaries for 2 years (since he was 14) and knows its true.

3.Teaching in Bellflower

4.Hermana Midence and I

5.Late picture from the mtc

6.Zone council

7.I miss district 9B

8.Teaching Maria

9.All the sisters in our zone, STLs, and our friend Alyssa who joined the church last year and is leaving on a mission.