MIRACLES- IMAGINE THAT!

"the natural results of the Messiahs presence among men"  

i could wrap this email up with that sentence because this week truly was a miracle!!

on Tuesday we were picking up a member to come with us and we passed a nice looking native guy on the bench waiting for the bus. him and i made eye contact- and i KNEW the spirit was telling me to go talk to him! immediately i told sister H to pull over and we jumped out. we went to talk to him and this was our conversation:

"hey man!! hows your day going??"

"not too bad, yourself?"

"super good!! we're representing Christ today! do you have a faith in him?"

"of course i do! i met two of you about a year ago but i lost the card!"

"AH! NO WAY! well that is definitely god putting us here again. have you ever been baptized?"

"i have not actually!"

"oh! well will you be baptized?"

"actually, yes, i'd love that."

that was the start to a miracle man named Otis! when we met with him again a couple days later he said "i didnt think you'd ask me to be baptized in the first 5 minuets.. but it worked!" haha we met with him again last night and we were able to meet his two kids who are 12 and 10 and they want to be baptized as well!! these people change my life everyday. Otis said while teaching the Doctrine of Christ- "i view repentance as one on one time with God" if only we all had that moment every day eh :) 

We got in with a cute chinese less active family for dinner and the moment we sat down sister Hemenway was on FIRE literally. she goes "soooo why aren't your kids baptized?"  they literally looked at us and basically said "you can baptize them." soooo we excused ourselves from the table to teach them and invite them to be baptized on September 5th!! again, natural result of the Messiahs presence. its all him. that was a thrilling dinner appointment :D

Lynda was baptized yesterday!! it was an incredible turn out and an incredible spirit there. she invited loads of people!! she got up to share her testimony afterward and invited them all to come back next week!!!! look at this missionary already :-) makes me smile!!! we sang "if the savior stood beside me" and she was bawling. i love that song- i love the spirit music brings!!

we called a former investigator the other day and she let us come over on friday. turns out she has 6 KIDS 3 of baptism age!! they are native as well-- grateful. because they're more spiritual ;) we had a great chat about the book of mormon and theyve been reading it here and there! we invited them to church and THEY ALL CAME! i felt like a mother with 3 kids under 6 sitting by me and trying to keep them company. but i wasn't mad :-) we failed to invite them to be baptized at church so of course Bishop said "sisters! INVITE THEM!" so she shot them a text and told them September 26 is open for there family to be baptized together and she texted back, "actually none of my kids have been baptized so we can chat on Wednesday when you come over about it"

hmmmm....  "the natural results of the Messiahs presence among men"  its real. 

following the spirit + being bold with inviting others to come closer to Christ has been life changing this week! truly, i feel closer to christ because of it. i know and feel that it is his goal to help every soul be baptized and endure their covenant with him. and that is ALL of our purpose here on earth.

oh and hey, on a different level. listen up:

• in the middle of a lesson this week, a spider came crawling in. so sister hemenway stood up and smashed it!! the investigator looked up at us terrified and said " i would have picked it up........" hahahahahaahah oh my gosh. i tried so hard not to laugh guys. 
• sometimes we have laugh attacks and they become so REAL that siser hemenway chokes on her water & i legit peed my pants on the way to a lesson. ugh. #bladderprobs
• we were walking the streets on saturday and a guy looks at me and said "hey you ran to my truck to talk to me in Sidney like 8 months ago didn't you??" hahahahaha totally remembered him. BEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE. i told him i'd hunt him down here. he said good luck. thanks man, gods powerful u know.

fam- i feel incredibly blessed. my mission is a miracle. and i know this is just a "type and a shadow of things to come" living the gospel is joy. it is refreshing and i feel so thrilled on life. i hope you all feel the burden and blessing it is to be a part of Christs  true & living church. we have a huge role to play here on earth- you and I have the SAME purpose as God. to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of HIS children. we must go to work!!! i love you. i pray for you. don't count time, rather, make time count :) 

xoxo, sister ovard

- because really we're thrilled on life & i love her!