I hope you all are doing wonderful and are happy! This week was simply another awesome week in the land of Many Might Miracles (the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission), and I am so grateful to have this opportunity to
be here on a mission. There was a HUGE CRAZY storm this week! I sent a video home to my mom. But it was pouring so hard and the wind was so hard the trees looked like they were going to break in half!
Andy is still progressing. This week we had a lesson with him outside because the lobby of the apartment building was being used, so we sat on the grass in a circle. Even though I ended up will some bug bites
and itchy skin and it was super humid outside, the lesson was awesome. We taught him about baptism and confirmation, and the role of the Holy Ghost. He understood it and just soaked it in. He just got a job at
IHOP, so meeting with him is probably going to be harder now because he doesn't really know his schedule. But we were able meet with him again, and we had a lesson sitting in the hallway of the apartment (sitting and teaching a lesson in a skirt makes it more interesting ha-ha). We just went over the different commandments that we've taught him, and he knew it all. We had to move his baptismal date back to September 3rd, because he needs to come to church at least one more time, and with his new work schedule it is difficult. He is excited to be baptized and to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost! He said that he cannot wait to have the Holy Ghost there to help and guide him every day!
We weren't able to have a lesson this week with the miracle park girl, Julia this week. But we are hoping to have a lesson with her tomorrow! We were able to stop by and see the Alegria Family (the family that just showed up at church a couple of weeks ago) this last week! They are super nice. They told us that they are interested in learning more about our church, but do not plan on joining our church. So we are still going to be teaching them!
At prince of peace this last Tuesday, we taught two lessons to two guys that came in! We are not allowed to proselytize but if they ask questions it's free game ha-ha. The first guy was genuinely interested in learning more, and was just asking a lot of questions. We shared Ezekiel 37:15-17, where it talks about the Book of Mormon and the Bible being records from God. When he read this his mind was just like blown ha-ha. The other guy's name was Bill. He walked in and started talking to us about the Bible and how it has changed his life. He was super nice, and challenged us to read the Bible and pray every single day. We told him that we are missionaries, and that's exactly what we do!! He didn't really understand that we were actually telling the truth, but we had an interesting conversation with him!
On Friday night we had a really awesome experience! We had a lesson planned with someone, but it ended up falling through. We had about 20 minutes until we were supposed to start heading home, but instead of just heading home we knocked on one more door! We ended up meeting this super sweet lady named Maria! We talked about how our faith in Jesus Christ has helped us in our lives. We ended up giving her a Book of Mormon and she said she would read and pray about to know for herself if it is the word of God, like the Bible. We taught her on her doorstep, and even though I had put a bunch of bug spray on earlier in the day, I got 10 new mosquito bites. I got three on my head and the rest on my arms. But it was definitely worth it!!!
Then on Saturday we just had an awesome day! We were able to teach 3 lessons, which is our goal to do every single day! One of them, was this guy named Ryan. He's 17 years old. We were walking down the street, leaving a house of a lady that we just taught a short message about the Book of Mormon, and we saw Ryan sitting in his car smoking. At first we just walked past him, but Hermana Brittner had the feeling to turn around and go talk to him. We ended up talking with him and found out a lot about him. He told us that he has never prayed, and that he didn't even know how to pray. So we taught him how to pray, and he said a prayer for the first time ever in his life!! Afterwards, he said that he felt like a burden was just lifted off of his shoulders. He said he felt so much happier. His prayer was probably one of the most sincere prayers that I have ever heard, and I could just feel the spirit so strongly. We ended up teaching him about the Book of Mormon and he said that he would read and pray about it! He was super glad that we stopped and talked with him, and recognized that there really are no coincidences! SO AWESOME!
This week I had a lot of different types of food! Instead of just eating Hispanic food, we had a Swiss dinner with the awesome Cupkie Family and an Italian dinner with the Jensen Family. It was fun being able to have a little bit of a variety in our meals! And Hermana Brittner and I made tortillas! They were super super yummy!
FUN FACT: I am related to one of my Zone Leaders, Elder Atwood. Turns out that we have the same great-great-great Grandfather, Lorenzo Turrell Atwood. Which makes us 3rd cousins! It was fun comparing our family trees and figuring this out. I am so grateful for Family History! It is so awesome!!
I wanted to share a scripture about prayer this week. In 3 Nephi 27:28-29" And now I go unto the Father. And verily I say unto you, whatsoever things ye shall ask the Father in my name shall be given unto you. Therefore, ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh, receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened."
I just want to stress how important it is to pray! It's crazy to think that there are some people who don't even know how to pray. Just to have the knowledge that you can communicate with a Father in Heaven who loves you so much is such a wonderful gift. I know that sometimes our prayers are not always answered in the way that we want it to, but Heavenly Father knows what's best for us and he will ALWAYS answer our prayers.
Love you all so much, but more importantly Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ loves you SO MUCH MORE!
Love,
Hermana Duvall
Here are some videos of a crazy Mid-West storm:
"Good thing we have our house built upon a rock!"
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