I have moved the Miracles page here to the blog. It is much easier to manage. The miracle page will be a place where I will post the everyday miracles that we all experience. I will change the names of the people to protect their privacy. Some of them will be ones that President and I experience personally or with our missionaries. Others will be ones that the missionaries send to me in email on preparation day. I hope they strengthen your faith as they do ours and that they bring to your heart how much Heavenly Father and the Savior love us and are involved in our lives. I hope it will also give you an idea of the faith of our missionaries and the love they have for the people they serve and for the Savior.
ELDER HALE
For Six months I had been praying for the chance to find and baptize a family before Christmas. I knew that they were there, but I could not find them . It was the beginning of December, and still I had been unable to find my family. I woke up every morning with more and more determination to do everything I could to be worthy for the Miracle I so desperately wanted, and with a prayer in my heart, I put my nose to the grind stone and would go to work.
Shortly after being transferred to a new area, while I was on an exchange, I found myself completely lost as I searched for a member's house.
Finally I pulled the car over on a street that I had never been on, praying that the Elder I was with could have a positive experience, we started to knock on doors. first, second, third, forth, all of these doors were left unanswered. As I prayed more and more at every door, I found myself imaging the family that was going to be baptized.
Then It happened, a young lady with a baby on her hip opened the door, She asked if we were the people that she had seen on bikes.
We said yes and opened up the Book of Mormon.
Reading from the title page as we have been instructed to do, we taught simply and powerfully how the book of Mormon had blessed our lives and how it would bless her life. She was amazed at the concept of Christ coming to America, and was touched by our testimonies of how we knew that the gospel would bring her family closer together.
Before we could ask for a return appointment, she asked if we could come back and share this message with her and her husband who she said was on his own spiritual journey. We smiled and said that we could probably fit that into our schedule. Before leaving, I asked if I could say a prayer. As I prayed, I felt a peace and comfort as if Heavenly Father was actually embracing me,It was a feeling I will never forget.
One week later, we went over and taught her and her husband. As I asked her if she had read the Book of Mormon, she said yes, and that as she had read she had felt a peace and empowerment that she had never felt before in her life.
When she said that, the member I was with about had a heart attack. I asked her how she felt, and she told me that after the prayer when we had first met her, she had felt the highest high she had ever had in her life.
Over time, as we taught them, they continued to astonish me at how prepared they were for the gospel. As they told me of how their family had grown closer together since the book of Mormon had been in their home, about how every time they read the Book Of Mormon they felt an overwhelming feeling of truth. As we asked about the First vision the reply was, " The imagery of a boy seeing the father and the son has never left me since I heard you tell the story."
On February 19,2011 Vicki and Thor were baptized into the fold of God.
I know that God Answers Prayers. I know that if we let him, God will lead us to the souls he has prepared.
I will forever be grateful for God allowing me to have this wonderful experience.
ELDER MYERS
We knocked on a door and man named Ronny invited us in. There were lots of people in the house. We asked if there was a quiet place in the house. We used what we had learned from our lessons of “How to Begin”, “Revelation through prayer”, and Revelation through Book of Mormon” Because we had faith in what we had learned about asking that we eliminate distractions, talking about the importance of the Spirit and beginning with prayer , and then asking good questions and listening to the spirit to know what to teach, we were able to teach to his needs and tough his heart. He came to church twice, loves it, bore his testimony and is ready to be baptized. Normally we would have tried to teach him standing there in the confusion, not wanting to “impose” ourselves on him. The miracle of these lessons , teach us that we are Servants of Jesus Christ and that if we will do this work the way the Lord has outlined it in Preach My Gospel , doing the Lord’s work the Lord’s way, the Holy Ghost will take the message “into the hearts “ of these people.
ELDER CURTIS & ELDER DAVIDSON
Two weeks ago we were contacting on campus and contacted a girl that had a returned missionary boyfriend. Last friday we went to teach her and we implemented “How to begin teaching” exactly how we had been taught . We also went through the restoration and Elder Curtis shared the first vision exactly how we had been taught in Specialized Training, which was to share the first vision in Joseph Smith’s exact words and slow way down so the spirit can testify and give them a feeling. She said that when he was sharing first vision she felt really warm and good. He implemented helping her recognize the spirit and she understood what she felt. She came to church and loved it and has a baptismal date. Miracles come when we do the Lord’s work the Lord’s way
ELDER DUTIE
We were doing a 555 visit and were visiting a part member family. The wife was the non member and stayed it the back of the house when we came in. We had the faith to implement “How to Begin” by asking him to invite his wife to join us. He ignored the request. We proceeded with getting rid of all the distractions, turning off the TV, Sharing with him that we wanted to invite the Spirit to be part of our lesson, we then had the faith to invited her again and and because we had invited the spirit by doing what we had been taught she came in and listened and now has a baptismal date.
ELDER WOODINGS
We went back to Barbra’s house who we had found earlier. They used “How to begin a Lesson” and invited her husband to come and be part of the lesson. He came in. As we were teaching we had the faith to commit them to be baptized the way we had role played with power and authority. She said she didn’t need a date that she would get baptized tomorrow. It was a MIRACLE!!
ELDER ROWAN
I have seen by applying the things from the Fundamentals of Preach My Gospel that there is a more sincere feeling in our teaching experiences because we are asking inspired questions and we are listening with our heart and the spirit instead of thinking about what information we are going to give them. I feel the spirit is there and people are actually keeping their commitments because the spirit is actually there and we are trusting Him. I feels Heavenly Father’s love and admiration more because I am doing His work His way.
ELDER GUERRA and ELDER KILLPACK
Last Wednesday we decided that today we were going to have success and we woke up and prayed really hard for the faith to have a miracle. That morning we worked really hard. We stayed very focused during all of our studies, and then when we started proselyting we stayed very focused on the goals that we had set for the day. We spent every moment looking for Hispanic people or homes where they might live while we were riding our bikes through a neighborhood. We talked to all the Hispanic people that we passed sharing with them the message of the restoration and everything, and after about 3 hours of hard work. We talked to a couple of Hispanics outside their apartment and told them we wanted to share a message with them and that we wanted to have a prayer. We asked them if they were comfortable praying right there outside, or that if they wanted we could go inside to have it. They invited us in. We prayed and began teaching the restoration. Then when we got to the first vision. Another person came down the stairs and started listening, and then with in another 5-8 minutes two more people had come down the stairs and started listening. We were teaching the Restoration to five Hispanic
people at once. They were all listening intently, and Elder Guerra and I both bore powerful testimony of the truthfulness of our message and the spirit was very strong. Stronger than it had been in most if not all of the lessons we had previously taught. We finished by committing them all individually to pray about our message to know if it was true and ended with a kneeling prayer. It was the most incredible teaching experience!! When we left Elder Guerra told me that he too had been praying to find 5 new investigators that day. It usually takes us all week to find just 4 or 5 new investigators. That day we got 5 before dinner. Now was it just a coincidence that this occurred after Elder Guerra and I both had been sincerely praying for a miracle and then working diligently to make it happen? Of course not! The power of faith is real. We witnessed on the 3rd of November.
MIRACLE OF IMPLEMENTATION
We have taught the missionaries that if they will have daily contact with their investigators, either by a member or themselves that they will see more of them come to church and be baptized. Here is an experience they had.
I testify that daily contact is true. One of the seven investigators attending church last Sunday bore her testimony about the daily contact in gospel principles class. She shared how much it meant to her that we would take the time to contact her everyday and shared how it strengthened her.
Elder Sandres
ELDER BALLANTYNE & ELDER HEGER
Elder Ballantyne and I were riding home one evening and this car pulls up to the side of us. This lady puts her head out the window and starts yelling at us. I couldn’t hear her well at first and I thought she was just saying something sarcastic. But to my realization she wanted us to pull over so she could talk to us. We pulled over and ended up talking to her and her friend for 30 minutes. She came to the Sunday morning session of Conference and we’re seeing her tonight! I’m excited!
We were also blessed another evening while riding home. A member named Mario, who hasn’t been to church since the storm, pulled us over. Come to find out his info isn’t on the records. He invited us to come over to his home and meet his family later in the week. On top of that his wife and three kids are not members! They agreed to have us come over and teach them the lessons.
ELDER KISER and ELDER DAVIDSON
That night 20 min before the interview she called and said, “don’t come over I am sick.” I was disappointed because Pres Woods was already on his way. I knew that it was Satan trying his best because she was sooo close. So I tried to persuade her, didn’t work. I called her back and reminded her it was her Baptism interview with pres Woods, didn’t work. Called back to see if we could come up, and there was no answer. I was thinking, “this is not looking to good.” Pres woods came to the church where we were all going to meet up, and I told him the story. We got in his car and we were off to go visit her! We started the journey with a mighty prayer! We were driving to her house and I had a feeling to call her one more time so I did, and out of the blue she answered her phone! I asked if we could come up and again she said no. I again I told her of the blessings that were awaiting her, and still she said no. I gave up and told her that we loved her and that we would come back tomorrow and she said, “fine, come over” then hung up. I was nervous because I didn’t want to make her mad, so I prayed again in my heart over and over! We drove up to her house not knowing what was going to happen, and she let us in and we had a great interview! She is excited to be baptized! She still needed to stop smoking, so we gave her a blessing. We blessed her that her headaches would go away, and left with a prayer! We were all wanting and hoping that she would have the zeal and faith to stop smoking and be baptized! That night we prayed again! The next night we went to her house to have a lesson. It started off with her saying that her headache was gone! She had gone to the doctor’s office for a stuffy nose, and at the office the doctor gave her medicine to feel better. I know God answers prayers because this medicine, if taken while smoking, will harden your lungs and kill you! Our prayers were answered, and we all have a strong testimony about the importance of prayers and the power of the Priesthood.
ELDER SPACKMAN and ELDER RUECKERT
Elder Rueckert and I were knocking doors and we met a man in his early 20’s who was very interested at the idea of prophets and apostles on the earth again. We felt very impressed that he was ready to hear the gospel. For weeks we were unable to get back in contact with him, and we were still not able to teach a lesson. We had only had a five-minute conversation, but something kept us calling him. Finally we set up a time, and in a coffee shop we taught him the message of the Restoration. This man brought with him a friend whom he knows from nursing school. They both listened intently and asked questions to clear up concerns. He has had multiple friends trying to get him to a church, because he is a great man with high standards, but he is unsure on religion and God. He now wants to come to church with us because of the message of the Restoration. He said he will be able to know if this is all true if he feels a pulling feeling towards God. He has worked and not been able to make it to church yet, but I know he will and that once there he will feel that "pulling feeling" of the Spirit and come closer to Christ. I know we were inspired to keep calling him, even though it did take a month to actually meet with him.
