Miracles DO happen!

6.13.11
Fleming Island, FL

Dear Family & Friends~

This past week has indeed been a week of miracles. I have never seen so much success and so many changes of heart in such a short period of time in all my mission, let alone my life. The convincing power of the gospel is true. So this week, I do have some stories to tell, all of which have begun with a miraculous start, now we must hope they have the same miraculous finish. Here they are:

Wednesday, June 8th, around 7:00 p.m. I was on an exchange with a new missionary named Elder Haw, who is from Toronto, Canada, and we were out tracting. I decided to take us to some neighborhood I had yet to visit since I've been here in Fleming Island. We had finished almost all the houses on the street, save two, and had little result. On the second to last house, Elder Haw and I went and knocked on the door and came to find out fairly soon that nobody was home. As we turned to leave, however, a small sedan pulled up and stopped near the driveway, and the driver of the vehicle stopped and watched us as we were leaving her property and crossing to the other side of the driveway. Knowing that we ought to wait and at least attempt speaking with her, we waited, as awkward as it was, for her to pull into the driveway and park. We stood a distance enough away so it wouldn't be too uncomfortable for either of us and when she finally opened the door, I offered a quick hello. I felt I had a loss of words in the moment, so as I fumbled around for what to say to start a converstation, our "discussion" began to flat-line, and as it about died, her husband pulled up behind us.

"Great..." I silently thought in my head, "let's make it double awkward". So, rather than allowing the dialogue to finish and hoping to at least somewhat salvage something good from this contact, me and Elder Haw scooted over to the other side of the driveway and allowed the woman's husband to pull into the driveway. He was on his cell phone as he pulled into the driveway, and I watched as he and his wife eschanged glances that seemed to speak, "Yay, it's the Mormon's again!". Of course, there was no "Yay" about it, because really it has already been a long day for each of them and who wants two preachers to show up and speak to them just as they are coming home from work? Despite the busy day and the inconvenience of us being there, when the man got out of his vehicle he kindly introduced himself and asked us what we wanted. I told him we were there to teach him the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. For some reason or another the word "RESTORED" seemed to jump out at him. With a funny look on his face he asked us what that meant. As briefly as possible, and as clearly as I could muster, I told him that because God loves us and desires for us to live with Him again, He has chosen a prophet of God and restored His gospel and His kingdom, or curch, and His authority to baptize again to the earth, after having once been lost since the death of Christ and His Apostles, I shared with him that the Book of Mormon was the convincing evidence that these things are true and that anyone who would humbly read the book, study it out in their mind, and pray about it with sincerity, real intent, and faith in Christ, that God would testify the truth of it to them by the power of the Holy Ghost. And I continued by saying that those who gain this witness will know that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord's kingdom on earth, preperatory to the Second Coming of Christ and that those who gain this knowledge will then have to make a decision as to whether they will follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by His authority or not. Having recently been baptized, the man then asked me one of the most difficult questions a missionary has to answer, "Can I get to heaven without the Book of Mormon and the Bible alone, or do I need the Book of Mormon to get to heaven?".

I've been asked this question many times and I've never really considered answering it as flatly as I did this time, but I told him that it was necessary that he had the Book of Mormon to get to heaven. He was shocked by my statement and needed further reassurance, so he and his wife both asked about the many people who die without a chance to be baptized into this Church, if they were condemned or not. And grateful for the question, and the guidance of the Spirit, we, in his driveway, ended up teaching he and his wife doctrines and principles from the first three missionary discussions and related to him that all people have equal opportunity to either accept or reject this gospel, whether in this life or the next, and to be saved in the Kingdom of God. We taught them that the Book of Mormon was the way to gain a witness of these teachings and we invited them to read and pray. They said they would. I told them the purpose of reading the Book of Mormon was to gain a witness of its truthfulness and then to prepare to be baptized upon gaining a witness of the Holy Ghost, and then I asked them the big question: "Will you, if after having read and sincerely studied the Book of Mormon, and having sincerely, faithfully prayed about it, and having received a witness from God of its veracity because of your real intent (which means you will act upon the witness God gives you), follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by His authority?

Both of them thought about it for a minute...they looked at each other and exchanged more glances, each desiring that the other should speak...and the husband finally voiced his thoughts. He said based off of what we had told him, that if he read and prayed about the Book of Mormon and gained a witness of its truthfulness from God, that he would be baptized again. Shortly after, I asked his wife if she had the same commitment and she smiled and said she would. It was amazing to feel the Spirit throughout our discussion and the way it seemed to life and build each of us as we discussed the gospel. We left each other as if we had been friends all our lives and were overjoyed to have had the opportunity to have met one another that evening. In smiles both husband and wife said they were very interested in learning more and would like us to return and follow up with them the next week. They gave us each a water bottle and thanked us for all that we do and wished us well as we parted ways.

We should be seeing them this Thursday, so pray that it goes well. :)

I want to write down some more stories, but that took me about 50 minutes to write and I have at least five more of these stories to share. Each of these miracles took place in the span of five days. It has been an amazing week. And this week will be no different. Our object is to love people enough to help them understand the message of the gospel and to explain it as clearly and boldly as possible so they might have the opportunity to actually choose between accepting or rejecting this message. Some people don't want to talk, so we don't push the issue, we'll allow them time to go on with their lives, trusting that God will give them another chance some time later; but for those who wish to talk, we'll deliver the message of the gospel as it was given to us. It really does make a difference when you are straight with people...but it makes an even bigger difference when they can tell, and know, that you do love them and sincerely desire for their welfare and to give them the gift of the gospel.

It is amazing what happens when you have "faith to believe" (Alma 37:40) that there are people who truly desire to hear the gospel and that you have been sent to teach them this message...miracles DO happen! WOW!! I never would haveg uessed that I could be a part of so many miracles in such a short time. And to see people change their hearts and minds and become willing to at least hear the word of the gospel, it is such a joy! Who knows what will happen next, but at least we did indeed help at least some people to hear and feel of this great message!

I love you and look forward to speaking with you next week. I hope each of you have a wonderful week!

Love~
Austin