Happy Thanksgiving! I can't believe it's here already. There are so, so many things that I am thankful for right now. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission and be an instrument in the Lord's hands, and grateful that He is molding me, shaping me, and helping me grow into the person that He wants me to be. I'm grateful for miracles. I'm grateful for you, my wonderful, amazing family. I'm also grateful for scarves, gloves, layers, and big winter coats--winter is officially here, and it is COLD! I've been especially grateful for every appointment we've had this week, because it's given us the opportunity to be inside for a bit. :)
It's been a great week in Shaker Heights East. I absolutely love working with Sister Nelson, and I am learning so much from her wonderful example. She is so, so good! I hope that one day, I can be as good as she is. :)
Our numbers are few, but we have been working very hard, and we've seen a lot of miracles recently. One was that a man named Bob showed up to church yesterday and asked to meet with us! He lives in our area, and we're going to meet with him tonight. We are so grateful for this miracle!
Another miracle is the young man named Robert that I've been teaching over the phone at the Visitor's Center. He called me back after I left a message for him last night (miracle #1), and another amazing, Spirit-filled, Spirit-guided lesson took place. He is one of the most prepared people I've ever met, and I am so grateful for many continued miracles as I've been able to share the gospel with him.
We went on exchanges with Sister Clark and Sister Mohler on Saturday, and it was wonderful. I worked with Sister Mohler in my area, and I learned so much from her! She is such a powerful teacher, and is has learned to rely on the Spirit very well. While working with her, I also learned a great lesson about charity--I saw my love for her grow as I got to know her better.
We have a busy few weeks coming up: tomorrow is the Community of Christ's annual Thanksgiving fireside at the Kirtland Temple, and we have been invited to sing 2 hymns as part of their program. So excited. :) Thursday is Thanksgiving with the Wagners (yay!!), and Friday is the Lighting Ceremony for the Nativity Exhibit at the Visitor's Center! We've been asked to provide musical numbers for that as well, so all of the Sisters get to be there. The nativities are almost all set up, and the displays are breathtakingly beautiful. I absolutely love this exhibit, and I'm so excited for it to open on Friday. We've seen a lot of miracles as we've taken invitations to people in our area--many hearts have been softened, and many people have expressed interest in coming. Yay! :) One miracle in particular was when we stopped by a lady named Kathleen on Saturday. We'd only met her once before, but she immediately invited us in (for which I was so grateful--it was so cold that day!!), and when we told her about the Nativity Exhibit, she was SO excited! It was a tender mercy for me to see something good happen.
Next week, we have a very special opportunity. We've been given permission to have a mission conference with the entire mission, at the Kirtland Temple!! Normally, we have mission conferences in two groups because there are so many of us, but this time, the whole mission will get together!! And on top of that, we get to meet in the Kirtland Temple. We are such lucky bugs, and I am so excited!!
Our investigators are, well, moving slowly. We had a great lesson with Ismaila over the phone on Saturday, but he didn't come to church yesterday. :( We haven't been able to get a hold of Korey, but hopefully soon. However, we did have a great lesson with our investigator Jason!! We started reading the Book of Mormon with him, and it was really neat to see him start to understand it. He's very smart, and also very open and willing to try new things. He's moving soon, but hopefully we'll get to meet with him again before that happens. One of my favorite parts of the lesson was at the end--we asked him to choose who would say the closing prayer, and he chose himself! He gave the closing prayer by choice. Awesome. :) I think his testimony will grow slowly, but surely. If you could pray for him, I would sure appreciate it!!
We saw another miracle with Sister Frazier, a less-active member we've been working with. She decided to join another church, but still lets us come over and study the scriptures with her. Recently, we've been trying to help her read the Book of Mormon. She's pretty set on the Bible, so a few weeks ago we decided to ask her to share some scriptures with us from the Bible, and then let us share some with her from the Book of Mormon. She loved the idea, and really opened up after that. When we came back this week, she had read the Book of Mormon!! She finished the chapter we gave her, and read another chapter as well. On her own!! This is the first time this has happened, so we were so excited. I love Sister Frazier!! She is amazing and so friendly, and I'm so grateful that we get to visit her.
I'm also grateful for every kept appointment this week. Ha. It gets so frustrating when appointments fall through!! It gives us more time to find new investigators though, which I'm also grateful for. In all honesty, I'm just grateful for everything. :) I love the Thanksgiving season, and the reminder to count my blessings. I have so, so many blessings that Heavenly Father has given me. I wish I could be at Grandpa's with you to celebrate this week--that truly is one of my favorite times of the year, and I love being with you all. But I know that I'm meant to be here. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world, even though it's hard to be away from my family that I love so much. I have learned and continue to learn SO much here, about God, the gospel, how to live it, myself, and my Savior. I know that everything we do here is important, and it's amazing to see God's hand in the work that we do. So many things happen that I absolutely know couldn't happen by themselves, or just through our efforts--it has to be the Lord's hand. :) I hope that you are all able to count your blessings and recognize Heavenly Father's love in your lives this week, especially on Thanksgiving. We heard a wonderful talk on gratitude in Sacrament meeting yesterday, where we learned that gratitude opens our hearts and allows heaven to fill us. What a great concept. I know that it's true--gratitude helps us become more like the Savior as we recognize and desire more and more of His blessings, actions, and attributes.
We're almost out of time, but I love you very very much. I hope you have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!! Please tell Grandpa, Grandma, and Max hello for me, and give them all my love. :) I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Sister Wygant
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