KNOXVILLE HERMANA: October 21, 2013 --This May Be The Path I Need to Take

Hey familia!

SO this week had it's ups and downs, but was mostly great. One cool thing happened at the beginning. After having dinner with a couple in the ward who love us a lot and feed us frequently, we decided to practice The Restoration lesson with them. Hermana Button and I did it together. She began, then I picked up when it goes into the Joseph Smith story. For some reason it really felt like my first time ever telling it, and as I began saying, "I saw a pillar of light", I was overcome by the Spirit and started smiling so big, (because when I feel the spirit it always makes me unusually happy) and as I finished the story, it was so strong!, even after we left.

That experience stuck with me and I realized that people have always told me that the story of the Restoration can bring the Spirit faster than anything else, and I knew I wanted to do this same thing in our lesson with Robert the next day. So we went into Robert and I was able to tell the Joseph Smith story, and that same Spirit came with great force to the lesson. After, we had him read the last paragraph of the Introduction to the Book of Mormon, where it tells him to ask God if these things are true, and we asked him what he thought of it, and he said, "I think, this is God tellin' me, that this may be the path I need to take." That was a great spirit-filled lesson, and I am glad I got to experience that power that the story of the Restoration truly has!

The sad part of this week is that Hermana Button has been sick, so she's been staying with members and Sister Malloy and I have been going out a lot. This was our bike week, (by the way the bike is working great, thanks!) and we did a lot of that, especially in a particular neighborhood that is mucho Hispanico. Its really fun biking on these hilly roads with all the beautiful fall leaves around us! Saturday I taught my first full lesson in Spanish to Maria, and it went pretty well! We also met a Hispanic guy named Crispan, who has had an El Libro De Mormon and has been reading and studying it for 15 years. He was super nice but had TONS of questions that we could barely understand in Spanish, and were basically all deep doctrine. We'll see if he can be a progressing investigator or not, but it was pretty crazy to just tract into a Spanish guy who's already read the whole Book of Mormon.

Then on Sunday, Haley and Kaley, the 11yr old twins came to church, and they are getting much more excited about being members of this church! Their mom and everyone thinks they're a lot closer to baptism and so I think they just need to solidify their understanding in a few areas and they'll be ready. The only challenge is their mom works Sundays, and that's been super hard to get them rides to church and everything, but hopefully their desire to keep going is still there.

The last thing I wanted to tell you about was the meeting yesterday. Elder Laurence E. Corbridge came. He is kind of famous among missionaries for his talk, "The Fourth Missionary," about being the best kind of missionary. He is amazing on the subject of helping people understand. One of the main things I learned is that people MUST UNDERSTAND the message of the gospel--that is what leads to conversion. This can be applied both to others and to ourselves, and so I invite you all to ask yourself WHY is the doctrine of Christ important to you! Understanding leads to conversion, and Action. Another thing I learned is that we all need to go outside ourselves, to be SELFLESS. He said, "Selflessness is singular to your self-interest." And so instead of improving myself, all I need to do is focus on improving the lives of others and I will naturally improve.

The Zone conference was the most fun thing -- I got to see so many friends and meet new friends, see President Irion and others that I love. And Elder and Sister Corbridge are just awesome!! 'Twas a blast!

I know that this gospel is true and that the only way back to Heavenly Father is through Faith, and Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. LOVE YOU ALL!!

Con Carino,

Hermana Collier

I am not even kidding: here in the South they have Drive Thru Prayer!

You can't see it well here, but this guy was holding up a sign for it!