Email No. 10

HOLY COW THIS WEEK WAS A WEEK OF MIRACLES!!!!!!!

I would LOVE to see the finished product of the table and everything!! Send me pictures!!! 

where to start? where to start??????? So I have decided to start writing down things I want to tell you so I won't forget like last week :)

So! I had my first zone conference!!!! It was amazing. It is so amazing to see all of the missionaries together. We got some training from Sister Stoker about the Word of Wisdom and how we, as missionaries, need to live it better so that we can have more energy, feel the Spirit more, etc. It was definitely inspired because a few weeks ago, Sister DellaSilva and I decided to go completely off sugar. So we asked our meal coordinator to tell all our meal appointments to not serve dessert. It was Sister DellaSilva's idea and after a few mumblings from me, I agreed. And I have been SO GRATEFUL for it. I am losing weight, so that is awesome. But I digress. Anyways, Zone Conference is just what I needed. I was starting to get discouraged again, but I felt all pumped up after it, and had some serious revelation on how we can improve our area. It was awesome!!!! I love receiving revelation :) 

So we do have a new district and I absolutely love it! The zone leaders area is in our district and that area got shot gunned (changed completely), so we have two brand new zone leaders! They are super diligent and it is super awesome. Then we have a new district leader, Elder Crockett, who serves in my branch. He is an incredible missionary. Then then one of the Skowhegan sisters is training a visa waiter for Australia who Sister DellaSilva actually went to high school with so that is cool! Anyways, change is good and I love it so that is sweet. Although, I am really sad that Sister DellaSilva is going home soon (April 21).  I almost cried when she had her exit interview :( 

Ha-ha I don't know if I ever told you or not, but the accent up here is HILARIOUS. So instead of Sister it is Sistah. And instead of DellaSilva it is DellaSilver. So a common phrase up heah  is "pahk yer cah in the doah-yahd." It is hilarious.

Also another funny thing is EVERYBODY thinks that we are Jehovah's witnesses. ALL THE TIME. They say, "Oh! You dropped by last week!" We used to get confused because we are the only missionaries here, but then we picked up that they mean the Jehovah's Witnesses so we started joking around that we will wear hats or something that say "Not JW's". Just kidding :) 

So one cool story from this week was that we were tracting and we ran into this woman named Heidi. When she opened the door, she looked so incredibly familiar. She said that then wasn't a good time, but she was really super insistent that we come back again. When we left the door, Sister DellaSilva said that she too thought she looked super familiar. It was way way cool. 

SO we taught Roger for the first time this week!!!!!!! Holy cow that was an amazing lesson. We knew that his wife had passed away last August so we felt super prompted to share the Plan of Salvation. When we bore testimony of the Atonement and how he can see his wife again, he got all choked up. We invited him to church and he said he really wanted to, but he wouldn't be able to this Sunday because he would be picking up his son. He wanted to go together, him, his daughter and son, as a family. It was the sweetest thing. I cannot wait to teach him again on Tuesday!!!!!! 

We also visited a part member family. She is a member and he is not. Their granddaughter is the really super cute one who has the lisp and is just adorable. So when we pulled up they were playing in the snow and we look over at her and she is just sitting on top of this pile of snow, all bundled up eating snow. It was so cute. So she and her older brother wanted to show us something, so we stood while they did the most adorable thing ever. She would make this tiny little snowman and then her older brother would run over it on the sled. Holy cow it was the cutest thing ever!!!!!!!

Ha-ha another funny thing that happened while we were coming down here.... So in New England there are a TON of churches. They are stinking EVERYWHERE. So one of the sign read, "Whoever is praying for snow, please stop." HAHAHAHHAH I was dying laughing. Holy smokes I love New Englanders. 

Okay I know this email is totally scatter brained. Sorry. But another miracle that happened this week!!!! We finally got to visit some less actives that we have not been able to see for over a month and a half. When we got in, she bore testimony that she knew that the Restoration was true and that she really wanted to come to church, but they couldn't find a ride. So the next morning, we get a call from her and she was so excited because that morning she woke up to a text from someone offering a ride to take her and her family to church!!! She was like, "I was praying for that last night!!!!" I was awesome. She ended up not coming to church because of medical issues, but it was still cool. 

As far as Jackie's baptism.......... IT WAS AWESOME!!!! It was an amazing experience. Her sister, whom we had stopped by earlier who was not interested, came to the baptism and we could tell that she definitely felt the Spirit. Jackie was so stinking cute and happy and just beaming with the Spirit. I will send pictures :) 

The Previous Branch President Performed Jackie's Baptism

Jackie & Her Sister

Jackie & Her Husband

We had one really amazing miracle yesterday. After the baptism, we realized we hadn't eaten since that morning and by then it was about 5. So we decided to make the 30 minute trek home. We went down a road we normally wouldn't in order to visit a less-active who the branch president wanted us to stop by. They weren't home so we decided to head home to eat. But when we got at a fork in the road to lead home, we decided that we weren't really that hungry, so we turned the other way. We felt inspired to stop by a dairy farm and invite them to learn. But when we got to the door, no one answered. I thought to myself, "I will do whatever the Lord asks, but I wonder why he has us stop by homes when no one is home?". We tracted a few more houses and we both felt like we were getting frost bite, Sister DellaSilva on her ears (again) and me on my toes (pretty sure I got it). So we pulled off to the side to warm up. While we were sitting there, trying not to get frost bite, we saw a little Hispanic man ride by on a bicycle and pull into a driveway. A little while later we saw another Hispanic man ride by and pull into the same driveway. They were both wearing farm boots, so they totally were coming from the farm we stopped by!! So we kept on tracting, but felt inspired to stop by. A little side story here.  Elder Crockett is a Spanish- speaking missionary and within the past week, they have found over 20 Hispanics who want to learn. It is absolutely crazy. So we thought we would refer the Hispanics we saw to them. So we pulled up to their home and we saw all their bikes. We prayed for the gift of tongues and then went and knocked on the door. A young man opened named Juan. We explained we were missionaries and they invited us in. We asked if there was a woman, they said no, so we then said we knew some elders that spoke Spanish what could drop by. He said he would like that. So we called the elders and they ended up dropping by. They will begin teaching them. When we were asking Elder Crockett about the experience, he said that Juan spoke almost no English, so we have absolutely NO IDEA how he understood us and how we understood him, EXCEPT that the Lord was totally involve. It was way cool. 

Some scriptures I wanted to share!!

Mormon 9:

 7 And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues;
 8 Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them.
 9 For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing?

3 Nephi 18
 32 Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them.

I love you all!!!!! Keep the faith and go forward with unwearied diligence!!!

Love,
Sistah Sewell