Referrals, referrals, referrals

Dearest Friends and Family,

This week we found two new awesome people to teach!! Both were actually referrals from other missionaries, and both are awesome. Roman lives with his uncle and has had a rough life. We were able to teach him the plan of salvation on his front porch. He said that he hoped God loved him, and that he could find peace, but he wasn't really sure. We assured him of God's love, and of the peace that he could surely find through the Book of Mormon. As we testify of God's love to the people we meet, I feel blessed to be able to feel a small portion of that love! I love the people of Walla Walla! I know that God loves Roman, just as he loves each of you.

We also met Ruby. She just graduated from High School and is looking for God. Her family is religious, and they were sitting with us as we were teaching Ruby. We asked their permission to teach Ruby (although technically she's an adult and can choose for herself) and they both were like (in broken english), "oh yeah, sure, if she wants!" I am so appreciative of those parents who are allowing their daughter to exercise her agency! 

We were looking for another person this week (another referral actually...I guess I should just call this"referral week") but when we knocked his mom answered. We began to explain that we were looking for her son, or nephew, or grandson, or step-son, or actually anyone who lived there who was between the ages of 18 and 30, someone the elders had just called "Spanish Man" in our records. The woman gave us a very blank look, and we quickly realized that she spoke approximately NO English. Sister Tateoka and I quickly scrambled together what high school Spanish we know and, with a little help from our English/Spanish dictionary, body language, and of course the Spirit, we were able to get the contact information for her son, Steven. I don't think that it was a coincidence that I had decided to study chapter 7 in Preach My Gospel that day (it's the chapter on Language Study, and I was studying and applying it to learning to speak by the spirit). I am so grateful that the Lord was able to multiply our meager language skills and help the woman understand enough to get us the information we needed! I am also grateful that the woman was kind enough to help us out, even though we spent probably ten minutes trying to figure out what verb meant "to look".

It was another good, busy, week here in Walla Walla! I was blessed with a very special experience this week. In my first transfer here, I knocked on the door of Natalie! She was taught by the Elders and baptized just a couple of months ago, you may remember me speaking of her before. Sister Tateoka and I were able to visit her this week to help her be involved in some activities the YSA is doing (she is young and single, she just has a little girl so she will go to the family ward). Sitting and talking with Natalie was an incredible experience. She was a different person than the one that I met only a few months ago. She glowed! The spirit was in her home, and in the experiences that she shared with us. The words she spoke testified of God's love, and of the ability that we each have to receive personal revelation. She was a new person, made new in Christ. I know that conversion to the Savior and His gospel is the most amazing miracle we can witness! I feel so blessed that I was able to speak with her again, and see the miracle of her heart being changed.

Love,
Sister Jensen