FOUR is a FIESTA!!

Dear Family,

We received a wonderful surprise this week! We had a lunch appointment and lesson with a couple of our investigators on Tuesday, but during lunch our phone kept beeping. I reached down to silence it and saw that we had two missed calls from President Pitt and multiple text messages from President Pitt, Sister Pitt, and our District Leader. It is always a little bit nerve wracking when the Mission President calls you in the middle of a transfer. With racing hearts Sister Williams, Sister Snow and I finished lunch and the lesson and bolted to the car where we called President back. He was very relieved to finally talk with us and asked if he and Sister Pitt could meet us at our apartment in half an hour - they had a FOURTH companion for us! Whoah, that came out of nowhere! We bustled to a few places to resolve some former commitments and then scurried home to meet President. 

We were excited and surprised. When President and Sister Pitt arrived they had another Sister Williams with them! This Sister Williams was in the MTC with me, and it was wonderful to see her again! So we are now a 

quad-panionship!

It is a unique situation: Sister Williams, Sister Williams, Sister Snow and I are one companionship (meaning we work in one area and report one set of numbers, have one car and one phone) but it is so much fun! We rearranged our apartment again to accommodate our second Sister Williams, and we have spent every moment smiling and laughing since then! All four of us rarely teach together (although we have a few investigators who love being taught by all of us) and we frequently split into pairs to accomplish double the work. It has been incredible for the area! We are not sure how permanent this will be, but it sure is effective and fun! Three is a party,... but four is a fiesta! 

We had yet another incredible miracle this week! B______ expressed a very real concern to us as she explained that she felt as though she was abandoning her friends at the church she has been attending for a couple years. She loves coming to the LDS church and she knows that the Book of Mormon is true, but she has been facing social challenges from those in the other congregation she has attended in the past. This is a very difficult decision for a twelve-year-old to make, especially because her family does not support her decision to attend the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She has permission to be baptized, but she literally does not have support from anyone in her family. However, being B________, she knew exactly what she needed to do: pray. On Tuesday she told that she needed to pray about which church she needs to attend (although she promised us that no matter what her decision was she would always read the Book of Mormon!), and she would tell us what her answer was on Thursday, our next appointment with her. We left with hearts full of faith that her prayer would be answered.

We taught B_______ in a member's home on Thursday evening and planned to watch the 20 minute Restoration video, hoping that she would feel a connection with Joseph Smith as she watched it. We asked her what answer she had received from Heavenly Father, and her response caused our jaws to drop to the floor. She responded, "I am going to the Mormon church!" With a brilliant smile, she proceeded to tell us how her answer had come. 

She had knelt in prayer, seeking an answer from her Heavenly Father concerning which church she needed to attend. That night when she fell asleep she had a simple yet profound dream. In her dream she saw two churches: the church she has attended previously, and the LDS church. Standing next to the first church was a dark figure, almost undecipherable, which encompassed the church in a dark, misty fog. Next to the LDS church was a radiating, white, equally undecipherable figure. The light figure seemed to be motioning toward the LDS church building. Brittany awoke excitedly, immediately recognizing her answer from Heavenly Father.

B_____ knows that the church is true, and she is prevailing above the swamps of opposition and discouragement from those around her. She comes to church and young womens' activities faithfully every week, and she has even started Personal Progress with enthusiasm. I am thankful for her example and for her valiant faith in Jesus Christ. Her baptism is this Saturday; she is ecstatic! 

B_____  illustrates the powerful principle that prayers ARE answered. "Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened" (3 Nephi 14:7-8). The Lord clearly invites all of us to simply ask, and the promises are profound. I know that as we ask with a sincere heart and with faith, we will receive. I know that because it is a promise from the Lord, and the Lord always keeps His promises.  

I love you!

~Sister Shumway

PS.  It has been 2 weeks and B______ was baptized!