More Michigan Miracles

Hey Y'all

This week we had some amazing opportunities to hear form a general authorities! Elder Renlund of the 12 apostles and his wife, Elder Bennett, Elder Dunnigan of the 70's and their wives came to visit our mission. We had an inspired meeting on Saturday morning. Elder Renlund talked about how missionary work and success is all about our agency and growing where we are to become what we want to become. He drew a graph with 4 sections. One side was our attitude and the other was our effort. He labeled each square: 1 -Attitude +Effort, 2 +Attitude +Effort, 3-Attitude -Effort, 4 +Attitude -Effort. He talked about how in order to move to the box we all want to be in, +Attitude +Effort, we have to know which we are starting in and then use our agency to change. I thought this was a wonderful example for everyone, not just missionaries. I will include a picture just in case I didn't explain it very well. 

Sister Korimi and I have been talking about blowing it up a lot lately, and everything that could mean. We used to think that it was just talking about where we go but we realized after the meeting on Saturday we discovered that it also covers how we share our testimonies. We discovered that we were becoming rather wrote in our testimonies and that the spirit could be there much stronger if we meeted our testimonies to every person. We even practiced doing and spt about the word of wisdom. After that we went out and tried it on a few people we felt prompted to! Yes it was so awkward the first time. We evaluated and revised, but it was amazing to see the courage my companion has in sharing the gospel and blowing it up. Sunday night we were walking through the park and there was this Muslim family playing with the ducks. I typically walk right past people of other faiths because I don't feel like they will be intrested. But S.Korimi is so much braver that I. She walked right up to them and bore a powerful testimony about families. They said they had some time to talk right then. As we sat and talked with them, really trying to listen to what they were saying, the Book of Mormon kept popping into my mind. I shared my testimony of that and how it plainly testifies of Christ. I offered them a copy and they asked if we had one in their language. We didn't have one on us but promised that we could get them one and showed them how to download the app so they could be looking at it right away. We gave them our card and Ali (the father) asked if they would 'stick out' if they came to church. It was a miracle for sure!! We told them 'of course not' and that everyone is welcome. I hope they come to church! 

Love sister Witt

I ran out of time but will talk more about our meetings next week! Stay tuned! 

Adhbuthalu- Another Word for Miracles

Hey Y'all

This is Sister Witt and Sister Korimi coming at you from Rochester East! What can I tell you about sister Korimi, she is from India and when she was 19 her family converted to the church! She knows 3 languages and has taught me a couple phrases in Telugu! She has been on her mission for 3 months and is has so much faith! I am so beyond excited to learn all I can from her. 

 We have seen so many miracles this week! Also we had some really hard trials. One of our first days together this young man named Cameron ran up to us on the trail and asked if we could meet later that week. He said he had been out to UT and met missionaries out there but had never seen any of us where he is from. He seemed really excited and we set up a time to meet on Friday. When we met with him on Friday something didn't feel right and about halfway through sharing the Restoration of the Gospel with him he started to raise so many objections. He was pulling out verse after verse of the bible to try and disprove the Book of Mormon. I was so upset. He had just approached us to bash. Well eventually we finished out 'lesson'. I was so upset, the thoughts in my head were 'How unChristlike is that? This guy literally sought us out to fight with us and pretend like he is telling us the truth. How grateful I am to be in a religion that doesn't do anything like that!' S.Korimi was wonderful during the lesson! She had so many scriptures memorized to show him why we believe how we do. But just like Jobe from last week Cameron has his agency, but it still boils my better that he sought us our just to bash us, he went to UT to 'teach people why the mormons are wrong' what a punk.

Here are some even bigger miracles! We also got 3 media referrals this week! That is a HUGE MIRACLE! I have never received a media referral my whole mission! We are currently teaching one of the referrals, Denise, and we are still trying to get in contact with the other 2! 

I have started the Book of Mormon again and I just want to let you all know how true it really is! I love that book so much and the converting power it has in our hearts and in our lives! I have felt the peace and comfort it brings as I read it! There is nothing quite like the spirit or energy that enters into my life after I read even just a verse of Scripture! I know the Book of Mormon is true! I know y'all know it is true! Thank you all for being such great examples to me! have a blessed week! But more importantly help someone else have a blessed week! 

Love Sister Witt

664 n Main #204

Rochester MI, 48307

These are old pictures from when President Uchtdorf came. We just got them! 

Miracles none the less

Hey Y'all, 

I cannot believe it is already August! Time flies so fast out here when you are having fun. S.Reheis and I are doing well in Rochester. This place is so different from Flint. Its probs the wealthiest area in our mission, or close to it. I hope you have had a good week and summer! Not much is happening here but boy was this week kinda crazy. Including the miracle below, we also went to Detroit to so the service project we did last year again. Life Remodeled. They pick a neighbor hood or neighborhoods in the ghetto of Detroit and go in to clean up the place! It is actually so cool. We were there on Thursday and got to clean up a number of abandoned houses. Our whole mission did it, each zone of different days and so there were tons of missionaries there. It is an awesome way to get the churches name out there! 

Okay so our miracle this week is kinda a long sad story. His name is Jobe, we found him on Tuesday approx. 5 days after he moved into town. I have been praying to find the elect and that they will specifically have some kind of animal with them. (Because Sister Reheis loves animals so we stop every one we see) Well Jobe had a ferret which was new, so we went over to talk to him. He has had a really hard life, both of his parents died 4 years ago in a house fire along with his little brother, and he moved to the US after that. He told us about how he was atheist but how he has seen so many signs and good things that point him to believe that there is a God, despite his knowledge otherwise. We talked with him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and bore testimony about the Book of Mormon. We promised him that if he read it he would be able to know God and Christ more. He took a copy and we set up another appointment for Saturday. When we met up with him on Sat he had done some good and bad research about the church and had 101 questions about Kolob and planets and all these other obscure things. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and used lots of Book of Mormon references to teach. (we backed those up with our personal testimonies again) We invited him to church and he said he would think about it. Well guess what?!?! He came to church! 45 min early! He had a really good time at church and even bore his testimony in Sacrament meeting. The bore his testimony on how meeting us was a miracle. When we called him Sunday evening he opened up to us about a lot of other scary stuff that happened in his past and how he didn't understand why God, if He really loved him, would allow those kind of things to happen. We scheduled an appointment for Monday and told him we would study it out more from his perspective and answer him then. Well we went contacting in the park after that and at one point sat down on a bench. Jobes question was ringing in my mind the whole time we were out, as I sat on the bench the words in JSH rang in my head. "12 Never did any passage of scripture [or question from investigator] come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.

13 At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to “ask of God,” concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture."

I thought of the first vision and literally could not hold myself back from reciting it quietly to myself. I realized that no matter the amount of answers or words or scriptures I threw at Jobe, it would be his choice. He needed to pray for himself. That's what Joseph did, that's what I did, that's what we ask everyone to do. We talked about that as a companionship and decided that is what we were going to focus on in our meeting with him today. Well late last night he texted a lot of mean things and dropped us. But he is still my miracle of the week because he helped me strengthen my faith in a loving Heavenly Father. 

I hope you all have wonderful weeks! 

Love Sister Witt