From July 13, 2016 to January 12, 2018 and the miracles in between

Hey Y'all, 

The last 18 months have sure been something else. I have learned a lot and grown a lot and changed a lot. I have had the great privilege of serving in 5 different areas, with 9 of the best companions the Lord could have given me, and seen several of my friends enter the waters of baptism and the kingdom of Heaven. Michigan holds countless memories, tears, awkward moments, and love. My mission has honestly been one of the hardest times of my life but I know that the Lord sent me here to Michigan because I was able to bless the people and they have been able to bless me. 

As I left my parents and everything I was comfortable with behind I have been able to learn how to cling to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They have been able to help me become more comfortable with being a awkward missionary. I have been able to learn exactly how our Saviors Atonement can help me everyday. I have come to know more about His Mission and Ministry as I have studied the Book of Mormon. He wants us all to come unto Him and His arms are always unfailingly open to welcome us when we find our way back. I have had the opportunity to not only see this in my life but also in the lives of so many people who I love. 

I am grateful for the Book of Mormon. I know without a doubt that that book is the word of God. Joseph Smith was and still is a prophet. He did indeed see what he said he did. That is a fact. As I have read the Book of Mormon I have been able to feel Gods love for me and for those around me. The Book of Mormon has pulled me out of some of the deepest ruts and darkest moments in my life. I have been able to see how reading it softens hearts. Harold our investigator shared with us the very first time he held it in his hands that he could feel the power in that book, I testify to you all that that is true. 

Missions are the best! 

Love you all!! See you soon! 

Xoxo Sister Witt

something about miracles

Hey Y'all, 

This week was pretty good. We got to bell ring for salvation's army and it was so much fun. Normally I am pretty shy about singing in front of people but my companion has an amazing voice. So we sang carols while we were bell ringing. It was so much fun and so many people thanked us and told us that our singing made them smile or made their day. It also helped give us a boost of confidence to talk with everyone. 

We do other service at this catholic church in downtown Ypsi. They buy food to hand out to people that need it and they take donations. Well this week someone donated like 15 big boxes of girl scout cookies. So we got to take home a couple of boxes. It was another good boost. 

We also received some service this week as our car battery has been dying a lot because the tiwi is staying on all the time rather than just when we are driving. We had some of the nicest people help us jump our car and come to our rescue. Don't worry we now just unplug the tiwi when we are not driving so its no longer a problem. 

And Last but not least. This week as I finished the Book of Mormon Moroni 10:29-30  made me really happy. I love that the Lord has made it so easy for us this Christmas season to lay hold on every good gift as we serve others and are served by others. #LightTheWorld is an amazing way to give service this season! Let me know of the miracles y'all witness as you do this! 

Xoxo Sister Witt

Cookie Isle Miracles

Hey Y'all, 

I have been moved to Ypsilanti, which is pretty far from every other area I have had on my mission but it is so amazing! The area was opened up a transfer ago so even though Sister Doxey has been here for a transfer we are still figuring everything out together. She has been out for 9 months and is from Roy, Utah. She has an amazing love for the Book of Mormon and is so so so good at talking with everyone. One of our first days together last week we went store contacting because it was dark and rainy. She walked straight to the cookie isle and planted herself in between the Oreos and the chocolate chip cookies. For a second she just stood there and I was pretty confused. There was no one in the cookie isle and we had come there to talk with people. Well sure enough people started to flock to the cookies one by one. Funny story EVERYONE IN THE COOKIE ISLE IS HAPPY! How could you not be when you are surrounded by cookies? We talked to like 6 people in that isle and 4 of them were willing to meet and gave us their information. It was amazing, and yes we did end up buying some cookies...

Another miracle, so this week it has been super rainy here in MI. But during weekly planning last week we decided we wanted to blow it up and start walking through apartment complexes. We had never done that before but the elders in our ward have seen a lot of success doing it so we thought if they could we could too. Well Saturday was they day we really stuck to our plan and were going to be out weather it was raining or not. We drove to the Providence apartments and said a prayer. As we walked around it was desolate... no one was out... (only crazy people would be walking around outside in the middle of a downpour.) Marcus walked out to take his trash out and we talked to him about the Book of Mormon. After hearing our testimonies about it he said he would like to learn more and set up an appointment for Sunday! THAT NEVER HAPPENS! Then we kept walking though and talked to this young woman named Samantha. She was interested too and asked if we could meet that day! When we met with her she accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and prayed to know if it was true. She said she wants to do some more reading before she sets up another time but still, she said yes! 

I hope you are all able to see miracles this week espicaly with Thanksgiving coming up! We have so much to be thankful for! 

Love Sister Witt

Miracles

Hey Y'all, 

Sorry I have been the worst at writing group emails. The work has been pretty slow here in Rochester East and I haven't really known what to email about. Thank you for all the love you sent to Sister Korimi. She got a package from her parents this week and was so so so happy about it. She is doing better! This week we saw some pretty cool miracles! 

Miracle #1 

On Wednesday we stayed in our apartment all day and on Thursday I had finally had enough staring at the walls so we went out kinda late in the afternoon. We went through the drive through at Tim Horton's to get some hot chocolate before going to contact and I was able to talk to the first person, Liz! She works there and was so so nice! She gave us her number and everything. We continued to talk with everyone we saw and by the end of the night, even though we didn't have very much time to find and I was loosing my voice so it was hard to bare testimony, we had talked to 10 people!!!!!

Miracle #2

Our mission has been working on teaching the members the missionary lessons and asking for referrals. We haven't personally seen any success come from this until this week. The Elders taught our EQP and his family the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ a couple weeks ago and they said that one of their neighbors might be interested, well they live on our side of the ward and we have been trying to help them invite their friend to learn more. At the ward Trunk or Treat we were able to talk to him and his wife and they said that they would invite their neighbor Joanne over for a treat and a message on Sunday night. Last night we went over and were able to teach Joanne the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The spirit was so strong in their house, when we shared the first vision and our testimonies she had tears in her eyes and when we invited her to learn more she accepted. 

Miracle #3

We went to dinner at our Relief Society presidents house this week and we were really nervous, because she has been kinda hard to work with. But dinner went so well and we had totally misjudged her. When we asked her family who they knew who could use the gospel they had some neighbors in mind. They had tried to share the gospel with them a couple of different times but said that it might be best coming from us. We went to talk to their friends after dinner but they weren't home. Don't worry we will try again. 

Miracle #4

I was reading the sctiptures this week and came across a verse that I think was just added into the Book of Alma, because in all my years I swear I have never read it. 

Alma 37:44 For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.

This was such an answer to many many many prayers. Sometimes I think that there has to be some great thing that we do like cut off the arms of all the bad guys, or be the only one left to bury the plates, or go and convert all the Lamenites or build a ship, in order to make it to our 'promise land'. But right here Alma tells Helaman that all you have to do is 'give heed to the word of Christ.' I love how the last time our Prophet spoke to us this was his council! Read the Book of Mormon every day. I know that as we do that we will become the people that God wants us to be and that we will be on the right path back to Him!

I love you all! 

Love Sister Witt

Hey Y'all

Hey Y'all, 

There isn't much to report on for this week, our miracle Andrea, from last week has decided to stop meeting with us because she has some health challenges she would like to focus on at the moment. We are constantly talking to everyone, praying and working hard to find someone to teach. If any of you have friends that live in Rochester it would be awful nice if you sent them is as a referral. We have been praying for those too. Sister Korimi and I are working on blowing it up and changing things all the time. We want to be the best missionaries the Lord has to offer. Sometimes it gets pretty discouraging, especially for Sister Korimi. She is a fresh missionary and hasn't had the opportunity to witness a baptism on her mission. She is from India and misses her home and family dearly. When we find someone to teach she gets filled with so much joy but over the last couple of weeks it has been kinda hard for her. That is why I am writing you an email this week even though nothing is currently happening or no huge miracles happened. Sister Korimi needs some love in her life, for us as missionaries love comes in the form of letters. I don't know what callings y'all hold, but I know some of you are bound to work in primary or at least have ties to it. It would mean so much to me if she could get some letters. Ask anyone you know who has 5 min of spare time to write her a little note. I will tell her story below so you know more about her but I'm sure this will lift our spirits and help us see more miracles in Rochester East. 

So let me tell you a little bit about my miracle of a companion Sister Manusha Korimi. She is from Hyderabad, India. She is a convert to the church and in her words is 'only 5 years old in the gospel'. When she does something she does it with her whole heart. In 2006 her cousins were friends with a less active member in India who eventually introduced them to the church. They gave up Hinduism and were baptized. She went over for a sleep over at their house shortly after and they taught her the Plan of Salvation. She says she felt so much peace in knowing that she could be with her family 'even after the death'. She went home and told her mom. Eventually her mom and her aunt talked and her mom boxed up all the Hindu Gods in their house in threw them out. Due to some family differences they became disconnected for the next 6 years. But in 2012 their family was reunited with their cousins and they decided to meet with the missionaries. Sister Korimi, her mom and her only brother Sunny, were all ready and willing to be baptized. But her dad was not. They decided to wait and keep meeting with the missionaries until her dad was ready. One day while the missionaries were teaching their family the word of wisdom, her dad suddenly stopped the missionaries. He told them that his son made him promise to not drink, even at parties years ago, and because the missionaries were asking him to do the same thing he was willing to get baptized. He said 'Okay, we will be baptized this Sunday.' The rest of them were completely shocked and joyful at the decision her dad had made. They did indeed get baptized that Sunday. Then Sister Korimi wanted to serve a mission. Her dad said no, so she enrolled in BYU instead to pursue her masters in electrical and computer engineering. There she took missionary deferment and was called to the MDM. She hasn;t seen her family or her home country in over a year. But her missionary service is blessing them so much! Her dad is growing in faith and her mom is staying steadfast. 

Love Sister Witt

664 n main #204 

Rochester MI 48307 

God is so good

Hey Y'all, 

We got transfer calls this week and we are both staying! I am so happy because we finally started to see some miracles over here in Rochester East.

The miracle of this week is Andrea. The LO elders had a baptism on Saturday and we really wanted to go. Well actually we wanted to go to the one of Ashley Putnam in Flint because I taught her but that was a vain desire because it was all about me wanting to get to the baptism. The moment we changed our thinking from I want to get to a baptism to who could benefit from seeing a baptism the miracles started happening. We didn't have anyone coming on Saturday morning and felt prompted to go to a certain neighborhood and walk around. Which we never do! We were praying in our hearts that people would be out, and they were we were able to talk to a lot of people in a short amount of time but still no one wanted to come to the baptism. Well at about 12 we drove over to the church and decided to park there and walk around. We were walking on the trail across from the church and talked to 2 more people. both not interested. Now its about 12:45 and we are almost ready to give up. I thought about calling Andrea and inviting her even though when we invited her to the one in Flint she said no. But this one was a lot closer so maybe she would say yes. Well she didn't answer so we walked back to the car feeling upset. Literally right as I put the car in reverse to back out and go home, Andrea calls. I put the car in park so quick and answered. She sounded so excited to go to the baptism but it was already 1:05 so she was going to be late but we said that didn't matter. Anyway she walked in right as we were going into the room with the font to watch Shane be baptized. She loved it and said that she felt peaceful there. We watched the restoration as he was getting ready and weren't able to finish it because he was too fast. Well we dropped her off a copy for her birthday yesterday and she was so excited about it. We were able to give her a church tour after the baptism and she is excited to do her family history on today. This showed me that God is so so so good! He is willing to help us the moment we begin to turn outward and focus on others. I love the gospel so much! 

Love sister Witt

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