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30 June 2014

Miracles

Hello!
Things are going well here in LIB!
I'll just go a bit through the week:
Tuesday: We had district meeting! In the Logantown apartment. I'm not sure if I ever told you that we have our district meetings there... Anyway, the Berrett's joined us, and I received the package! :D I loved it! I loved all the photos. And the shirt. And the food. And all of it, really. I completely colored the wizard of oz thing! Did you know Dorothy is black? 'cause she totally is. FYI. But we stayed inside all day for that day because of some apartment work [screen doors were being attached to iron gates in Doe Community and Logantown apartments].... It gave me a great chance to absorb that package! Elder Kamara loves that ring and the garments! He says a big "THANKS!!!" :) Also, did you put the chip with all that music in there or not? I couldn't find it... I remember we talked about it, but I'm not sure if you put it in there or not. I read all the letters and everything! It was sweet. [out of seven packages sent, this is the first time any part of one has gone missing, not a bad track record--and it was only a 2GB microSD card with church music.]
Logantown Apartment. Tuesday's District Meeting, courtesy the Berrett's blog
Then on Wednesday we had lessons! We taught a few great ones. Two of them I want you to copy and paste from my letter to the president. [story about J. on Wednesday:] This week there were several miracles in our teaching. First great experience came from a new investigator. This new investigator's name is J. He came to church on Sunday the week previous, and we taught him this past week. He just came from Nigeria a few weeks ago. When he arrived in Liberia, the person who he knew here had switched off his phone, so J. was stranded. J. said a prayer and heard a voice saying, "I will send someone." Shortly after this prayer, J. was in a cab with Sister Maimen, wife to the 2nd counselor in Doe Community branch presidency. He explained to her his situation, and she said that she would help him; she knew a place he could stay. So he moved into a place close to the chapel. Later, as Sunday was approaching, he knew he had to go to church, but he didn't know which church. He asked his neighbor the name of the church close to him, referring to a Pentecostal church that is also close to his house. His neighbor told him, and he wrote it on a piece of paper. He then asked another neighbor the name of our church. They told him, and he wrote that name down too. That night he prayed asking which church he should go to. He had a dream in which he saw a candle near the name of our church, casting light upon it, while there was a candle next to the name of the other church, too. The second candle, however, did not cast any light upon that church's name. He woke up that morning, unsure of exactly what the dream meant. He prayed again, and he heard another voice explaining that he should go to the church that the light was cast upon. With this experience, he has nicknamed our church, "Light of God Ministries," and he recognized it to be true. We are working with him to truly understand the doctrine, and gain a greater testimony, but he strongly said yes to being baptized. He said he has a wife in Nigeria with kids, but we haven't found out if they are legally married yet.
And Thursday was good too! [M. story:] We also had a great experience when we taught a less-active named M. who is an endowed member, mother of a very active branch missionary. We sat with her and found out that she's been visiting other branches occasionally, occasionally not coming to church, and once in a while visiting her old Catholic church. As we sat with her, the Spirit was so strong, and we helped her recognize her own testimony. She knows the church is true, but she has negative feelings for [a branch leader] because of past events. She shared with us a story of an event that drove her to saying that she would never worship in Doe Community branch again until [the current leadership] was released. We explained to her that it's not the church of [the leaders], but the church of Jesus Christ, and His servants aren't perfect, but we need to sustain them. The best part of this lesson was that it wasn't us who taught her, but the Spirit was working so strongly inside her heart. She accepted the invitation to come to church on Sunday, and she did come. She came in near the end of Sacrament meeting, and her first words to us the missionaries (after sacrament meeting) were these, "I'm late." but with more behind those words than just being late to the meeting. It was an amazing experience.
Friday was good, too. We taught more peoples. We saw a couple less actives, one named K., the other named F. I mean, K. is the one we scheduled, but F. was walking by and Francis Essomba, our member, called her over and she was saying, "ah, how'd I fall into this..." We told her that we weren't forcing her to sit with us, but she stayed. We had a good lesson! It started off pretty bad because of the noises around, but it got good at the end. We drove it home... We were inviting them all to church, but F. wouldn't say she would come. We didn't understand why, so we dug deeper. She said it was personal, so we didn't dig deeper right there. We closed, and dismissed some people that were with us, and talked to her. She explained, and I won't tell you what it was, but she feels like she can't go back to the church... Really, it seemed like she didn't feel like God loves her anymore. It was such an interesting lesson, especially because it was such a heartfelt broken-ness... The spirit was so strong; I could feel God's love for her. She was crying (which you understand how big that is here). We are still trying to help her come back, and the Spirit was so strong in that lesson. I just came away from that lesson happy from the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 really is true. And I like it. [Gal 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.]
It was a good week. :) My companion and I are doing awesome, and there's only two more weeks in this transfer! Time's sailing by. Who woulda thought? I love all the support from home, really. Other random things to note... Hm... I eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every morning! They seem to make me feel the best throughout the day compared to anything else I've had on mission thus far. Even better than egg sandwiches. Pretty cool, though. I didn't really have much written as far as notes go... It was just a sweet week. I've been trying to improve a lot in everything, especially my patience with kids that are yelling whiteman and chinaman nonstop and grabbing my arm as I walk by. It's really helped as I've been praying for patience! I've been more friendly with everyone, and I've found myself being happier. I've had more energy to do all that, too! That part is good.
Things are going awesome here in Liberia. I love you all so much! :)
Love,
Elder Price


Other non-essential comments:
[Elder Curtis’ middle name is Raine! LeGrand Raine Curtis Jr. (Elder Curtis is a member for the Seventy and the Africa West Area President)]
 WHAT? Mind blown.

[Response to photos I shared with him from our family blog]

The cat... goodness... my family...

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