5 February 2018 Letter from Companion

Emmalynn has had a lot of BYU (registration, etc.) deadlines come up this week.  Here is her companion’s update on their week.  From Sister Monilla:

Hello Pace family and friends!

Sister Pace is doing very good. I think she's happy. I'm doing my best to keep her happy and stable. She's just figuring out her university application. But here are some of the details of our week:

1. We had trade offs with the Wollongong sisters. Sister Pace went to Wollongong with Sister Sianava. Sister Matau and I stayed in Dapto. We had heaps of fun and saw heaps of miracles! We met Toni who said that she's open to learning more about the Gospel.

We visited Matthew before he went to Melbourne. We followed up on his coffee and tea. He joked around and told us that he had coffee in his home and offered some to his friends. But he really didn't have any in his home anymore. I was relieved. We read the Book of Mormon with him and he understood it well. He closed our visit with a prayer. In his prayer he said, "Heavenly Father, please help not to drink coffee and tea?" I just saw how much the Spirit touched his heart. He now just willing to follow. Tender mercies!

2. We had a lesson with Pamella, a part member. She told us that she loved how the church is focusing on families. She saw how much difference the gospel has brought to her son who didn't want to do anything with religion before. She had so many questions when we taught her about the Restoration but she understood it nonetheless. She has been wanting to come to church but she has been sick. We're going to see her again this week and share a little bit more with her. She's one of the cutest people here!

3. We were able to teach Anthony, a potential investigator. He said that his mum met missionaries when he was younger. He also met missionaries a year ago. He's probably met missionaries 6 times in his life now. He used to have a Book of Mormon in his home. We taught the Restoration with him and he just accepted the Book of Mormon. He's still interested in learning more about the Gospel which is good!

4. We had a short and productive visit with Rebecca. We taught her the Word of Wisdom and she said that she really wants to quit smoking again. She's super awesome though! We likened her life with living and applying the gospel. She learned the colors/shades for painting and applied it by actually painting on a canvas. We told her that that's like the Gospel, we would know if it's true when we learn more about it and apply it. She's willing to do it! She wasn't able to come to church because she was sick.

5. Park and Embark days are always so miraculous! We just commuted the whole day and opened our mouths in the buses. Some of them weren't interested but some of them were. We will be following up on them this week. We had an appointment with one of them today!

6. We knocked on the door of one of the potentials that we have but as the woman opened the door, she said that those people didn't live there. We introduced ourselves instead. She said that we could come back another day. She asked us where we are from and I told her that I'm a Filipino. She said, "There are Filipinos in that red brick house!" We told her that we'd try to come and talk to them then.

We did! They weren't Filipinos. They were Persians. The daughter, Tara, stayed to talk to us. She said that she has heaps of Mormon friends. One of them was from Wollongong ward even. She even told us that she's open to learning more about our church but she's never actually told them. We shared our purpose with her as missionaries.

As we were talking, her neighbor came and talked to us. We invited him to come and talk to us. He did but Tara went inside of her home for a bit. He told us that he read the Book of Mormon already. He knows about Joseph Smith. We told him that we could share more with him and answer his questions at another time. He then gave us his address.

Tara came out with her boyfriend. She told us that her boyfriend is a Mormon. Her boyfriend told us, "Convert her." Tara said, "I told you, I'd be baptized if I have a testimony of it." We set a return appointment with them!

What a tender mercy! Sister Pace and I praying so hard to find the elect. We were led by the Spirit to be in that specific time and place.

We've been very busy but we love it! We love you all!

Alofa,

Sister Monilla and Sister Pace