There can be Miracles... If you believe and are named Marie Jo
I know....I wrote a lot.
Craziest Miracle of my companion's mission so maybe it's worth it if you read it all.
A woman from a small island in the Tuamotu's called Tatakotu needed
a medical check up in Tahiti (the big island) and decided to stay with
her brother-in-law. He and his family are recent converts in our ward.
She hears about how they sometimes (because they are inactive) attend
church, and she is curious and wants to go. So Sunday
comes and they all go to church. Marie Jo decides to approach us at
church, introduces herself by saying "Hi, I am Marie Jo. I am Catholic.
But we believe in the same God, right?" and then she just walked back
to her pew. That night at the Missionary concert, she asked to come
with the family again and she took a picture with us at the end. The
next night we get a call from the family who asks if we can have dinner
over there and maybe answer some of her questions about the church.
Haha gladly!! So we get over there and start teaching the Plan of
Salvation. In the middle of the lesson she asks about her 4 year old
daughter who died in March (she is 41). And of course we have the best
answer for that with the Gospel of Christ. After I got to share a
couple scriptures in Moroni 8, she looks up and says "so my daughter
doesn't need to be baptized just adults like me!" . We were so excited
to hear that and promised to come back the next day for another lesson.
Tuesday night we started the lesson, and she told us she had
been studying Moroni 8 and asked if we would accept her desire to be
baptized!! Ah, we both just kind of sat there and then we were like,
well do you smoke, drink, or are living with anyone??? She said she
could stop smoking if she wanted to. She doesn't drink, and that she is
not living with anyone because the scriptures now are her boyfriend.
LOL. So we said OF course!!!!!! We agreed to try and teach her all the
lessons this week and then she would return the next Thursday for her
island. Sadly her island doesn't have any members of the church on it,
let alone missionaries. So she would have to return another time to get
baptized. We headed back to the house so excited to continue lessons
with her. On Friday we had a district meeting and talked about our
situation with this brand new ami, Marie Jo. Elder Claflin read Acts 8:36-40 and said, why don't you try to get her baptized BEFORE she goes
back home. We thought we would give it our best try. So at the lesson
with her that night she tells us she decided to stay home all day and
study the scriptures and the brochures we gave her. And she had given
up smoking. Then we show her Acts 8 and say, "so you have sufficient
faith in Jesus Christ, why not get baptized next week?" and then just
held our breath!! She thought about it and the family who was with us
said it wasn't possible for them the next week and they couldn't get her
the gift of the Holy Ghost in time. But then she looks up and asks,
"can we do my baptism tomorrow?" Haha, wait. WHAT. After talking about
the logistics, we decided it was possible!!!
So Saturday, the next morning we come over at 7 am
and teach the rest of the lessons until 12. Then we got to a
Faatamaaraa with the zone. Afterwards we planned to have her baptismal
interview, but while we were eating a crazy man decided to deflate the
tires on our car, the Ward Missionary's car, and the other missionaries'
car. So we couldn't leave. We decided to figure out a way to get Marie
Jo to us and do the interview in the parking lot.
The good news is when you have the desire to God's will, he will provide a way. So that's another loss for Satan.
Before the interview she asked for a blessing. The Elders with us,
one is a native Tahitian and the other is Claflin from Wyoming who has
been out 8 months. She looked straight at the white Elder and says I
want a blessing from you in Tahitian. I gained such a powerful
testimony during that blessing of Christ's love for this woman. A Marie
Jo who lives on an obscure island in the middle of French Polynesian.
As well as a confirmation of why we are here serving missions. God
needs a conductor of his spirit. Us, missionaries are like the cable.
If we work to be obedient and worthy, we allow God's spirit to be
better conducted into the lives of the people we are serving. This
Elder showed his willingness and faith to give a Tahitian blessing to a
woman he barely knew, in a language we all hardly know, and he brought
the power of the spirit and priesthood there.
The interview went well too ;)
Afterwards
we found someone to pump up our car tires and headed straight to the
baptism. Got to give the talk about baptism, and hopefully didn't butcher
too much of my Tahitian haha. She got baptized and bore a powerful
testimony after.
So there is Marie Jo's story. Met her Sunday. Taught her the first lesson Monday. Baptized on Saturday.
The more I become a part of the process of conversion on a mission.
The more I realize how little I actually do. And how much it really is
just between God and the person. He prepares them, puts them in
situations to hear our message, and then it is the person's decision to
believe and to act. We missionaries are just there to love, teach, and
support. I saw the Lord's hand more clearly through this woman's life.
She was prepared years ago, not having a boyfriend, having her heart
softened by her daughter's passing, her coming to Tahiti and being free
the whole while she was here.
Hopefully that's not all either. We are trying to take her to the temple tomorrow morning.
Ether 12: 14 I love this gospel and am ready for a more regular week. We
still only get 2 Thirds of our lessons to actually show up for the
lesson. And my companion is beautiful so we get a lot of big 40 year
old men who ask for lessons then just hit on her the whole time. But
the good news is the fridge and washing machine work now!! Sr. Andrus
headed out to another house, but the rest of us stayed for this
transfer.
Alright, until next week!!!!
All my love,
Sr. Spencer
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