Sister Cinci-Mattie: HEIPPY EASTERS!!‏

Greetings from Uh-High-Yuh!

Looking back at my week... its all a BLUR!! ha ha! SO many ups and downs. The ups were so precious. The heavy/discouraging/painful times make the Spiritual moments all the more powerful. There is opposition in all things- A diamond shines all the brighter on a dark surface!! :) The Lord really has been directing the work in Little Miami. These are my favorite golden nuggets of the week.

On Tuesday (happy birthday to Daddio!) we helped the RS Pres. clean out his father's rental home. (sound familiar to any of you?? love you GPA!) The man living there is a friend of her fathers-- he was hit with hard times and was homeless so he is living there temporarily. He is in pretty bad shape physically, and is not able to bend over to clean.... so we enjoyed cleaning the dog hair that was densely covering everything. Ya, i am quite sure I'm allergic to dogs now! ha ha! (love you jo-jo) but seriously, black hair was in and through everything. After we deep cleaned everything we were able to talk to this lovely man. And tactfully we directed the conversation to religion. Oh what emotions charged the air. It felt like angels were packed in the room like sardines. This man did not believe there could be a God. How could a God allow crazy man to massacre others, random buses starting on fire and killing the inhabitants etc. (that part was pretty depressing). He wanted proof. He was done with all this "faith" stuff. We knew the answers of course. Sister Murdoch, a lovely RS sister and I began to teach, to testify. I could discern his heart was pretty much on lockdown. so i stopped talking. I mentally drew myself back from the conversation. and i asked God. What does this man need to hear? what would you say to him if you were here instead of me? What would HF say to his child? The answer was simple. "Your Father in Heaven loves you." I expressed the prompting I received. The spirit was so strong. I would like to think he felt something because, i sure did. In the closing prayer I asked God to send the man the Proof he desired if it was His will. RS sister said she cried as she felt the spirit so powerfully during the prayer. Missionary work is not just for the investigators. The outpouring of the spirit in each lesson transforms, heals and protects all those participating. It has been such a tender mercy to see the spirit effect the members in the ward-- through increasing the members testimonies and willingness to serve others.

There were so many moments that reminded me that God was in charge. That we really have no power as missionaries without being worthy of the constant tutelage of the Spirit. Last night an appointment fell through. We were sitting on a bench seeking direction when i looked across the street and Spirit said GO there!! so we walked over and the house i thought was a house was just a random barn.... So i asked myself Why did I feel so impressed to come to this barn.... theres no one out here- its dark and it was a couple minutes until we needed to head in. We prayed again and followed our nose and saw a woman outside. We started talking with her and oh man! She is a caregiver of her brother who has brain cancer, her father with Parkinson's and her mother with alzeimers. She was SO overwhelmed. emotionally just DONE. We shared a message of Christ. Of hope. Of strength. The spirit was so strong. I don't know what we said but i KNOW we were supposed to be there that moment. with that daughter of god. and she felt something. It was beautiful.

I am so grateful for the privilege of testifying of Christ ERRYDAY! But the most amazing thing is everyone can be apart of this great work! Go out with the missionaries! Have investigators in your home for dinner! Reach out to new faces at church. It truly makes a difference. Without members there is no success. I love you my sweet family. Please pray for people to share the gospel with! and ill talk to you soon!!

Love,

Sister Watts