August 21, 2012

I went on splits and went with Sister Petricek to an eye appointment. We traveled 40 min away to Burlington, Illinois. While she was in with the doctor (since there was no room for me) I sat in the waiting room. There were three people there and the Spirit kept saying, "talk with everyone, talk with everyone, you're a missionary". Ahh! Okay. I prayed to know which person I should talk to, since there were three. I made a decision and told Heavenly Father who it was. I know it is a right decision when my heart warms up. It is very subtle and I am still learning the language of the Holy Ghost.

I started a conversation by using a technique learned from President Gilliland: use their surroundings. So I said from across the waiting room, "Hey what does your shirt say?" She held it open and it read: 'making a difference in the lives of others.' I said, "So you like to make a difference in the lives of others?" "Yeah, I'm a CNA. Well, I use to be until my accident last october..." And she just opened up. Soon, I asked if she believed in God and if she prayed. She said yes. Eventually, I got to tell her about church and how her kids would be occupied for 2 hours in a different class where they learn about faith in Christ, while she and her husband could go to Sunday School together and then Priesthood and Relief Society, explaining both. She just brightened up at that idea. I got up and moved over to sit by her and gave her a mormon.org card with some missionaries phone number on it. 

She asked about my name tag and I explained that I am a missionary and told her I was called by a Prophet. I explained what a Prophet was and she said. "I feel like we are all prophets sometimes. That we can receive revelation for ourselves and families." I told her that was exactly right. It reminded me of a scripture in the Book of Mormon, so I shared. 2 Ne. 32:3 "Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." The Spirit led me to that scripture, by simply making it a thought in my head. Following that prompting made a world of difference. I started explaining the background of the Book of Mormon and she got really interested. I showed her some of the pictures, talked about Joseph Smith and right as I was talking about Moroni burrying the plates, the nurse came up and called her name. I asked her if she wanted a Book of Mormon and if she would read it. She said yes. That was the only copy I had with me. It is the one I have all marked up. (Not the one I've had since I was 8 Mom) I asked her if she really wanted a marked up copy. She said, "If that's okay with you..!" I could see she wanted it, so I gave it up. It was a huge sacrifice because of all of the markings I've made in it over the past couple of months, but at the same time, I wanted to give her everything she needed so she could find joy, peace and truth.

It's strange to think that a year ago, or even 6-ish months ago, some of my most prized possessions would be my car or my phone, now it is a studied, marked up copy of holy writ; the Book of Mormon.

I have wonderful experiences all the time and very difficult and saddening experiences. Looking on the positive side helps. And having a wonderful, charitable, hilarious companion. A missionary's day is up and down. Mostly up. :)

Your sister in the gospel,

Sister Zibetti