The Field Is White Already to Harvest

Literally white this week. I bought pumpkin eggnog (my favorite holiday treat probably) and the next morning we wake up to 4 inches of snow. Coincidence? I think not! So every one in AZ where it's still in the 80's, drink the eggnog it works!

The snow has all melted though. But there will be plenty more time for that!

So the biggest miracle of this week is probably this:

It happened last Saturday. We were out on the Square. How it works is every night during our planning time (9-930) one of the things we do is plan our locations for the square times for the next day. So we pray about the places we should go and when. Then we pick 3 places for every hour. So Saturday we were going to one of those places when the sisters at one of the desks told us we needed to find this lady. They said she had literally walked out and said "I can't wait to learn more." So we were like what the heck we gotta find her! So we start checking every building and we decide to go to the North Visitor Center. We walk up to the Christus, and she is just leaving. We say hi and she says "This is so beautiful, I can't wait to learn more!" She is dating a member, and they started getting serious so they decided it was time to discuss religion. He brought her here, and it was the first she had heard about the church. We knew that we needed to take her though God's Plan (hopefully I have explained about this presentation it's wonderful). So we take her through and she cries the whole time. After she said how much she loved it and how she has felt like something is missing in her life and that she thinks it's this church. So I said, "Toni, as you come to know for yourself that this church is true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper authority?" and she said....."Oh yes. I want to follow God, and i want to be close to Jesus." (she's black so picture it in a black voice haha) She is so prepared! Holy cow. I wasn't even nervous asking her because I knew the Lord had prepared her already and the veil was so thin she couldn't help but say yes! So we have been teaching her this week. It's hard because she travels for work a lot (She is kind of like a motivational speaker. She speaks about her past life; she was out on the streets for 19 years and fell into drugs and alcohol and a lot of horrible things happened to her. So she goes around telling her story of hope. And she said she wants to add the Gospel to that story!). So it's hard for her to find time but she is going to try to go to church. We are going to set a date for her baptism.

Sorry about my typing. We are not in our usual building, and this keyboard doesn't allow me to go back and correct mistakes so I can't catch them all.

Other miracles....

I took a chat from a man named Stephen. He said missionaries came and visited him and told him a little about the church and told him about mormon.org. They tried to give him a book of Mormon but he insisted on looking at the website, so that's how he got there. We had a great discussion about the Book of Mormon and he wanted to learn more. So I got his phone number and called Him the next day. Well he is from Ghana, but living in Finland to finish his degree. The day I called him, we were having problems with our phones so they were fuzzy and his thick African accent made it so I couldn't understand a word he said. But I really wanted to teach him so I would ask him a question, pretend like I understood what he was saying, and try to follow the spirit in my response, and keep teaching. I felt so bad but I didn't want to hang up! So the next day my companion and I called Him back. Come to find out it's not just the fuzziness, we really just can't understand him! It literally gave us headaches straining for the entire lesson as we taught the whole Plan of Salvation. We only understood about 20% of what he said (still an improvement from before haha) but tried to rely on the Spirit as best we could. His faith is amazing. He wants to do what God wants him to do, and he wants to do what is right. We asked him if he would be baptized and he said yes! He has a date of December 21st (has to finish finals and such) so please pray for him to continue to prepare for that day and act on his faith! The Lord prepares people to receive His Gospel. So crazy!

So then....I think the next day. I took a chat from a guy in India. He said that He found this site, and that He wants to know about the plan of salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He said some sisters are teaching Him but that He is really busy and can only get on chat every so often on weekends. So I taught about the plan of Salvation and he was so enthused! He loved it. I taught about Lesson 3 ( Gospel of Jesus Christ) and focused on baptism. He thought it was really amazing that we could be forgiven for everything we have ever done. I asked if He would be baptized on December 7th and He said yes! He wants to prepare for that day. The nearest church is 2 hours away but he said he is willing to make the sacrifice to go so he can be baptized. The only downside about this is.....The way our systems are set up, each time we get a referral or they want to know more, we use a program called Connect (like an online area book) to keep track of them. So they become a contact, and there cannot be duplicates. So because the other sisters already have him in Connect, I can't teach him! I actually know the sisters, so I will just have to keep asking them how he is doing. He was sad I couldn't keep teaching him but understood. Hopefully they can prepare him for that date!

So do you remember about the african-american girl I wrote about a few weeks ago? The less-active who came from Las Vegas because she knew she needed to change her life? Well she left saying that she knew exactly what to do and how to change and that she couldn't wait to go to the temple. I called her a few days ago, thinking that that wonderful feeling might have worn off and that she might have slipped into her old ways. Well she answers and says hello? And I say May I speak with Natoya? And she says who is this (kind of rudely, I was nervous)? I say Sister Ferguson from Temple Square, do you remember me? and she says(all this time speaking almost in a whisper and I couldn't think of why)....................................................................................................................................................Oh my gosh hi! I'm in institute right now. I could have died I was so happy! I think that was my happiest moment of my mission so far. I was so proud that she was acting on her experience! I'm so happy that she is changing her life! It made my entire day/week/mission really! I am so thankful to the Lord for helping her feel the Spirit, and giving me the words she needed to hear at that time.

I have gotten pro at making chow mein out of ramen! it's so good!

Embarrassing story of the week: during our dinner break, we decided to go to the grocery store around the corner (we can go during our lunch times) and we bought a bunch of groceries since we didn't go on p-day last week. Well we're walking back and we cut through city creek because it's warm and faster and we're walking over the bridge when....the handle on my paper bag broke! And like in the movies, things rolled away haha and no one helped us!! we made it back to the mission home and got them in the fridge, but that night when it came time to go home, i was carrying my package mom sent me too, and the other bag broke! I was like what the heck! So some kind sisters helped me carry it all home. hopefully that gave you a good laugh!

Well we re excited for the Christmas lights to come on. They come on after Thanksgiving,

Also, the Sisters are putting on a performance on November 12th for the public. It's meant to bring investigators to. we are in the choir (even though I suck at singing...I'm gonna mouth the words haha). So if anyone wants to come and invite non-members or less actives do it!

I think that's probably it for the week. The Church is true! Don't forget about Elder Ballard's challenge. I love you all!