One Thousand Mosquito Bites

Hello hello hello from this Beaufort, South Carolina sister missionary!

What shall I talk about this week? Well to begin, our mission president established a new way for us to set goals and account for them in our mission, and we have REALLY seen the miracles come from that this week! We were able to teach over 30 lessons this week! Back on track! :)
It's so wonderful to be able to follow someone that I know is doing the will of the Lord.

Some exciting events from the week:

-We went gator hunting on P-day and found three of them on the Parris Island golf course! I've been in the south this long, and still had never seen a gator, let alone three of them! It was quite the treat. Elder Saurey almost got munched because he got too close, but he survived. Elders...

-We had a wonderful zone conference in Savannah. Pollen season is upon yet again and I included pictures of our car. We had washed our car that morning before the meeting, and then 5 hours later.....? P.S. Sand fleas? Biting gnats? Whoo hoo. So fun. Poor Sister Woodard had bites all over her head and ears.

-On Tuesday, we celebrated the 173rd "birthday" of the Relief Society! (Relief Society is the women's organization of the church, and the largest in the world!) Our adorable Relief Society President planned the cutest activity, and asked us to be a part of the program. They had a pioneer dinner, a beehive piñata, and pioneer crafts. It was a great time!

-On Wednesday-Thursday, we went on exchanges with the Hilton Head Island sisters, and I was with Sister Walker again! Sister Walker and I keep following each other around to all of the same areas :) Oh yeah, I may have forgot to mention that Sister Woodard and I are Sister Training Leaders again, so much fun! The sisters in our zone are all rockstars! Anyway... we had some crazy miracles occur. Like visiting L in the hospital, and teaching the Word of Wisdom. L: "THIS is definitely wisdom! I don't know if I'm going to be perfect, but I'm going to TRY!" Have you ever taught a lesson while wearing a hospital gown and gloves? It's pretty great. I highly recommend it.

-And teaching a great lesson with A. The first thing he asked when we go to his house: "So, tell me about this Book of Mormon that I keep hearing about..." "Well A, that is exactly what we wanted to teach you about. Can we start at the beginning?" Even though he was really tired from work, the spirit was really strong and we set a baptismal date for April 18th!

-That same day, while trying to contact some referrals, we found the most AMAZING lady, named K. She is a member of the FLDS church (which has many of the same beliefs we do, but many key differences as well.) Neither Sister Walker or I had ever met an FLDS member before, and we were really excited to talk to her. At first, she wasn't having it, but by the end of the conversation, we were hugging and she's coming to the Book of Mormon class that we're having at the church. There isn't an FLDS church near where we live, so she hasn't been able to attend church, so she's really excited for the class

-We also met the most wonderful lady, P, who is suffering from early leukemia, and she just found out that the chemo that she has been enduring for the last 2 years has stopped working. But she is SO positive, and during her latest stay in the hospital, started a "blessings journal" where she began writing how God has blessed her throughout her life. Isn't she an angel?? How we met her was divine intervention. We had gotten out of the car to try knocking on her house, and her two dogs had ran out and started barking like crazy. Well, we are used to that, but as we got closer and closer, I started getting a little worried that they may attack. We walked on, and they backed off. At the door, her son said she wasn't home, and didn't know when she'd be back. Just then, P comes driving up the driveway. This whole "will this dog eat me or not?" episode caused us to pause long enough for her to come home. A great reminder to me that sometime events that seem negative at the beginning, are really the means of Heavenly Father executing His divine plan. And P, who doesn't attend church, is now praying about baptism. :)

-Another miracle this week occurred on Thursday. We had met T about a week and a half ago and she had not been happy to see us at her door. Well we went back and she let us in, and we were able to teach her one of the most spiritual Restoration lessons that I have ever been a part of. She had been taught her whole life that she wasn't supposed to "question God" or ask Him things, and that God punished you when you did. When we told her that He wants us to do that, and that is how we learn, I watched the tension and worry leave her body. We asked her, "If your son came to you and asked you a question about something that he sincerely wanted to know, would you be mad at him?" She told us, of course not. As she made the connection in her head that just as she is a parent, God is our loving Heavenly Father, tears filled her eyes. She kept telling us how happy and light she felt and pleaded with us to come back. I already love her SO MUCH!

-There are so many more things that I wish I had time to write, but the last person I will talk about is E. We were visiting potentials, and had a name and an address, and when we arrived, we soon realized that we had neither parts of our information matched where we were. We were talking with the man who lived there, when his friend (who had quickly started pulling out of the driveway when we had approached), yelled out of the car: "Y'all Jehovah's Witnesses?" This is a question we get quite often, by the way. We told him no, and explained who we were. What ended up happening, is that his friend went into his house, and E talked to us from his car for about an hour. And we got one thousand mosquito bites. He is studying to be a deacon in his church. We have an appointment with him this week. He's great.

I know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to have answers to people's questions and concerns. I know that this knowledge only comes from God, and I am blessed to be able to share that every single day. I love you all! Talk to ya next week!

Sister Szilagyi