Meet the Mormons

Hola mi familia!

Can you believe how quickly the time is passing?! It is a little frightning to look at the date and realize we are already at Oct. 15.  Sister Brower and I had a fabulous week this week and saw INCREDIBLE miracles.  The Lord definitely has His hand in His work here in White Plains.

On Friday we got together with all the upstate missionaries and watched Meet the Mormons!! Oh my goodness, the Church really hit it out of the ballpark on this one.  I encourage everyone to go see it if they haven't yet, and bring a nonmember friend (and tissues)! More than anything else, Mormons follow the example of Jesus Christ, and the movie clearly demonstrates our desires and abilities to do so. Love it.

About 2 weeks ago, Sister White and I received a referral from one of the most rock solid members, Sister Lopez.  It was of a woman who lives on her street, who is the mother of 7 children, and NEEDS God and direction in her life.  We heard rumors about how hard her family life was, and although we are not sure at all if they are true,  the gospel will bless her family!  We were so excited to go and meet her, but things fell through and it never happened.  A few days later we get a call from an excited Sister Lopez telling us we needed to get to her house in an hour and run over and teach Sandra (the mother of 7).  Okay, perfect.  Sister White and I ran over, taught an incredible first lesson and really felt the Spirit as Sister Lopez testified to her friend about the power of the Restored Gospel to bring us closer to our Savior.  We set up a return appointment, but Sandra got sick (like everybody and their dog in White Plains.. Boo.) and we haven't been able to teach her since.  On Sunday, Hermano and Hermana Lopez enter the chapel followed by a line of 7 children, and picking up the caboose, Sandra!! Sister Brower hadn't met this family yet, so she was a little confused at why I was jumping up and down and freaking out a little bit.  I was sooo excited to see Sandra and her kids at church!!!  AND to make it even better, they brought two friends with them! Our branch basically doubled in size on Sunday.  The family stayed all three hours and loved it.  Their two friends had to go after Sacrament meeting, but they loved it so much they said they wouldn't dare miss next week.  We have been so blessed with incredible people to teach, and families who are going to be strengthened and protected by the power of the Savior.  We know He will bless their lives.  4 of the kids are baptism age, and they will definitely all look good in white ; )

Yesterday was an incredibly strange day, but we definitely saw that God takes care of His missionaries.  After planning Monday night for Tuesday, we had about 9 lessons set up.  After working for 8 hours, we had barely taught one lesson and had ran all over every corner of White Plains with nobody home.  Dinner time finally arrived, and we had an appointment set up with the fabulous Fila.  We knocked on her door, nobody answered.  Juked.  Sister Brower felt like going to the mall to eat, so we decided to head out.  I got suuuuper lost driving on the way, and instead of taking 5 minutes to get there it took us 15.  When we entered the food court, there at KFC was Fila and her family!  We walked up to say hi, and she immediately turned around to the cashier and ordered us some chicken and biscuits.  Holy Cow, Heavenly Father loves us so much. He prompted Sister Brower to go to the mall, helped me get extremely lost, and planned everything out perfectly so that at the exact minute we walked in the food court there was Fila right in front of our eyes, finishing her order!  Miracles like that don't happen merely by chance, but by the grace of a loving God.

Funny story of the week:

Our investigator, Daniel, has a brother who is just as sassy and hilarious as Daniel is.  Last week when Sister White said goodbye, Daniel's brother said I couldn't come back unless I brought back his girlfriend, Sister White (whom he had met once BTW...).  Sister White didn't understand any of that though... haha.  Needless to say, Sister Brower and I have tried to stop by 4 or 5 times the past week, and each time Daniel has opened the door, sassily told me that his brother said I couldn't come in because I didn't bring his girlfriend, laughed really hard, and then told us to come back another time.. Hahahaha. Maria wasn't home any of those times either though, so we couldn't enter anyway.  Last night we passed by and luckily, Maria was home.  Daniel and his brother were out selling food.  As we walked out the back door at the end of the lesson, Daniel and his brother were at the bottom of the stairs.  They froze and just stared at us with bug eyes, shocked that we got in without bringing back Sister White.  After Maria came out behind us they just started busting up laughing. Hahaha, I love this stinking sassy family so much! 

I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ has the power to change lives.  It is the only way through which we are capable of entering back into the presence of our Heavenly Father, and it is an amazing experience to see the power of the Atonement working in others as well as working in myself, and even more powerful to see it working within the family. If the Savior has the ability to heal our bruised and damaged souls, then why couldn't He have the ability to heal our bruised and damaged families? 

Love you all,

Sister Dodson