So, remember Mona? She was on date for baptism when I first got to Cougar Mountain. She had 2 kids and was golden. We stopped teaching her because she was going through many personal problems and needed space. Well, at the beginning of last week, I felt prompted to heart attack her door. We cut out paper hearts and wrote little messages on each. I didn't know if much would come from it but I wanted her to know we were still thinking about her. The next day during our finding time, we received a text from a member Mona trusted. She sent us Mona's new contact information and wanted us to reach out. We texted Mona and she told us she was doing much better. She wanted to continue the lessons and prepare for baptism again. I was overjoyed! I had been praying for this moment to happen!
We went over the next night and taught her. She thanked us for never giving up on her and told us she cried when she saw all of the hearts on her door. She had just been through a rough patch with her family and didn't feel like she had anyone in the world who actually cared about her. We told her how much we love her and we made plans to take her to the 4th of July ward breakfast. She came the next day and had a great time! We planned to read the Book of Mormon with her on Friday when we received a devastating text that evening. She said that she no longer wanted us to visit her. I'm pretty sure she had found anti-church information and told us she didn't want to be a member of our Church. She didn't agree with Joseph Smith's story even though we had taught her the Restoration before. I don't know what happened, but it broke me. After all we had done for her, she chose to believe some false news over her true friends. That's how quickly Satan works on the children of God. So right now, we are struggling to find prepared friends, but we have the faith that they will be found.
On a much brighter note, we had a great 4th of July! We took one of our white boards to a park and wrote "I Love My Country Because..." and then we had people write something. We related it back to the gospel and talked about how lucky we are to live in a land that allows religious freedom. My favorite one was this cute little Mexican woman who wrote "a nation of opportunities" in Spanish of course. It reminded me then that we are all children of God and that's why God chose America to be the promised land for the Church to be restored. Even despite all of the negative news, there are still good people out there and we are still a nation of endless opportunities.
Well, that's all for this week! Also, we said goodbye to our mission president and his wife last week. They were amazing! Now, we have a new mission president (President Beardall). He is awesome and I know he will take the mission to new heights. I'm excited to work with him!
Have a great week!
love,
sister smith
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