WEEK 4

Sister Bumgardner & Sister Curtis at the temple

John 14:26-27  "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

What an insane week! There's a lot of stories to tell so stay tuned. 

First story: Earlier in the week we were door knocking on a road that's about a block from our flat. We had knocked on about 3 houses when we came to a house and a man was sitting on the porch. We talked to him for a while, got his number for a return appointment and went on door knocking. About 3 houses down when we were crossing the street, the man was out on the street just watching us but we didn't think much about it. Then about 10 minutes later we were walking back to our car and walked past the house. All the sudden I heard Sister Curtis go "what in the helen keller" . We looked over and without going into every little detail, the guy had been waiting for us on his porch and was flashing us. We walked REALLY fast back to our car and I think we were just in shock about it because we laughed about it for 15 minutes then cried about it too. I don't know what sicko just waits to do that to people that are just trying to help others but in the words of President Ence "there's just fruitcakes like that out there". 

Brisbane

Second story: We have seen so many miracles this week. During our weekly planning I felt so inspired, almost compelled that we needed to spend more time finding. So we came up with ideas and just decided to put more focus on it. We have found 4 new interested people just in this week! It was incredible to me because each time it wasn't something we had planned out but Heavenly Father put people directly in our path. Each time I honestly just opened my mouth and trusted that I would be given the words and I was! For the Brisbane mission 4 new people is really great so we're super happy about it! 

-Clint was one of the people we met while running in the park one morning. He was working there and we had said hi to him then kept running. The entire time we were running I couldn't think of anything else but that we needed to talk to him. Before I knew it I had completely changed the direction of where we were running and started running over to him. He was very willing to meet with us again and said he was interested in learning more! 

-Yogamaya was another new person we met. We had the idea to take a member a treat for her birthday so we went to a place called VeganYum. We started talking with the cashier there and I felt so prompted to talk to her about the gospel. She was very open and we set up a time to meet with her!

-Mouzi we met because we felt prompted to go visit a less active member who we knew would most likely not be home but kept feeling like we needed to visit her. Turns out she wasn't home but Mouzi lives across the street and he was outside working in his yard so we went over and talked to him. He actually had met with missionaries before but had lost contact with them so we set up an appointment with him!

-Our last person (I can't remember her name because it was very unique) we met door knocking and she is the only person that I have met so far door knocking that has actually let us finish our first sentence hah! She is Hindu and said she already knew everything about Jesus Christ. We told her that when it comes to Christ we can never know too much. We talked to her a little about the plan of salvation and gave her a pamphlet with our name on it so she could call us back! 

Third story: With the Coronavirus things have been a little crazy. There's obviously no church, district councils are over Skype, there will only be absolutely necessary transfers done, and we have been given $100 to buy emergency storage supplies because we are most likely going to be on lock down within the next two weeks or so. I was getting worried because we have zero food in our flat. The Lord is so aware of all of our needs no matter how small they are and he truly takes care of his missionaries.  My prayers were answered because we have had two members in our ward reach out to us saying that they had gone out and bought heaps of food storage for us. I literally almost started crying holding a box of food hahah. 

Heavenly Father has been preparing us for this time for years now. We are so blessed that we have a prophet who speaks directly with God to help protect us. We are so blessed that we have been directed to prepare for this time for years now. The world will not offer us peace but Jesus Christ will. I encourage each one of us to exercise our faith and remember that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the same regardless of what is happening in the world. We have the opportunity to anchor ourselves in Christ or be tossed into the sea of confusion and doubt. 

I love all of you and pray for you often! 

-Sister Aliese Bumgardner