I am also overwhelmed by the heat that is starting to come into full force. I am getting nervous for summer!
On my birthday we had dinner at the Bishops house! I made Sister Mckay promise she wouldn't tell them it was my birthday...and she didn't but some how they knew! Oh well. It was fun!
I am so excited for the Cultural Event this Saturday and the dedication on Sunday! You can watch the Cultural Event here. www.lds.org/broadcasts/languages/florida-cultural-celebration/2014/04. We are gonna be in the end part. Maybe you will see me?!
Here is the letter I wrote to President this week. Italics are info that was not in the one I sent to him!
President Anderson,
Its been quite a week! Sister Mckay and I are so exhausted but so happy! The area has been struggling the past two transfers but its starting to pick up again and we are really excited about everything we have going on!
We are going to start an English class. Its really needed in this area and we think it will be a great way to find people! I think its going to be pretty funny that I will be teaching english in my very broken spanish. I am sure I will have some good stories to tell about it!
This week we started working with an awesome new investigator. The elders found her while they were doing a power harvest in our area. (Power harvesting is when the district leader and his comp, harvest in our area for an hour) Her name is Magela and she has such strong desires to have a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. She knew God sent the elders to her to say that prayer.
Teaching her has been amazing, and we were so excited for her to come to church this Sunday, and she was so excited too! We thought for sure she would be there! We did our best to round her up- called her, knocked on her door, and texted. 9:00am came and she wasn't there. We were pretty disappointed. Then at about 9:30 we got a text- it said she couldn't make it because her babysitter was late. I told her to come to the English ward at 11:00 (she is bilingual). We still hadn't heard from her when sacrament ended. So we went to class. At about 10:50 I realized we had no service in the room we were in, so we walked out and got 3 texts from her! they said 'okay I am coming' 'I'm 5 minutes away' 'I am here'. We were so excited! Everything that was said in the talks in the English ward and in Sunday school were just PERFECT for her! It was everything she needed to hear. I know the Lord wanted her at the English ward yesterday, and He made it happen! She is set to get baptized on May 11th!
Right now Magela is using a walker because she got hit by a car! Crazy story- her four yr old was running into the street and she went and grabbed her and the car got Magela instead of the baby. The impact broke her knee and she had to have surgery.
Last night we had sometime to spare so we went looking for a less active in an apartment complex. We knocked on her door and she wasn't home. Sister Mckay and I kind of looked at each other and thought what next? It was about 8:30, and I really don't like knocking doors past 8. Plus no one really answers cause you know its Miami....We walked a little and I said "well we will just knock on some doors here". So I knocked the very door we were standing in front of. An older lady named Rosa answered the door and immediately let us inside. We asked her what we could include in the prayer, and she started crying and said 'well I am very sad.' Her husband passed away 10 months ago, and she has really been struggling. She felt so at peace during the prayer. She wouldn't accept baptism and wasn't interested in coming to church. We did give her the Book of Mormon though and explained that it brought peace. We marked a scripture for her and she was excited about it. I think she would do anything for peace at this point in her life. As we were walking out the door she asked us something like 'are you knocking all the doors?' and we said 'no this is the only one we knocked on here.' She was blown away, she began to cry and said 'maybe I will come to your church one day.' We are going back to see her tomorrow! The Lord truly sent her to us. He has such grand plans for us and He always makes it work. It was also a testimony to me about how much we are needed! The Lord needs us to be worthy of following the promptings of the Holy Ghost because these people need us to show them the way to the only true and living gospel!
Today I was reading in Ether about when the Brother of Jared is talking to the Lord about how they can have light on the barges. Basically the Lord says to him- I am preparing you to cross the sea. Because its going to be pretty rough with all of the waves and the wind, and really you wont be able to do it unless I prepare you, and I want you to have light while you are out there so what do you want me to do?
I was thinking about how in our lives we sometimes face these rough waves and wind and we often forget the things we have learned previously. The Lord always prepares us for whats coming. He prepares us so that we can have light during the storms. But often times we forget we can't just expect Him to act, without coming to him first. We need to act first. We need to have faith, remember the things we have learned, remember all of our preparations that have been made for the storm, and most importantly pour out our heart to our Father in Heaven. And the promise is always the same, as it was for the Jaredites and it is for us- we will be delivered.
-Sister Koutz
Mormon 5:17-18
They were once a delight some people, and they had Christ for their Shepard; yea they were led even by God the Father.
But now, behold, they are led about by Satan, even as chaff is driven before the wind, or as a vessel is tossed about upon the waves, without sail of anchor, or without anything wherewith to steer her; and even as she is so are they.
Ether 12:4
Wherefore whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh and anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.
Remember Jesus Christ our anchor. He lives.
XOXOXO Hermana Koutz
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