Sister Van Buskirk: Days of Harmony

"These are the days never to be forgotten, days of Harmony" -Oliver Cowdrey

It's official... I am leaving Independence South... This has been the best 7 1/2 months of my mission but I'm excited to go somewhere else. This week has been crazy and I'll try and capture it all but we will see!

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we had these special trainings that were amazing. We talked about how to work better with members and practiced more effective ways to talk to people. It was amazing, they were mostly logistical meetings and we were training on skills but the Spirit was still able to teach me and help me with some concerns. It was a testament to me that the Spirit can teach us in any setting if we are open to learning.

Tuesday evening we met with Tom. We brought our ward mission leader, Brother Garrett and his wife were able to join us. Tom just loves the Garretts and that helped him open up a lot. We decided to ask some hard hitting questions and Brother Garrett threw in a "Tom, do you want to get baptized?" Tom said he does, he just has some concerns with some things. He said he is going to keep meeting with us and coming to church until he converts or he gives up. But then he asked a turning point question. He has been struggling reading the Book of Mormon and praying everyday and we have been trying to help but that night he finally asked, "how". He is finally ready and has the desire to read and pray. I think before he just let other things get in the way and never really wanted to learn. We had been teaching him how to read and pray since the beginning of time but he didn't want to know so he never listened. But finally, he asked us "how". We came up with a plan to call him every night at 8:30 and read the Book of Mormon with him for about 15 minutes. He agreed and is doing really well.

Thursday we met a lady outside her house and asked to show her #LIGHTtheWORLD and she was so excited to meet us she invited us inside to show the video to her and her mom. No one ever invites us inside! She really wants to lean more and her mom seemed a little interested so we are going back this week. Well, I guess I won't be back but Sister Roberts and her new companion will!

Friday we had the opportunity to go to the Priesthood Restoration Site. It was AMAZING! 10 out of 10 would recommend. I had heard that it was an amazing place and a real testimony builder because it was the very place John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey to restore the Priesthood back on the earth and where they translated most of the Book of Mormon. Honestly, during the first part of the tour I didn't really feel anything special. But then we went to the room where Joseph and Oliver translated most of the Book of Mormon. We had the opportunity to read a verse from the Book of Mormon. As I read Mosiah 13:3, the spirit entered into my heart so strong I could not deny that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.

Lots of Love!
Sister Van Buskirk

The other week in the snow