Memory Restored - July 7, 2014

Hey everyone, I hope that all is well back home!!

The letter of the week!

This week was a week of miracles. Elder Sithole and I have really been praying and hoping for the opportunity to teach stable and solid families. This week our prayers were answered. Our recent convert Paul and Esther referred us to a family of six. Then that family referred us to another family. AND one of the families that we have been teaching finally started progressing this week. The Lord just placed it in our laps. It was a great miracle! We really needed people to teach and the branch needs families. The Lord gave us both at once.

These families that we are teaching are super awesome. One of them actually stood up this past Sunday and bore testimony that this would be the church that he and his family would be attending until the day they die. He said he can see that things are different here and that he can feel the difference. It was a really powerful testimony. This family was referred by Paul and Esther. Their names are Tony, Delish, Shannon, and there is two more names that I won’t even try to spell because they are ridiculously hard to say and even harder to spell.

This past Monday after emailing and doing our p-day stuff, we went to an appointment with a recent convert. It turned out that he was not able to meet with us. I was disappointed because that meant we would have to tract on a p-day. But after I stopped feeling sorry for myself, we picked ourselves up and started tracting.

As we were tracting, we heard a guy yelling at us. We looked over and I thought to myself, “He looks familiar!!” As we walked over, he looked at me and said, “DONT YOU REMEMBER ME!?!?!?” As most of you know, names and faces are something that I have struggled with my whole life. As soon as he said that I just stared at his face praying that I would remember him. The word “Muntungo” came to my mind.

So I looked at him and said I met you in Mutungo. He smiled saying, “Yes, you do remember me!!!” I couldn’t believe it. That was a miracle right there. It turns out that I had taught him my second transfer on my mission which was more than a year ago. Apparently I had been teaching him in February of 2013 with Elder Bulloch my second companion on the mission. (His name is Charles.)

The reason we had stopped teaching him is because he had moved to Lira. And so we lost track of him. After figuring this all out he then smiled and said "I knew that you or Elder Bulloch would come and find me and teach me again. I have been waiting for you." I was shocked!! That was a super cool experience for me. I was really pumped about that. Now we are teaching him and things are going well.

Another miracle that I heard through the grapevine is that Danny Ruduhunga is planning to serve a mission. If you don’t remember him, he was a guy that Elder Terry and I found and baptized in Rwanda. (His father was over the ministry of defense for Rwanda or something like that.) He is doing super well. I was so happy to hear how well he is doing.

I can’t remember if I have you about Dennis and Agnes. We have been working a lot with them. This week they told us that they have started praying as a family and obeying all the commandments that we have taught them. They want to be ready for baptism so their family can progress. They came to church this week and stayed for all of the meetings AND they sat together as a family. It was super awesome to see.

This family has changed a lot. I love them. The best part about the change is that we are not the only ones noticing it. They see it also! From these changes they said, “We have seen blessings come into every aspect of our lives.” It has been amazing to see them step forward, trust in the Lord and watch the blessing roll on in.

Things are really moving out here! Things are looking good too. I am really looking forward to the next couple weeks. Next week we will be baptizing a sister named Sarah. She has been coming to church for some time and has really studied the Book of Mormon. She has learned for herself that it is true. She told us that she is ready and willing to be baptized. She will be baptized this week.

Sincerely,

Elder Bitter