Yesterday I went and visited a new sister that was added to my
ministering route. When I was RS President she was on the do not
contact list. Well her son in law is a general authority and spoke in
April 2018 conference, Elder Larry Wilson. She is having them come for
Thanksgiving and called Rick to see if she could invite the missionaries
to come and join them. So I figured she might be receptive to a visit.
I sent her a text to see if I could stop by and she said I could for a
minute since she had not been feeling well. I went over at 4 and
brought some apple bread. I knew that she was in her 90's so expected a
frail lady to open the door. Not so, she had long white hair in a pony
tail with a ball cap on and cute t-shirt and jeans. Very tall and thin
and spry. Her husband John who is not a member is 101 and has dementia
but a sweet man. He kept saying my name over and over again. She
was confused by who exactly I was and thought I would be a pair of
sister missionaries. I explained who I was and that I was just a
resource for her to call if she ever needed anything. She has never
been active and her mom joined the church and had her baptized but she herself was never active. The grandma was devout and had the two granddaughters
baptized and they remained faithful, one served a mission and one is
married to the general authority. They all have kids that have served
missions and married in the temple. Power of righteous grandparents! Marilyn has no interest in coming to church but we had a lovely visit and I told her I would let her know of
the next Sun City luncheon and if she would like to go and meet some
other ladies, I could go with her and introduce her. So we will see.
My quick visit turned into 45 minutes and I finally was the one to make my exit. She drives an hour each way on Tuesday to pick up her raw cows' milk. She sent me a text later thanking me for the delicious apple bread and for the visit. I responded that I was glad she liked it and that I had told my husband that we needed to start drinking cows milk, because it seemed that she had discovered the fountain of youth.
Today I visited with a lady that is pretty inactive but she lived a few houses down from me and she was one of the houses that I used last Christmas for our progressive dinner. She had a beautiful custom home with a courtyard and it was very Tuscan. She and her husband have had problems for many years and finally they have separated. They are in their 60's. They sold their home and she bought a small condo and he is renting a house. I went and saw her today and she had recovered her chairs in blue for her dining room and recovered a bench and chair in her bedroom in blue. She has done grays and blues. She said when I came to your house and saw your style I just said, I am going to do that. It was sweet! We had a great visit and I can tell she is a bit lonely. She does have her three grown kids and grand kids pretty close. They are in a different ward and stake but maybe only 30 minutes from her. I will have to check on her often. She did say she will come to church not this Sunday but the following.
I also sent a girl I used to visit teach a few years ago a text that I was thinking of her and that we needed to meet up for lunch. She was baptized when she was a teenager but after young women's she has not been active. She is married to a non member and has three kids. She is adorable. She moved to the other ward a few years ago, but she has moved back to ours. After I sent her the text, she said You must have been reading my mind, no joke! So we are going to lunch. She is the girl that I would always get impressions to reach out to and if would always be during a time that she needed to be reached out to. One was the anniversary of her mother's death and she was really struggling, one was the day she was about to head in for a hysterectomy so I was able to coordinate some meals for the family, and one was her contemplating a divorce and needed to talk. I told her each time that I had no idea that these things were going on but that her Heavenly Father knew, and I am sure her earthly mother also wanted to send her comfort at those times.
I am sure that I miss so many promptings from the Spirit because I am distracted or too caught up in my own issues, but I sure love it when I know that I have been able to help someone know that Heavenly Father is aware of them very personally because at the same time he lets me know that he is very aware of me as well. It just makes life so much more safe feeling and less scary when you have that knowledge.
Today I visited with a lady that is pretty inactive but she lived a few houses down from me and she was one of the houses that I used last Christmas for our progressive dinner. She had a beautiful custom home with a courtyard and it was very Tuscan. She and her husband have had problems for many years and finally they have separated. They are in their 60's. They sold their home and she bought a small condo and he is renting a house. I went and saw her today and she had recovered her chairs in blue for her dining room and recovered a bench and chair in her bedroom in blue. She has done grays and blues. She said when I came to your house and saw your style I just said, I am going to do that. It was sweet! We had a great visit and I can tell she is a bit lonely. She does have her three grown kids and grand kids pretty close. They are in a different ward and stake but maybe only 30 minutes from her. I will have to check on her often. She did say she will come to church not this Sunday but the following.
I also sent a girl I used to visit teach a few years ago a text that I was thinking of her and that we needed to meet up for lunch. She was baptized when she was a teenager but after young women's she has not been active. She is married to a non member and has three kids. She is adorable. She moved to the other ward a few years ago, but she has moved back to ours. After I sent her the text, she said You must have been reading my mind, no joke! So we are going to lunch. She is the girl that I would always get impressions to reach out to and if would always be during a time that she needed to be reached out to. One was the anniversary of her mother's death and she was really struggling, one was the day she was about to head in for a hysterectomy so I was able to coordinate some meals for the family, and one was her contemplating a divorce and needed to talk. I told her each time that I had no idea that these things were going on but that her Heavenly Father knew, and I am sure her earthly mother also wanted to send her comfort at those times.
I am sure that I miss so many promptings from the Spirit because I am distracted or too caught up in my own issues, but I sure love it when I know that I have been able to help someone know that Heavenly Father is aware of them very personally because at the same time he lets me know that he is very aware of me as well. It just makes life so much more safe feeling and less scary when you have that knowledge.
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