Walk With Jesus, Dude: Fabulous Week: Exchanges with Sister Simmons, Tracting in the Jungle, & the Power of the Book of Mormon

This week has been great! Late Tuesday night I got a call from Sister Simmons asking if she could go on exchanges with one of us, so we battled it out (I won), rearranged our schedules, and I got to go on exchanges with Sister Simmons! It was great. We went to see a member who really needed her life experience, then went to meet a potential at a mall. He wasn't answering his phone so we searched the mall for the place where he worked, couldn't find it, he eventually called us back and said he couldn't actually meet, rescheduled, and contacted! Haha, It was fun contacting with Sister Simmons. She can speak some Malay (I'm really impressed!), but we tried contacting in a strange compor of English and Malay which actually got us to meet an amazing girl! We talked to her and at first she was slowly edging away, but then we asked her if she felt like God knew her. She paused, looked at me and told me that she wasn't really sure. People always ask her if she knows God, but people never ask her if God knows her. I got to tell her (because at this point the conversation had moved into Malay) that God does know here, but I knew it didn't mean much if I knew it if she didn't. I told her about the Book of Mormon because that is how I know that God knows me. She was so excited to hear that in the Book of Mormon she can learn not only about Jesus Christ suffering and dying for her but why he did it, why he sacrificed himself for her. Yesterday, we also taught very specifically about the Book of Mormon. We met a really cute girl who really truly want to talk to God and feel like she's heard, but she feels really distant from God right now. I loved this lesson so much because God taught me as I was teaching! We taught that our relationship with God is like our relationship with a friend; praying is like talking to that friend, we get get to talk, talk , talk ,talk, they listen, they learn all about you, they know you, it's great. But at the end of it, do you know the other person? No, you only know that they'll listen to you, which is admitably nice. But you need more than that for an actual relationship, you need to listen, too! One of the ways we can listen is by reading the Book of Mormon! It is the word of God, after all. When we read the Book of Mormon we're listening to God, we're hearing what he's saying, we're learning about Him, His likes and dislikes, what makes Him happy or sad, what He truly lives for (hint: it's us)! When she and her sister heard that, they lit up and said "I understand! If I want to feel close to God I need to read the Book of Mormon!" yes! Exactly! We promised them that as they read the Book of Mormon consistently and daily that prayer would ultimately become natural and would even feel like talking to a friend.
I have loved talking about the BofM with everyone lately because my testimony of it has recently grown so much! I realized that there are a LOT of promised blessings associated with studying the book of mormon daily, but that I have never actually read it daily! I decided I really wanted to know if reading the Book of Mormon would make me happier, feel closer to God, resist tempation, have more energy spiritually and physically, have greater strength to do what's right, and a whole load of other things. I can now say that I know all of those blessings are true because I've seen in personally in my life. It's amazing and beautiful and, in the words of my recent convert, "I don't know why I didn't try it sooner!" Message for your seminary kids: Try it. You've heard the blessings, you've heard everyone say it, you parents, your church teachers, your Great Aunt Ruth. The things you find in the Book of Mormon will forever change you! I don't need to promise you because it's already been pormised by actual prophets of God! The things you find in your Book of Mormon will show you how to become the person you want to become, but aren't sure if you can. If you don't know who you want to become, you can find who God knows you can become as you read the Book of Mormon. If you feel like your prayers are more like talking to yourself than an actual conversation, read the Book of Mormon! If you have doubts about any of this being true, read the Book of Mormon, you will know if it's true or not. You have to try it out or you will never know and you will live your life wondering. Why wait? Learn now! It is so much more than just "worth it."
We also had Zone Conference this week, it was about repentance, finding people who are prepared, and something else that I don't remember right now because I'm pinched for time. Haha, Most of the Zone conference was actually about "for those of you who are going home in a few weeks." A third of our zone is going home next transfer, so half of conference was about missionary work, the other half was about applying all of it to after your mission/ :) I love the Simmons! They actually remind me a lot of you two.
We have one investigator right now who we can only meet once a week, so we're doing a lot of knocking, talking, and.... knocking. I have fun with it! We had a mission wide fast yesterday and things are already looking up. :) We met some great people yesterday! I wish I could tell you more but I think I spent to much time talking about the amazingness of the Book of Mormon. (Did I mention that it's amazing?)
Some guy showed up at the church Saturday night, gave our members a bag of fish and said it was for the two white girls and that he wanted to meet with us and learn about our church. Miracle or crazy? I don't know. I just know there's ten pounds of fish in our church freezer, and I don't know how to cook fish...

I love you! Life is great, I love God because he gives us so many amazing things. :D Oh! Pictures of FHE with Suzy (we played spoons!)
We hiked through the jungle to contact
We did a scavenger hunt for zone conference and we won! The Simmons were on our team!
we went to a museum last week and learned more about head hunters.