Why do angels have wings?

I'm so happy that I got to skype yesterday and see and hear from my favorites! I love y'all more than life!

I hope everyone got to see the beautiful Mother's Day video on Mormon.org. If not, check it out and share it on all of your social networks (and hashtag it #itwasmom)! Even though mother's day was yesterday, we can celebrate mothers ever day! Like a kind Pakistani man on the bus told me, "every day is mother's day!" We should always be celebrating the lives of our families and friends every single day. We all have such precious people in our lives!

Speaking of precious people, we spoke to a bunch of them this week. We talk to a bunch of people every week, but this week my goal was especially to ALWAYS be talking to someone about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm learning to balance "not caring what people think" and "caring about people" so that I can boldly testify to strangers about the message of the restored gospel.

This week, we met with Leighton. He is so cool. He told us a lot about how he is trying to get in tune with his spiritual side and how in order to do that, he has been reading a few books. Since meeting with us, he has decided that he wanted to stop reading all of those books and just read the book of Mormon. He believes that the book of Mormon really can give him a greater understanding about life and help him find answers to his questions. So yeah, #truth. He also read to us a poem he wrote about how he feels about his current state in life. It was AMAZING. He mentioned how science and religion are not at odds, but rather science is just too young. He is so right! We invited him to be baptized and he says "...I am so down for that!" We are too, Leighton. We are too.

The best thing happened this week. Well not the best, but I enjoyed it.

We were teaching two Muslim guys. They are very devout to their religion, but they are very open to learning more as well. Toward the end of our second visit, we committed them to read the book of Mormon. Then, one of them got up and left and came back 10 minutes later.... he bought my companion and I each our own copy of the Quran! How sweet and tender of him. We told him we couldn't read it while on our missions. But then I told him how the book of Mormon helps us get closer to God more than any other book. 

The book of Mormon is the word of God and we are so blessed to be living at a time when the restored truth is on the earth to never be taken away! Blessed be the name of the Most High God!

While contacting yesterday, we ran into a couple and we talked for a good half hour. They are related to some members back in London and they are seriously some pretty cool humans. Before we went our way, the man said" Why do angels have wings?........because they take themselves lightly!" Something I am learning to develop it the Christ-like attribute of patience. I am learning that, not only do I need to be more patient with others, but I need to be patient with myself! The Lord works on us a little bit at a time, we just need to let Him!

I love y'all! Have great week!

M A N I F E S T A T I O N S

Shoutout to Sirima for a letter! Tender mercy, thank you! :)

This week we had Zone Training and, ah man, it's such a spiritual lift! We learned about how to teach people, not lessons. The best way to do this, is to discern investigators' needs. If they are giving shallow answers to questions, then they will have a shallow baptism. True conversion can't happen if they have unresolved issues or concerns that haven't been addressed! We must be worthy conduits of the spirit so that the spirit can work through us and help us know how to discern needs and help those we serve. We also talked about all the goals we want to reach together as a zone and as a mission. We are aiming for 60 baptisms in June! 

One investigator we are meeting with is Ahmed and he is from Saudia Arabia. We found him walking on the side walk in front of us a week or so ago. He was going to a free event at the science center...but no one was even there? We started talking to him and within two minutes he was telling us that he was trying to find out if God was real and he was praying that God would give him a sign. Then he said "Maybe...you two are the sign." Coincidences do not happen! God knows His children and knows what their needs are and he works through us to help them. This past week we met with him again and we read from 3 Nephi 11, when Christ comes to America and the people are able to see and touch Him. Ahmed struggles to "know" how things are true. He doesn't understand how he will just "know" if he reads and prays. President Joseph Fielding Smith explains it perfectly how we can "know" when he said:

"When a man has the manifestation from the Holy Ghost, it leaves an indelible impression on his soul, one that is not easily erased. It is Spirit speaking to spirit, and it comes with convincing force. A manifestation of an angel, or even of the Son of God himself, would impress the eye and mind, and eventually become dimmed, but the impressions of the Holy Ghost sink deeper into the soul and are more difficult to erase.”

There is nothing more convincing and powerful than a manifestation from the Holy Ghost!

We are also meeting with a sweet Korean guy named Tom. We met him through ESL, but he was also interested in learning more about the Gospel! Whoo! Tom served in the DMZ! Crazy scary! But he is here in Canada studying right now. There is quite a language barrier with him, but thank goodness for members who served in Korea who are willing to join us for lessons to translate and help teach.

Our previous investigator Ying Chen dumped us. I would be more devastated if he hadn't insulted our intelligence and called me a tomboy over text, so for now I'll just be simply sad and pray some other missionaries in the near future can help him better than we could. It is really sad that a lot of people in this world struggle to understand how much God really loves them. Yes, bad things do happen to good people. But God sees the bigger picture and this life on earth is so temporary. 

We also met a cool guy named Leighton. He is a logical thinker and likes when things just make sense, but lately he has been feeling something missing, spiritually (THE GOSPEL). We taught him the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. Thank goodness he loves to read!

We also met a guy named Vinh who we found near Chinatown! He has a Buddhist background, but doesn't practice much himself. He is very positive and loves having an optimistic mindset. He really likes the idea of looking back on his life one day with no regrets and a peace of mind. We related that to the plan of salvation and how this plan of happiness that God designed for us helps us to understand our purpose and path in life so that we can make the most of it and ultimately look back with no regrets and peace of mind. He isn't interested in "converting", but he was extremely interested in the Book of Mormon. Thank goodness that's where all the power and truth is found!

Friday night before we went home, we found a guy walking on the sidewalk and started talking to him. His name is Mansoor and he has lived here for three years and has no friends. We started talking about the gospel and the special message we have to share and HE wanted to get OUR number and meet up with US...usually people are running away from us, but he wanted to learn more! We met with him the next night. He will probably get baptized, buuuuut he really, really wants to be best friends with us and sit only with us at church and only be friends with us, so we may have to pass him off to the Elders haha.

Also...Oliver Prince got baptized yesterday! What a STUD. He is so strong and faithful! He is also famous and knows Drake? So that's pretty cool. I asked him if Drake would be interested in taking the lessons with us soooo don't be surprised if those rap songs turn into hymnal raps in June! All I ask is for a #mormon.org on instagram, Drake. 

Also, the YSA ward here is so good to us! Such friendly people! I love them so much!

I have officially started the Purification Challenge! It is where I fast for 30-40 days from bad habits and things I want to rid myself of and where I work on implementing good habits and work on attaining worthy goals for myself. The process is to help my spirit and mind and heart be pure so that the Spirit can work through me and touch the lives of those I serve. I am so grateful that God is able to help build us up and give us strength beyond our own!

The Book of Mormon is true. The Church is true. Christ lives and God loves us. 

And happy week for all mothers everywhere!

I love y'all!