Email #95 - Following Spiritual Promptings

July 2, 2018
Attalla, Alabama

Hello Family! Happy Monday! I hope all is well! This one has been a pretty good week. I enjoyed it for sure! So I don't have a ton of time today but I did want to update you on a few things. First off! This week we had a service project at a widow's house in the Branch. We trimmed her hedges and all that good stuff! It was BLAZING HOT! I drank 5 water bottles while I was there... We were both drenched from head to toe. It was really weird... That doesn't happen back west... but anyways. We trimmed her hedges and we had a great time. Yesterday at church she got up and shared her testimony about missionary work and how the missionaries are here to help us(the members) fulfill our(their) missionary responsibilities. IT WAS SO COOL! I was just blown away. We really are all missionaries that share this message. Each of you are what you would call "User Reviews." And you can share your user review with those around you.

Another super cool experience that we had was while we were tracting this week. We were out knocking doors and we got to the end of the street and didn't know which way to go. I turned to Elder Vanderhoff and said, "So.... which way should we go?" Long story short, I said, "Well why don't we say a prayer." So we said a prayer in the middle of the street, and we looked both ways and I said, "Okay Elder, which way do we go?" He responded, "I don't feel like I'm getting anything." Meanwhile, I was feeling like we should go a certain way but didn't say anything. So I spoke up and told him which way I was feeling like we should go. We ended up knocking that direction for another hour and didn't get anyone to talk to us. At the second to last door, this lady was outside and I yelled over to her. We got talking to her and originally it was really hard to get her to open up but she told us about a few things that have been going on in her life with her family and everything. She said, "I know that it's not by chance that God sent you this way to talk to me. He guides you and He knows that this is what I needed." Elder Vanderhoff and I were both speechless. I wasn't sure what to say but bear my testimony. So I got thinking about this experience.  Why wasn't it that Elder Vanderhoff got the impression to go a certain direction to knock doors that way? Many people would give different answers to that question, but I think it is because we are all here to learn. I am grateful that He would give me the opportunity to respond to that prompting.

I know that we are lead and guided everyday if we will just take a step back and see what the Lord has in store for us. He has people that he needs us to influence and lift, but if we are distracted, we cannot help them. As a representative of Jesus Christ, I invite each of you to earnestly pray about who you can lift and inspire in your own lives. I promise that as you do, you will be guided and prompted to help someone. It may be a member, or a non-member, but as we strive to minister to those in our surroundings we will be blessed with the Spirit of the Lord in our lives more fully. We are not only called to minister to a select few families, but to all those in our sphere of influence. I know that as we minister to others we will be able to develop Christlike love for those around us and develop Christlike attributes as well.

I love each of you! Have a great week!

Strength and Honor
"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"
Elder Noah Featherstone