Elder Field Has Two Really Cool Experiences With Prayer

Buckle up. This is a long one.

Guys, prayer works. I know it sounds silly for a missionary who has been out for a little bit to say that. But it really does. It's so cool to think that the almighty God is willing and wanting to hear our prayers and he always answers them, IF we are going to act on that answer. We had 2 really cool experiences with both the Busby family and the Grindle family that I will talk about. But boy this was a busy week.

We had some fun times this week haha. We got to do 2 different exchanges this week. One with the Alamo creek elders (Elder Mcgladrie and Elder Anderson) and also with the APs (Elder Harker and Elder Angulo) the exchange with Elder Mcgladrie was a lot of fun. We worked hard, and we were also able to council together about some companionship issues. They are kinda going through a rough patch. But after we got that all squared away we did some finding, did some service and were just able to go out and hit the pavement. It's cool to go on exchanges with Greenies. Just to see them light up about everything good that happens. It's cool.

But the best day would have to have been on Thursday, the morning was kicked off with interviews with President, which is always awesome. Before my interview, I talked a lot with sister Wright about the fires in Santa Rosa and the damage that happened...... It's so sad..... I love Santa Rosa and to hear how damaged it got, and some of them members whom I have grown to love lost their homes is heart breaking. It's going to be an emotional drive through Santa Rosa on the 31st (Mission leadership council) but after the interviews we rushed back to Vacaville (our interviews were in Fairfield) where we met with the APs and the Spanish elders. Elder Harker came with Elder Martinez and myself for the day. I love Elder Harker. He is actually a fellow Pleasant Grovian. So, it was cool to talk about things back home and people we both knew, all while working super hard. He is a friend for life. Such a good guy. Well Thursday we could not slow down, we went from appointment to appointment. It was sick! We kept making jokes that this is what it's like to be a Utah missionary. We had a lesson with a new investigator named Nisha Britton. She is way cool. Taught her all about the Book of Mormon and how Christ's church was restored. She seemed super interested, so we set up a return appointment. :) so exciting. We then had a meeting with President Bell that day where we discussed what we were going to talk about at the next meeting we were having that day with all of the stake leadership. I love President Bell. He has taught me so much on the mission. He is in the mission presidency. (Yeah, I didn't know that existed either) we work with him a lot. But he had given me an assignment to memorize the 121 section of the Doctrine and Covenants from 34 to the end of the chapter as well as study all about all the places where mighty prayer is used in the Book of Mormon. It was a cool study. I learned a lot. After the meeting we then hustled over to a place where we were going to have a lesson with a less active, when we ran into a lady named Lydia. She was getting out of her car when we contacted her. We asked her if she had 5 mins and then she looked puzzled and then her face lit up. She looked at us and said "Wait! Are you guys Mormons??? Oh my gosh I lived in Thailand for a little bit teaching English and I saw you guys all over the place, you spoke Thai and I wanted you guys to come up and talk to me, I was always curious about what you had to say, of course you can have 5 mins, let's hear"....... That was the most welcomed response I have ever had on my mission, so we jumped on that and taught about the restoration of the church. Gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her to read it. She said she would read it and then assured us "haha you guys aren't trying to convert me, are you? Because I have worked sales and I know your tactics". We assured her we don't sell things. We invite people to read and find out for themselves. She said okay, and we got her phone number and address and committed her to read the first couple of pages before we text her this week. We will see if that goes anywhere but she was pretty funny. Most of the time when someone says you won't convert me, they are usually the ones who get baptized ;)

Shortly after that we had a lesson with the Grindles. We were going to talk about prophets and then work our way into the word of wisdom, when the lesson took a turn and we stayed on prophets and the Book of Mormon being evidence of the validity or Joseph Smith. They said that it was hard to believe that God had called a prophet again, we asked her if she had prayed about it. They said they hadn't so we challenged them right then and there to pray. And boy..... never have I heard a more sincere prayer in my life. Liney was the one who offered it, and she did amazing. She really meant what she was saying. She hit all the points haha, she asked if the Book of Mormon was true she also asked if Joseph Smith was a prophet. When we finished the prayer we all knelt there in silence. Never has Elder Field prayed so hard in his life..... Mighty prayer is what I would have called it. The spirit was so strong. We ended the lesson and left after there were many tears and what not. Cool part is Liney minus the family came to the church. Little Emily was sick otherwise they all would have come. We had a conversation with her at church about what she felt during the prayer. She explained she felt a bunch of different feelings. Some good, some just remembering the bad things she had done in life or the things she could have done better. So of course, the scripture Ether 12:27 came to mind. Which is the one where it says:

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

I think we sometimes forget the beginning of that scripture. "If men come to me, I will show unto them their weakness". When we come closer to God he shows us our weaknesses. When we take the time to try and draw closer to him, he is going to immediately start working with us. I learned the fact early on in my mission. So, we explained that to her and she asked the question every missionary wants to hear. "How do I get rid of all these feelings? They occupy my mind like crazy and I can't get them out". We told her about baptism and the blessing it could be for her and her life. She said she would think about it. I really hope they will get the confirmation that our words are true.

*****congrats you have made it thru to here!! Just an apology for the length of the email haha. It's a long one so sorry for the novel!! ******

Now on to our experience with the Busbys. We went over just for a 5 min visit to drop off an invitation to our monthly dessert group (fellowshipping activity) and Mark, the dad, opened the door. We told him we just wanted to drop this off, then he looked at us and said, "Well do you have a few minutes? Don't want you to waste a visit out here.” So, we went in and talked to him. He told us he was struggling and was discouraged with the whole religion thing. He then broke down and said how bad he wants to know if God is there and wants to have answers to his questions. I was so moved by his sincerity and his desire to know. It brought me to tears to hear about events in his life and how he wants to give up all the evil in his heart. It was one of those tender moments I will never forget. I hope I have that same sincerity each and every day in my life. So, to comfort him we had a spontaneous lesson about prayer and revelation. We read in Alma 22 when King Lamoni’s father is learning about God and how he asks a specific question along with saying he will "give up all his sins to know of God's existence" we shared how that's how we can receive answers. That's what real intent means. Is being willing to act on those answers. He mentioned how he has always been scared to ask a specific question. Because he is afraid he won't get an answer. We told him that's where faith comes in. He is still shakey on the faith concept, so we told him that's what we would teach about. But before we left, his wife came home from work. And we asked Mark, "What are you going to do if you get an answer that all of this was true?" We made a list of things he would do. We looked at him and asked him, "Now mark, do you promise that if you get an answer you will act on it?" He nodded yes. So Elder Martinez and I said, "Well, let's go kneel in prayer then." We figured it worked well with Liney so, we would try it again. I had faith he would receive and answer. As soon as we kneeled down the spirit was present. We told Mark that this needed to be the most sincere and specific prayer he has ever said. He nodded. The question he decided to ask in his prayer was, "Do you love me?" I started immediately tearing up when I heard this. That was the only question he asked. After which we sat in silence for about 5 - 7 minutes.

Just feeling.

As the love of our Heavenly Father rested on all of us. We just sat there, all in tears, again I had prayed as hard as I could. After the silence was broken, he thanked us and mentioned that he will definitely be more specific in his prayers. We assigned them to read Alma 32 before we meet again. And to ponder on the feelings we felt tonight. Mark nodded at that comment. I know he felt something. Mark can no longer deny that God loves him. And neither can I. God loves all of us. I promise all of you. If you lack that knowledge, ask Him. BUT you need to ask with all sincerity of heart with real intent. And if you get that answer, your life needs to change or at least it should.

We will see if Mark is ready to act :)

Okay, that’s all. I'm pooped just remembering these experiences.

I think I will finish this up with testimony.

God is good. He is merciful, he is all knowing. And most of all he is a loving Heavenly Gather. Jesus is the Christ. Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw. And the Book of Mormon is the word of God.

Prayer works.

I know this...

I hope you all have a wonderful week. I miss you all and hope and pray that the almighty watches over you. Love you!

God is Good

-Elder Riley Field

Pictures -

The most intense game of Jenga ever played