Sister Henson-The Gospel Blesses Families

(Message from the blog author-
I am getting really sick of posting Meagan's letters and am sooo happy to say that she is coming home on November 14th. 10:00a.m. MST. Man, I have missed her so much. I hope my postings are being read and are not in vain. Holler back.)


Hey family!
It’s been an interesting/amazing week! Just when I got a point where I thought I was perfect ;) the Lord clearly showed me my weaknesses. Ok, not perfect, but I thought I had this missionary thing figured out. Then He humbled me and showed me where He wanted me to improve. Just as I did so, the blessings flowed, poured even. You should remember the Grote (pronounced grow-tee) family. We invited them to a baptism on Saturday. The baptism was for Jennifer and Jessica Huynh, a mother and daughter that I found and taught back in Winter Quarters. It was so great to see them make that sacred covenant with Heavenly Father and have the Grote’s there to see it. It was a beautiful service. There was this sweet little family who got up to sing “I am a Child of God.” Their little boy, Porter, who is probably 5 years old, was so sweet that it brought tears to your eyes. I felt the Spirit so strongly and it made his mom get so emotional she couldn’t sing. I felt the great love that our Heavenly Father has for us. The Grote family felt the Spirit there too. Victoria, 4, was crying and said to her mom, “I can’t get my eyes to stop watering.” Shellaine asked, “Is it because you know that they will be with Jesus now?” Victoria nodded her head yes. Shellaine said she loved everything about the baptism. How simple it was and the Spirit that was there. On the way home, I sat in the backseat of their fifteen seat passenger van with Bailey and Robert and Sister Smith sat one row up with Alexa (all of the kids who are of age). We started asking them about how they felt about it and the conversation went like this:
“Have you been thinking about baptism Bailey?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you feel like you’re ready?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Should we start planning it for November 1st?”
“Uh, yeah, that sounds good.”
So I turned to Robert and had a nearly identical conversation with him. Then Sister Smith asked Alexa the same thing but she seemed a little hesitant. I turned to Bailey and Robert and told them that as soon as we got home, to go up and tell their Mom that they were ready to be baptized. As we all filed out, I caught Shellaine's face just as Bailey said, “Mom, I want to get baptized on November 1st!” “Yeah, me too!” piped in Robert. Once Alexa heard that, she expressed her desire as well. Shellaine’s jaw dropped and a look of joy came over her face. She told us later that she had been trying to decide if she felt ready and as soon as she heard her kids say that, she knew that she was ready and that it was right! The whole family is so excited. Ben, the dad, got the Priesthood last week so he will be able to baptize them! I stand amazed at this family. I continue to wait to see when they are going to have an issue or concern. We’ve taught them everything now, and they excitedly accepted everything that we taught. They have applied all of the principles of the Gospel that they weren’t living yet, which were few. I’ve waited, prepared and prayed to be able to teach a family like this my entire mission. I feel like it’s the best going away present the Lord could give me. He knows that leaving here will be the hardest thing I ever have to do, and He found a way to ease that. Just another way I know that He knows and loves me. I love the tender mercies of the Lord.
We also were able on Saturday, to help a less active member, Brother Ruiz to do some service. He often volunteers to do these mini home makeovers for veterans in Omaha. We invited some other missionaries to help and we painted all morning! (Thanks Mom for letting me help you paint, I was the only missionary there who had any experience!) But I’m glad that you’ve almost finished the house ;) Brother Ruiz has the biggest heart. He has a desire to get back to church and has asked us to teach him the lessons as a refresher. He committed to coming to Church for the next fast Sunday so that will be a great blessing.
We were able to serve in the Trail Center this weekend for the first time this transfer, and what a good time to go. I came out of the gallery at the end of a tour and ran right smack into Sister Beck, you know, the General Relief Society President! I was standing there with some recent converts from Missouri and they got to meet her as well. The woman thanked Sister Beck for her addresses, telling her that she had watched many of them. Sister Beck responded, “Thank your Heavenly Father.” I liked that. She is an amazing woman and you could feel the Spirit radiating from her. She was in town to speak at an Adult Singles Conference.
I’ll share one more quick story then I’ve got to run. Last week, Sister Smith got a letter from a lady in her ward and she stuck a $20 in there, said to take her companion out to lunch. One day, we were having a rough morning and decided to treat ourselves. It took us forever to pick a place to go, but we ended up in this little smoothie shop that does wraps and sandwiches. We ate a nice little lunch and then we felt “inspired” to get a cookie to go. As we walked up to the counter to get one, the girl working in the back had to come up to help us because the normal cashier was gone. She saw our tags and asked us about it. We taught her a very brief apostasy/restoration and she was interested! She gave us her information and we have started teaching her, her name is Kayla. She is so open and sweet. I found it interesting to see a series of small promptings that lead us to her.
Well, thanks for your prayers and support. Keep them coming!
Love, Sister Henson

p.s. Please excuse any terrible spelling or grammar errors, I had to write this really quickly. Plus, I haven't been in school for a long time, it's not my fault!