Monday, November 28, 2011

I was adopted this week!

So this week was quite fun!  Tuesday we were out contacting a few referrals we got on the previous Saturday that we hadn't been able to get a hold of yet, and we saw this teenage boy.  We talked to him and he was excited to see us. I asked his name and he said it was Blake.  He told us of his Grandma who recently had a heart attack and was living with them. He told us to come see his grandma because she had read the Book of Mormon 98 times!  Well ok the story gets better… we get there and she says her name is Sister Rawlings and she has been on 3 missions and that when she was 30 The Book of Mormon came to her in a dream and that No One can tell her it isn't true because she knows for a fact it is.  She is so kind and says that she is living with her daughter and her kids till she gets better.  She told us her daughter’s last name and I thought to myself that I had heard it before.  I look in the back of my planner where I have the referral list and in it I have written down her name and next to it, less active.  I know that the Lord put them in our path on Tuesday because they need us that much.  I felt bad for not being able to have the time to contact them any earlier and wished I had.  Sister Rawlings said she loved us and wanted us to come back whenever we could, she told me that I should call her Grandma Rawlings because she wanted to adopt me, so now I call her grandma.  Another great grandma to add to my list of already amazing ones. 

So the story gets better too! We go back on Friday and find out that Blake has an incredible story to tell, but his mom tells us because he wasn't there.  We had just stopped by to tell her that we got someone to bring her the sacrament that next Sunday.  So his mom told us that he had anxiety and that he used to fall into temptation and used to go to parties and sneak out and drink and stuff, and that one day 4 months ago he was at a party and called her and told her he was coming home (he had told her from the beginning that he was at a friends watching a movie).  She said ok and asked if he needed to be picked up and he said no but she needed to open the apartment gate when he buzzed in.  When they got to the gate and she didn't answer the gate the driver got inpatient and turned around and left.  Blake was starting to have a panic attack and said he needed to get out but the driver wouldn't pull over, so he hopped out the door of the moving car and hit his head on the ground and was in a coma for 2 days.  The doctors said he wouldn't survive and wouldn't be alive very long even if he did pull through.  Now he is alive and well and turning his life around.  He found new friends and doesn't do any of that anymore, he sees what happened as a life changing moment and realized that his friends were going no where and that he didn't want to be around them anymore when they made bad choices.  He is doing great now.  We are planning on going back and are going to be there to support him along the way.  I love this kid, we gave him hugs before we left and he had a smile on his face knowing he made 2 new friends. 

Thanksgiving was good too!  Although I was in a food coma for the next day and a half because I had dinner at 3 houses, way too much food!  But it was good, I missed spending time with the family but I know that you guys had a good one at home. 

We had 2 baptisms this weekend, and one of them I confirmed her a member of the church, it was a cool experience!  I love all the people here and getting to teach them about the Gospel. 




I hope you are all doing well at home! :) I miss you guys and am excited to see what happens this week. 

Love,
Elder Willis

1 comment:

  1. So glad you are having such a positive experience! We missed you at Thanksgiving - I'm happy you had plenty of great dinners! Love, Auntie Lisa

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