Sing A New Song

Hello Friends and Family!                      

This week has been another fantastic week here in LaGrange! I always feel very blessed to be able to serve as a missionary for the Lord, and I always see it as an honor to serve Him here in Georgia. This past week Elder Sieverts and I were able to see many miracles, and I just wanted to share a few of them with you. It is my hope that you can each feel of the love that I have for the Savior Jesus Christ. My testimony is strong of the importance of missionary work, and that this is Christ’s Church on the Earth today. Now, where to even begin?

This past Wednesday Elder Sieverts and I just prayed and prayed to be able to find new people to teach. We have been struggling being able to meet with individuals progressively, so we have gotten to go contacting most of the time. We have especially prayed to find a family to teach, as well. Because the message we share is for the family unit, always. Elder Sieverts and I felt prompted to go knocking doors down a particular road, and at one of the very first doors we knocked on, a young woman answered with two children. I introduced who we were, and felt prompted to ask her, “Have you ever heard of the Mormons before?” She smiled and said yes, but stated she didn’t know too much about us. I stated that we believed families could be together forever through the teachings of the Savior Jesus Christ, and I asked her, “How much does your family mean to you?”  As the conversation progressed, she became more and more open, and eventually asked, “Can I please have one of those books [pointing to the Book of Mormon]?” She has since been open to meeting with us, and wanting to know more about our Church. Only a few doors later, we knocked into another door, and another young woman answered. I said, “We are the missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints talking about how Christ’s church has been restored to the Earth, and that there is evidence of this in a Book called the Book of Mormon. Could this be something that we could tell you more about?” She paused, and then asked us to come back another day. We stopped by about two days later, she let us in, and her whole family was there! It was such a miracle! We were able to share with them the message of the Restoration, and then the mother of the family (whose daughter had answered the door the first day) said, “You know, my husband and I were just barely talking about how we needed a new church to go to. Then y’all showed up!” I could feel the Spirit touch me so deeply that we were supposed to be there, and that Heavenly Father had allowed us to find them when they were open to hearing the message of the Gospel. We hope that we can continue to teach and meet with them.  Before we had left the house, the daughter had already read four pages of the Book of Mormon, and commented, “I can’t wait to read it all!”

It was amazing how, in just one day, our prayer was answered twofold about finding a family

to teach. I do know that prayer is necessary, and that our Heavenly Father is ready and waiting to answer any prayer we may send His way. There are countless other miracles I could talk about from this past week, but I wanted to instead just close with my testimony, as always, about the Gospel. We were able to have Zone Conference this past week as well, and the Spirit touched me deeply at a particular point in the conference. Our mission has been blessed to receive some new senior couples, and they took some time at the beginning of Zone Conference to introduce themselves. The last senior couple to stand were the Cunningham's. With much effort, Elder Cunningham took the arm of his wife, and made his way to the front of the room. They both stood there, and then Sister Cunningham introduced both of themselves. She stated, “Elder Cunningham had a stroke several years ago and struggles to speak. However, we are so excited to be here and serve you, while you serve others.” As they were about to sit down, Elder Cunningham paused, and opened his mouth. No words came. Silence filled the room. You could tell that Sister Cunningham was nervous, but remained by his side. Then, with some more effort, he pushed out a sentence. He said, “I was told I would never speak again.” You could feel the Spirit just sweep the room, and he continued, very, very, slowly to form a thought, and carefully say each word (with about a 15 second pause between each word). He said, “I was told if I read the Book of Mormon out loud for one hour every day for a year, I would be able to speak again. I know the Book of Mormon is true.” Almost every missionary in the room was emotional, and then he said, “Let us sing for you.” We were all caught off guard by what he meant. His wife smiled, with tears rolling down her checks, and then asked President Grayson if they could take a few moments more. He agreed, of course, and Sister Cunningham then explained, “Our bishop in Wisconsin told us that we should try to sing, instead of talking. We took his advice, and now we hope you can enjoy a quick song.” I kept thinking to myself, and asking myself, how a man, who could barely talk, could sing? Then suddenly, with a little piano introduction, they both began to sing. Elder Cunningham no longer had any struggle, and it was the most beautiful song I had ever heard. Tears flowed freely from all in the room. It was nothing more than a simple hymn verse; however, no musical piece had ever touched me so deeply by, and through, the Holy Spirit. It was a moment on my mission I will not soon forget. After the song ended, Elder Cunningham said one thing that has stayed with me since. He said, with much struggle, “I have been changed. It is true.”

I hope that our faith in Christ can change us, such as it has changed Elder and Sister Cunningham. May we ever remember the words from Psalms 100 verse 2, “Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.” Whatever our struggle may be, whatever our trial may be, or whatever suffering we may be enduring, may we find a new song, and let us sing it before Him. I know this work is true, and I do know the Book of Mormon to be Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father is real, and loves you.

Until Next Week-

Elder Robb