Got Miracles?

Dear Friends & Family! 

What a week!  Both Sister Williams and I are sitting here at our computers trying to write our e-mails to our families and just don't even know where to start.  We don't know how to explain the events that have occurred in the past 7 days.  We have witnessed the most miraculous miracles I have seen on my mission.  The most humbling experiences.  The most joyous moments.  All in 7 days. A week to never be forgotten.  And at the rate we are going as of this week, these final three weeks will be very similar! 

I pray that the Spirit will guide me in my e-mail today.  That I will be able to express to each one of you the true gratitude and humility that I feel today.  The joy that I feel. It is a joy that I haven't ever felt before! 

To begin, last Monday night.  We stopped by Donald's apartment to see how he was doing.  As we arrived you could notice something different in him.  How do I explain this difference?  I do not know.  But the difference was real.  As we asked him about what day he had decided for baptism next week he said that he didn't want to wait until next week.  He wanted to do it this week.  As soon as possible.  So we set the date.  Friday.  May 20, 2014.  And he was baptized.  It was quite the journey all the way to the end though.  And I guess I had better start with the beginning of his story.  We met him back in February.  He was getting out of his car.  We stopped to talk to him.  His brother has just passed away.  A few days later his mother passed away.  We showed him in the Book of Mormon in Alma chapter 40 where it talks about resurrection and judgement day and it brought him so much peace.  We worked with him off and on for the month of February and March and April.  Nothing really steady.  Then he dropped an appointment and wouldn't return our calls.  We assumed he wasn't interested.  But one night we decided to stop by.  He was glad to see us.  We started teaching him again.  This time it was more regularly.  We got him an assigned fellowshipping family from the ward and he began to progress.  He started to read the Book of Mormon every day.  He began to pray every day.  He started to learn more.  Progress more.  And the adversary recognized this and started attacking.  Donald basically tried to drop us three times.  He called us and said "I'm not Mormon material".  And he also told us one time "didn't you get my voicemail?  I don't want to do this Mormon thing anymore."  The spirit kept prodding Sister Williams and I to not give up though.  So we didn't.  And we soon found out that his family was far from supportive of any of it.  It was bad.  But he wanted to keep learning.  He recognized that we had "brought him back to God".  He knew there was something.  And so two weeks ago he was supposed to get baptized.  He got nervous, he didn't feel ready, he felt his heart wasn't into it yet.  And the week following that he kept asking about faith.  What is faith?  How do we get faith?  Why is it important?  And no matter how many times we taught him about it, he still wasn't "getting it".  Until last Sunday when he came to church.  He opened up the Gospel Principles manual and found the chapter on Faith in Jesus Christ.  He got his answer.  We had stopped by last Sunday after church and asked him how church was and he told us of his experience and said he wanted to be baptized the following week.  And then Monday happened.  And then Friday he was baptized.  This past week leading up to his baptism was not easy though, until the very last second it was a journey.  Thursday he had dialysis and so we weren't able to see him.  And that made us a little nervous.  Especially because it was the day before his baptism.  But we exercised our faith and trusted it would all be okay.  Until we got a call from him about 8:15 pm on Thursday night.  We asked him how he was doing and he said "I've had a change of plans.  It's not that I don't want to do this anymore BUT …."  Okay.  Let me pause here.  That "BUT" was the longest moment in my life.  Sister Williams and I got the biggest eyes, our hearts dropped.  This was the worst thing ever.  However, what came next was not what we expected.  He was still good for baptism.  There were just a few things that had come up.  He was going to have to go to dialysis on Friday (the day of his baptism) instead of Saturday because he had to go to a funeral for his nephew that day.  So he would have dialysis and a baptism all in the same day.  But he wanted it so bad.  So he said he was still going to move forward.  So he did.  And now we come to Friday night.  It's 6:20 pm.  We are at the church.  Donald was supposed to show up at 6 pm.  He wasn't there yet.  So I called him.  And I said "how are you Donald?".  The first thing he said was "not good sister".  Once again, my heart sank.  What was it this time?  He was so close.  He told us that he had just finished at dialysis and on his drive to the church his port started bleeding on his arm.  He had blood on his white shirt and didn't have an extra one.  We told him to come to the church.  We would get it all figured out.  We were expecting a few drops of blood.  We weren't too concerned.  Until we met him in the parking lot and he had blood drenched into his shirt and pants and car.  It was all over!  Everywhere.  It was bad.  It looked like a movie where somebody gets shot or stabbed and the blood is all over them.  It was insanity.  We kept out cool though and went inside and got the first aid kit and Elder Staub came to the rescue and helped him get it all bandaged up and brought him another white shirt.  It all got taken care of and at 7 pm.  Right on the dot.  The baptism began.  And Donald got baptized.  It was incredible.  Such a strong spirit.  I was filled with so much joy.  He did it.  He made it!  Despite EVERYTHING leading up to it, he made it!  :) So proud of him.  So happy for him.  :) What a journey!  And on Sunday he received the Gift of the Holy Ghost and as he stood in front of the congregation and we all welcomed him into the ward, I saw a even stronger difference.  There was a light.  He is a changed man.  Just as I was thinking this Sister Williams leaned over to me and said "There's something different about him.  Can you see it?"  Brothers and Sisters.  The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real.  It is more real than anything else.  It's power is real.  It truly can and does change us.  It brings light into our lives.  This I know and testify of because I have witnessed it.  I bear my solemn witness of these things in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

The miracles don't stop there!  Jeanne.  Miracle.  We met her 10 days ago.  She has been to church two times.  She has been taught all the lessons (in 7 days) and is getting baptized this Saturday at 7 pm.  If this doesn't show that there is a God, I don't know what does! She is amazing!  Prepared beyond prepared.  Humble beyond humble.  Ready beyond ready.  She is incredible!  I have never witnessed something like this on my mission.  It is amazing.  In our third lesson with her this past week she told us that the hour before we had gotten there she had spent an hour reading the Book of Mormon.  She couldn't put it down!  We then asked her if she believed Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.  She told us that when we first told her about him, she said it made sense that there would be a prophet.  But she then preceded to tell us that "after I read the Book of Mormon though.  I KNEW he was a prophet of God."  The Spirit is real.  The power of the Book of Mormon is life changing.  I love this work.  I love this Gospel.  I love my Savior.  

In the middle of typing this e-mail I got a phone call.  From a member in the Hermann Park Ward.  He has a dental hygienist who he gave a copy of the Book of Mormon to a month ago.  She is already in the middle of 2nd Nephi.  He wants us to meet them at the church building tomorrow night for a church tour!  These miracles are unbelievable!  They are amazing! And they just keep coming.  :) I sure do love this work! 

Now for some other random events in my life this past week.  Although nothing trumps the previous events.  But these ones are still fun to tell!  

We had dinner with a sister from the Philippines this past week!  She made us a bunch of food.  One of which was fish.  That I think she poured about 1 cup of salt on.  It was the nastiest thing I have ever had in my life.  So much salt!  You know when you go to the ocean and you taste the salty water?  Now imagine that.  Ten times worse.  In the form of fish.  On your dinner plate.  Yuck!  She didn't even eat with us and so she had no idea.  It was hilarious!  :)  

We also got fed by a sister in our ward who has some severe mental disorders.  She feeds us often.  We pick up the food.  Often in a grocery bag that she leaves sitting on a hook on her porch all day long in the scorching summer heat of Houston.  Sound tasty yet?  We pick it up and then quickly proceed to throw it away.  Request of the Bishop.  This past week was the worst one yet.  She happened to be out on her porch this time.  So she brought the food to our car window when we pulled up.  She handed the food to my companion in the passenger seat and then talked with us for about 20 minutes.  During those 20 minutes the most rancid smell in the world filled our car and our lungs.  It was terrible!  We finally escaped.  Drove around the corner.  Found a parking lot of a school.  Jumped out of the car.  Opened all the car doors to let it air out and threw away the rancid food in the dumpster.  The smell wouldn't leave.  It was terrible!  We finally remembered that we had bug spray in the trunk.  Lemon scent.  Yep.  You better believe that we sprayed that in our car.  Don't judge us.  ;) It was totally necessary!  We just laughed and laughed all the way home. 

Remember how I told you that last p-day we went to the alligator park!?  I failed to mention to you that we didn't see a single alligator!  Ha!  Can you believe that craziness!?  So funny.  

Oh!  My birthday was last Sunday.  The 15th of June!  I am officially 21 years old.  And the people here and my family were so awesome to me!  Elder and Sister Staub are a senior missionary couple in the Alief ward who I just love and she made me a cake!  It was DELICIOUS!  So nice of her.  And Donald bought me a dress!  And the Thomas girls gave me a cookie cutter set and my family sent me the cutest package in the world!  So Sister Williams and I had a birthday celebration!  I will send pictures!  :) Thanks for all the birthday wishes by the way!  You all are amazing!  :) 

Basically, the point of today, just like every single day, is that God is so good.  He loves each one of His children.  He knows us by name.  He knows our needs.  He is always there.  

WIth Love, 

Sister Kunzler

Birthday Celebration!  More Pictures To Come! :)