September 9th, 2013

This week started with a pretty funny encounter. First, some backstory: every evening of last week, my two companions and I would get home about the same time with all our books and bags. Every night, the same man was sitting on his porch eating his dinner, watching us go by. We'd wave and exchange greetings from time to time, but that was about it. And he was always on that porch! Well, last Tuesday he finally piped up and asked, "...so, what do you guys do?" I started laughing because this must look sooo weird from his perspective -- we didn't have a car that week so we'd leave and come back in different members' cars, always at the same time... and I was just asking myself the same question about him hahaha. We explained how we were missionaries and gave him a pass-along card. I don't know why I thought it was so funny but I couldn't stop thinking about it for the rest of the night... what do you guys even do??

So we had a bit of a miracle last week. We got a referral from the member dropping us off to doorknock. She said her son's teacher lived "somewhere around here," but she wasn't sure where exactly. So when we finished that street without any luck, we opened the map and said a prayer that we might be able to find Mr. S. Just as we finished, a big group of kids crossed the street by us out of nowhere. We asked if they knew where Mr. S lived and they were like, "yeah he's just two doors down!" What. Immediate answer much? Unforunately he wasn't home (it was pretty early in the day and he's a teacher, so understandable) but we were able to go back to that address this week and stop by! He was grateful that one of his students was thinking of him and said he'd definitely check out the pamphlet we gave him, at the very least. Way nice guy, way cool experience. :)

The other cool thing this week also happened during doorknocking. (Sidenote: people say doorknocking is ineffective... and sometimes it is, but sometimes it's truly miraculous how many people we find on a single street! Sometimes it's a hard knock life, but sometimes it's the best life ever. Maybe that's just because we're sister missionaries, but still haha.) So an older, small Filippino man answers the door and is about to close it because he said he was very ill. But then we whipped out the Book of Mormon and his eyes got really big!! He grabbed for it and said he hadn't seen that book in ages! From what we could understand from his broken English, he lived in the Phillippines 25 years ago and was investigating the church or something. At any rate, that's where he first found the Book of Mormon. When he moved to Detroit, he couldn't find the book again so he just attended a local Christain church. He then moved to Lansing and stopped attending altogether... but he was sooo excited to see our little blue book! We haven't been able to meet with him since then but I'm excited to learn and to teach him more about the gospel!

People here are so great. Really. Members in the ward and people on the street. Sure we meet people who won't say more than 3 words to us but people are typically interested when we bring up the restoration of the gospel, because that's what sets this church apart from the rest of the world. I know that Jesus Christ established his church in Jerusalem when he lived and preached in those days. I know he called apostles and gave them the authority of the Priesthood, which allowed them to also work miracles through the power of God. Unfortunately, the Priesthood was lost when Christ and his apostles were put to death. The earth lost some essential truths as the Bible was translated time and time again, but our Heavenly Father wasn't going to let us live in spiritual darkness forever! So He brought about the restoration of Christ's church through the Prophet Joseph Smith, who translated the Book of Mormon -- another testament of Jesus Christ. Because we have the Book of Mormon, we are able to understand the fullness of truth that Christ's gospel contains, and that Jesus is the Christ and He lives! Because of the restoration, we have the Priesthood authority back on the eath again! I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet that leads us and guides us in these modern times, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's church, fully restored. This is the message I am sharing around the world. This is what I do, because I know it to be true. And it is such an exciting and happy message!!

I love you all and hope you're living wonderful lives full of great experiences. Also, I'd love to hear these experiences via email/snail mail when you get the chance. :) Happy birthday to my mom (4th) and my lil bro (15th)!! Love you both lots and you should be getting something in the mail this week... hopefully...

You are all amazing and Heavenly Father loves you sooooo much. Don't forget that.

Muito amor,

Sister Kaegi

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.