Farmington Week Six

Hello, friends!! I just realized I accidentally put Farmington week 4 in my email last week but it was actually week 5.. Sorry about that!

Many more miracles this week!! We found 3 new people to teach!! That's 5 in the past 2 weeks!! Which is essentially a record for this area. And GUESS WHAT! They are all AMAZING. I love them. (No surprise). Their names are Sally (Johnny's mother!!), Miriam (from last Friday!!), and Diane. You haven't heard about Diane yet, but WOW was that first lesson amazing.

But first, let's back up to my first day in Farmington. My first day here we were walking through a little neighborhood near our apartment and we passed a lady just getting out of her truck to go inside. We talk to everyone, so we crossed the street and talked to her. Her name's Josephine and it just so happened that she was baptized when she was younger but hasn't been very active in the church since then, but she had been wanting to get back into it. SO we scheduled a time for us to come by and meet with her to help her with that. Fast forward to Week 3 and Sister Darlington and Sister Dame (the sister I went on exchanges with last week when we found Miriam) went to that appointment while I was in Bloomfield for the day with Sister Allred, so I hadn't really gotten to know Josephine because I had never sat down and had a lesson with her. Sister Darlington told me about the discussion she had with her and Sister Dame and said Josephine had basically told them, "I want to learn about all this stuff I've forgotten. Next time you come over I want to learn about the Holy Ghost, so come ready to teach that." So fast forward to last Tuesday, and that's what we did. We went by her apartment ready to teach her about the Holy Ghost, but when we got there she said, "Actually I want to learn about the different books of scripture. And I'm going to invite my roommate, Diane, to join us." (Here's where Diane comes in). Diane isn't a member of the church, but she was interested in hearing what we had to say, so she came downstairs and sat in. We taught them about the Bible and how its written by prophets and then we drew out a little illustration of what the Book of Mormon is and how one of the prophets in biblical times (during the Book of Jeremiah) was warned by the Lord to leave Jerusalem and ended up crossing the ocean and landing in the Americas. Then we explained how their family grew and split into two groups and eventually covered a lot of the two continents, and how the prophets Mormon and Moroni compiled the plates of all the records and burried them in a hillside to protect them until the Lord knew it was time to reveal them again. Which led to a discussion of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ! We told them Joseph Smith's story: the First Vision and then the angel Moroni appearing to him and leading him to the plates and OH MY. The Spirit was so incredibly strong. We were both wondering how the lesson was going to go with having Diane there and wanting to teach her all the basics since she isn't a member, while still answering Josephine's question, and the Holy Ghost completely led the discussion to make it happen!! Honestly, I know that He was telling me what to say because most of the words I said really were not my own. Diane was pretty quiet the whole time, just soaking it all in, but at the end she says, "Do you have any of those books that I could have?" And we said YES!! And gave her a Book of Mormon :) She told us she'll start reading it and ask whatever questions she has next week. It was so amazing!!!! I am SO excited to answer her questions!!

I have a strong testimony that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that He has given it to us as a gift, working hand in hand with the Bible to teach us how to return home to Him. But more than that, the Book of Mormon teaches us who our Savior is. It teaches us what the character of Jesus Christ is and how we can come unto Him to be washed clean. How to have the weight of our past sins and mistakes removed from us by Him. How to feel peace in Him, even when life is anything but peaceful. And how to feel joy throughout the process as we stand with Him. I love the Book of Mormon for the personal relationship it has helped me gain with Jesus Christ, who I love even more each and every day.

From Farmington with love,
Sister Bohman


Nice things to read:
- "Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into Our Lives" by President Russel M. Nelson (General Conference April 2017)
- "Israel, Israel, God Is Calling" by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (YSA devotional from 2012)