MIRACLES from Elder Connors

Elder Fairwell's current companion, Elder Connors, has been sharing some of the miracles they experience every week. Elder Connors gave me (Elder Fairwell's mom) permission to share them with you. It is so sweet to hear how the Lord is blessing them and the people of Liberia!

1/27/14

i am the companion to your great son elder fairwell. he is a great missionary and i am very lucky to be his companion. he asked me today to quickly forward these two stories to you and the family that he didnt have time to write himself. :)

One man we are teaching is named G. he is the security guard at our apartment building. we have only taught him two times. but i want to share about those two times. the first time we went to him we taught him lesson three and left him a lesson one pamphlet. the second time we went we were on exchange and i was with elder Price. when we went to meet him i had somehow forgotten that we had not yet taught him lesson one and we just started to teach him about the BOM. but before we started he had a few questions about the lesson one pamphlet. this man understood in his heart the Lesson one pamphlet more than some members do. and we havent even taught it to him yet. he asked a few questions before we started teaching, all about that pamphlet. 1) how do prophets recieve the word of God from God? 2) What is the significance of Joseph Smith as a Prophet in the Latter-Days? 3) how does the Priesthood Authority work? 4) and what is the significance of the Book Of Mormon as a convincing power that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet? after we answered a few of his questions and started to teach him about the Book of Mormon he was almost jumping out of his seat to receive his own copy of the Book of Mormon and read it for himself and he testified to us that he knows the book is true and that joseph smith is a true prophet and that the Church is the ONLY TRUE CHURCH ON EARTH. WOW. it was only later when i was describing this lesson to my companion after the exchange that my companion informed me that we hadnt taught him lesson one yet. haha. that man truly is the highlight of the year. once he finds a way around his work schedule, to come to church, he will be baptized in no time.

WITH HAPPINESS AND JOY,

Elder Conners


2/3/14

miracles!!!!

one is with one family we are teaching and their small children. The dad has known for a long time that the church is true but his wife "has her own church" we have been praying and praying and working and studying hard to know how to help her. she couldnt make time for us or anything and we were loosing hope. but we kept working. then last week we went to her little market to teach her. as we walked up she had a true smile on her face. the first one i have seen on her. and as we taught she liked it and after we finished she started talking about a reading assignment in the BOM that we gave her, and almost forgot about. she thanked us for giving it to her and said that it really touched her heart!!!! thats the progress we have made with her. she isnt ready to come to church yet. but she is truly making amazing progress, progress that hasnt happened in a long time with her.

another one is with that assignment president gave us when he came to visit the branch. to go and baptize the wives to the husbands that want to go to the temple. the one woman we are teaching was a little difficult. she had her own church and didnt really believe in the LDS church. but we continued to visit as often as possible and gave service when allowed. (the only service i can remember doing is washing some clothes for her.) but we did our best and prayed for a miracle. and as i said on sunday, she just told us one day as we were teaching L3 that she wants to join the church. that she has been meaning to for a long time and that she knows its true and she thanked us for encouraging her. then on sunday she was the first one to the church, even before the members.

another miracle wrought by Faith that was pretty amazing was with a girl we are teaching. she is a truly converted woman that lives with brother J. she will be a great addition to the branch along with her half sister. but m. didnt want to be baptized without her REAL fathers approval. and her father happens to be muslim. we talked to her a little about how it is her decision, that she is old enough and that her legal guardians (the J.s) are the ones that she should listen to. but she demanded that she wanted her fathers apporval. also, she would fervently pray soooo very hard that her father would pick up the phone and approve. so, we decided to do something. we went there every morning to read out of the BOM for about 5 minutes and then she would call her father (who is in the bush and doesnt really pick up his phone, ever) and also set a baptism date for feb 8. we did this almost every single day for almost two weeks. then as we were sitting the other day looking for another place to read out of the BOM and my companion got the idea to go through the baptismal questions. i was interviewing m. and my companion was interviewing p. we were just sitting in the same room letting them know how the interview would be. but when i finished interviewing musu the spirit was very strongly testifying to both of us that she NEEDS to be baptized feb 8. so i asked her "even if your father doesnt pick the phone, or even if he says NO. are you willing and ready to be baptized on feb 8?" she looked down and smiled and looked up at me. the she resolutely said "yes, i will". a few seconds later my companion finished with patience and musu picked up her phone to call her father. keep in mind that he has not picked up his phone in two weeks and is a strong muslim and everyone was sure he would say NO. she dialed the number and almost instantly he picked up the phone and after talking to him for a few minutes she came back and informed us that he had said YES. even now as i write this, tears come to my eyes to see how happy she was. and i am sooo happy also. we then taught her how Faith works and how when she said that she was willing to follow the Lord no matter what, then the miracle was able to come to her.

some few people we are teaching that werent like amazing miracles like the other ones but that are still really good people are p. and h. they just called us off the street and asked us to teach them. promise is really solid. she can read well and understands most of what we are explaining very well. and both of them just seem to keep coming to church and wanting us to come and teach them. its really cool to see. also H. speaks french and we have gotten the books for her. before she always felt left out but then when we got the books for her she was just the happest person on earth and couldnt and cant stop reading and everyday she has more and more of the light of christ in her that makes her happier and happier.

WITH HAPPINESS AND JOY,

Elder Conners

 

 

2/10/14

 

So we had another miracle this week with a man named B. It was on a sunday after church and as we went to all of our appointments we were being bounced, like usual on sundays. So we were getting a little let down and tired. the day was almost over, and even my companion and I made the decision of going to the beach because we were so tired. Just to sit down for one minute, we felt as if we deserved it. But something strange happened. As we started walking our feet were moving along the road and even as we both thought we were going to the beach, our feet were just moving in a different direction. And even we started to ask eachother "companion, where are we going?" then the other would reply "I dont know. Where are we going?". But we just kept walking in that different direction. After a few minutes of walking we ran into an investigator we have been teaching, B. He was selling gasoline on the side of the road. We stopped just to say hello to him and then to go, but as we talked to him he said he had a question from the reading in the Book Of Mormon. Haha. He surprised us, he was actually really reading from the Book Of Mormon! He said that in our next meeting he would like us to answer his doubt for him. But the Spirit just prompted me very strongly "Answer his doubt now. Your not doing much right now anyways." So thats what I said. "Is it alright if we answer you now?" He was very ecstatic and said yes. So we sat down and said a quick prayer and just went straight to his question in 3Nephi about the Godhead. It was a very easy question to answer because the Spirit just came into the lesson sooo very strong and testified of the truth of what we were saying. So I took advantage of the moment and asked him if he was praying about the BOM. He said yes. My companion asked if he felt like God was answering his prayers. He said yes, that he knows the book to be the true word of God and that Joseph Smith is a prophet. So we asked him, do you feel you can be prepared to be baptized on March 1? He replied. "For the third time?" (He has been baptized by sprinkling and then when he found out about immersion he was baptized again in a different church.) I answered him by telling him that now he knows Joseph Smith to be a true Prophet that he needs to be baptized again not only of immersion but by proper authority. He smiled and said he would have to pray about it. We encouraged him to do so and he smiled even wider and said these words "I hope he answers me soon." That line almost brought me to tears of joy, because I was so filled with the Spirit. It was a great lesson and another miracle here in New Kru Town! :)

Life is A.W.E.S.O.M.E.!!!!!!!! My mission hasn't been any happier or better than it is right now. I feel like the Second coming could happen right now and I wouldn't really feel any different. I truly want to thank you and the Lord for this privilege to be with your son. thank you for training him up right.

WITH HAPPINESS AND JOY,

Elder Conners

2/17/14

 

Again I have been having a super happy awesome week! One of the miracles we have had this week is with Sister P., the woman of a family we have been working with for some time now. It is the same P. that i talked about two weeks ago. But another miracle happened this week! She came to church! We weren't able to follow up with them yet to see how she enjoyed it, but she seemed to like it and the members were fellow shipping her also.

Another miracle that we have had with two investigators that called us off the street to teach them. P. and H. Both of them are in their mid to late twenties and ever since they called us to teach them, they have been progressing very well. One week ago we taught them the Law of Chastity. Both of them had long time boyfriends that didn't want anything to do with marriage. They accepted this commandment better than I have seen in a long time. And even that same day we talked to them they went to their boyfriends and broke up and have been keeping the commandment since. One sad part is that one of them has a young daughter and the other is pregnant, she has not admitted to it but we are sure of it. The spirit testified of it when they started to ask questions about it. The best part of teaching them is to see how much happier they already are and how much the Light of Christ is almost physically shining forth from them. I cant wait to baptize them. They will be a great addition to the kingdom of God. :)

WITH HAPPINESS AND JOY,
Elder Conners

2/24/14

So our miracles of the week here! :)

First was with L, who is confined to a wheel chair. Which is very bad in a country like this. All she does is sit in her front porch cutting soap. She doesnt know anything about where she is living. Where anything is or what anything is. Its so sad. But one day she just called us off the street and told us that God had directed her to call us off the street so that she could join the Church, even though she had never been to any church in her entire life. Some few days before the baptism, her Aunty finally voiced her opinion about the Church and L. being baptized. She wanted L. to have no part with the Church. So what we did was we involved a few members, one girl who is L's friend from Church, the branch President, and also one lady who is about the Auntys age. But every time we went to her house to talk to the Aunty, the Aunty wasn't there. We thought that we were going to have to push the baptism date back a week but we kept trying to talk to her every single day. But to no avail. But then, randomly and suddenly, L. told us that her Aunty changed her mind and that she was happy about L's decision to join the Church and be baptized. And even since, we have sat down and talked with the Aunty and she was very very happy that we were teaching L. It was a miracle overnight, wrought by the faith and works of all those involved. The Spirit touched her heart overnight. A true Miracle.

Another miracle was about my sickness. I have been sick for about a week and a half. But after I finally got my antibiotics last thursday and started taking them. so today I feel 99% better. Its all uphill from here! I really just cant describe how happy I am.  Period. Indescribable. Its an absolute relief to not be laying in bed all day in pain.

WITH HAPPINESS AND JOY,

Elder Conners