April 21, 2014

Greetings!

Another week has come and gone! Easter Pageant is over, summer is already here, and May is quickly approaching! Crazy stuff is happening here in Mesa!

Well, my week mainly consisted of Easter Pageant, Easter Pageant, and Easter Pageant! We went there three times this week. We worked the ground on Tuesday and Thursday and on Wednesday we came with an investigator. Even though we were gone from our area a lot we experienced a lot of sweet miracles to compensate :)

Many miracles happened on Tuesday while we worked the Pageant grounds. We were talking with a lot of people and it was CROWDED. I mean, there's only 10,000 chairs set up and people in every direction. It's crowded and loud so it was hard to talk to people and have a decent conversation with yelling "WHAT?!?!?" all the time. We had many sweet tender miracles because we got to see so many people that we love from past areas! Sister Hartley and I about died when we saw Jaimie and Clyde Bawden. We love them so much and it was so sweet to be able to see them again. Love them so much! Then, as we were trying to find a seat before the show started I saw my dear friend from Highgroves YSA Heather Frost!! I love her with all my heart! If I wasn't a missionary, we would be best friends. She's so kind and loving she makes my heart melt! Another tender mercy from The Lord! The Pageant was amazing as usual and we got to feel the powerful Spirit that is there. I'm comin' back next year and watching it everyday!

On Wednesday we came to the Pageant again with our investigator Preston! He loved it and really appreciated that we invited him to come. We were even more appreciative that he came and loved it! We got to go to the Visitors' Center before and see the new art exhibit by Annie Henrie that is about families and the love of Christ. It was stunning. I loved it!

Okay, super big awesome miracle happened on Thursday. Actually there are many.... Another of our investigators, Erica, came to the Pageant as well! She's older and very sweet. But she's stubborn! As we were getting everything ready for her to go (time, place, and a ride there...) she kept saying that she didn't want to burden anyone or make them go out of their way for her. We always had to reassure her that the couple that was taking her were planning on going and that they were happy to take her. But she kept being stubborn. Eventually we told her that we would see her there and what time the members would be at her house to pick her up! That stubborn woman. Well, she ended up coming and LOVED the pageant. She loved everything about it and loved the Visitors' Center. This was a miracle! OKAY. NOW HERE'S WHERE THE BIG MIRACLE HAPPENED.......

So, Mormon.org is doing a campaign on Facebook called "Because of Him" and they use #BecauseofHim to share the message of Easter with everyone. We got an email from the Assistants asking us to use the hash-tag on Facebook whenever we post something about Jesus Christ.All three of us were on board and we began thinking of ideas we could do to share this great easter message with everyone. Well, Wednesday afternoon we had an idea to create a banner that had #BecauseofHim on it and take pictures with members of the Easter Pageant cast and post them on Facebook. Later in the evening we had an idea that we should get the man who plays Christ to take a picture as well. How cool would that be to have a Christ sharing the easter message of Christ? We thought this was genius and so Sister Hartley messaged a member in the easter pageant and told her our plan and asked if she could talk to Christ and ask if he could stay in costume after the pageant so we could get a picture. Well, we get there on Thursday and we see the member that Sister Hartley messaged. This member had sad news for us.

She said that this is the only pageant in the world where Christ is actually in it (physically.... we can see him and hear him) and the Church has policies where people can't take pictures with anyone dressed as Christ.  She said that if we really wanted to do it we would have to ask the Visitors' Center Directors who would then have to talk to the Easter Pageant President to get permission. As much as we would have liked a picture with Christ, we didn't have the time to do that. We were a little disappointed, but we decided that we would still take pictures with cast members. After the show the member literally ran up to us, and out of breath she said that she doesn't know why but Christ is taking pictures RIGHT NOW, so GO!!!!!!!! We RAN to the Visitors' Center and grabbed our banner and RAN to the stage. And there he was! He was taking pictures with anyone who wanted one! We couldn't believe it. Our plan was going to work! We asked him if we could get a picture and told him our plan. He was so excited and he invited whatever cast members were around to get in the picture. We have some really good ones that are on Facebook (LDS Missionaries, Mesa Arizona Temple Visitors' Center Page, and more).  Afterward we were in shock of what just happened. This was a miracle from The Lord. This was not supposed to happen. We don't know why he was walking around taking pictures with people but we know that The Lord made this happen. There are thousands of people who have seen this picture and have been blessed by it. It is so amazing. I'm still in shock over what happened. AH! It's so exciting! Please! If you are on Facebook, take time and create a post using #BecauseofHim and share the message of our Savior with everyone! It's amazing to see how The Lord is using social media to hasten his work. Facebook, if used properly and done in the right spirit, is a powerful tool. I'm so grateful that The Lord has allowed this mission to use this tool. I see that if there's a righteous desire and faith is applied that miracles can happen. So wonderful!

That was a pretty big miracle. But wait! There's more! We had 5 investigators at church on Sunday (unheard of in our area)! Man, I wish there were holidays every week so that sweet miracles and tender mercies like these and happen more and more and more!

I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. He means the world to me. Knowing that he suffered for me and my sins, burdens, mistakes, and sicknesses so I would not have to brings peace to my soul. I know that as we keep the commandments, have faith in Christ, and do all the He has asked us to do will bring all the blessings of the Atonement into our lives. I do not know what I would do without the knowledge that I have a Savior and Redeemer and that #BecauseofHim I can have a second chance in life.

Love, Sister Dunn