Called to Serve

I have quite the story to share with you.
Moroni 7:26-28
"And after that he came men also were saved by faith in his name; and by faith, they become the sons of God. And as surely as Christ liveth he spake these words unto our fathers, saying: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased because Christ hath ascended into heaven, and hath sat down on the right hand of God, to claim of the Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men? For he hath answered the ends of the law, and he claimeth all those who have faith in him; and they who have faith in him will cleave unto every good thing; wherefore he advocateth the cause of the children of men; and he dwelleth eternally in the heavens. And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men."

I know that these words are true. I know that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is a God of miracles, and he works according to the faith if His children.

This week we experienced an incredible miracle. Tonya is someone we've been teaching for a couple months. She is amazing. The sisters before me were on her street one day and felt impressed to knock on her door. Tonya invited them in and they had a very powerful lesson and they've been teaching her ever since. Tonya's brother has been in jail for a couple of years and his release date is Aug. 3 so for the last few months she's been preparing for him to be released. She's sacrificed a lot in order to help provide her brother with an apartment and all of the basic life necessities he'll need. When prisoners are released from jail they walk out of there with the things they walked into jail with- nothing else. She's been very stressed trying to figure out how to afford everything and figure out all the details. This last Tue. we were trying to find a house of a former investigator, and were having no luck. Finally after several failed attempts of trying to locate this person, we decided to go knock on a house across from Tonya's. We pulled onto her street and parked the car a couple houses down from hers. As we were getting out of the car we got a call from her. She had been crying and told us that her brother Eric was not getting of jail in 3 days. She asked if we were close... 'conveniently' we were. We walked right over and started talking with her. Turns out the prison was running Eric's papers through for his release and found a misdemeanor he had never been charged for. They told him that best case scenario, he would only have to serve another 6 months. Most likely he'd serve another 18 months, and at the max 3 more years (I think). Tonya cried and said she couldn't imagine what her brother must be going through... to have the hope of being released in just a few days ripped out from under him like would be unbearable. As we talked sister VanCamp had the impression to talk about miracles. We read her the scripture I wrote to you- Moroni 7:26-28 and Sister VanCamp felt impressed to tell her that if we had faith enough, God could still release her brother from prison on Aug. 3, she then invited Tonya to fast with us and petition the Lord to still release her brother on that day, if it was the Lords will. And if it wasn't, that he would consecrate our fast for giving Eric the strength he would need to endure another year and a half of prison. Tonya began to cry and said she was so touched that we would be willing to do that. We agreed to eat dinner together the next day and then start our fast. We all prayed about what we should fast for and spent all day Wed. thinking about it. When we gathered together that night, our answer was the same: That he will be released from jail on Aug. 3. Tonya wanted to fast that Eric would have strength, his lawyer would be knowledgeable and caring, and that his judge would have compassion. I knew all of these things she wanted were inspired of the Lord.  Together the three of us knelt in prayer and one by one we all offered up our own prayers to God and started our fast.
The next day I woke up and the Lord brought to my mind the story of Ammon and his brethren. I remembered that when the Lamanites scattered the kings flock, the servants despaired. Ammon, however, found great joy. The scriptures say, "Now when Ammon saw this his heart was swollen within him with joy; for, said he, I will show forth my power unto these my fellow-servants, or the power which is in me, in restoring these flocks unto the king, that I may win the hearts of these my fellow-servants, that I may lead them to believe in my words." I felt in my heart that this was what the Lord was doing for Tonya and her family. Sister VanCamp, likewise, felt that this was true. Her faith was unwavering and remarkable. She strengthened me and buoyed me up to have greater faith. She was truly the Lords instrument in this circumstance, it was remarkable to watch him work through her.
So the day progressed onward and it was hard! This was one of the hardest fasts I've ever done. Our bodies were exhausted by the end of the day, past the point of hunger and to the point of complete fatigue. Sister VanCamp kept saying, "It has to be this hard, because it's a really big miracle we're asking for." :) I just love her.
We arrived at Tonya's house that night at 8:15. We got out of the car to see her standing on her porch with her hands in the air yelling, "hurry up and get in here! I'm dying of thirst!!" Tonya talked to us about the fast and said that she had been praying all day long. She even said a couple times while she was at work she felt annoyed because people kept trying to talk to her, or calling while she was trying to pray :) The joy that we felt in that moment was amazing. I knew that what we had done was good. I knew that Tonya had exercised great faith in the Lord and truly had trusted in him. This was the first time she's ever done anything like this, and the faith she exercised was amazing to me. After we talked we all knelt down and ended our fast in gratitude, with fervent and faith-filled prayer. Once we said amen, our heads popped up, we looked at each other, smiled and all sprinted towards the kitchen where we proceeded to have a huge glass of water and bowls of cereal *One of the best bowls of cereal I've ever had. (For Tonya, cereal and a cold hotdog wrapped in Krafts singles sandwich cheese. Nasty I know).
So a couple days pass and we get to Saturday. I woke up that day and instantly started thinking about her brother and when we would find out what happened. It crossed my mind several times that day and I continued to pray in faith that he would be released from jail if it was the Lords will.
Sat. night she called us. Sister VanCamp and I looked at the phone and said, "he's getting released." We answered with smiles on our faces and Tonya said, "where are you? are you on my street again?"  (hoping for another miracle... lol. alas, we were not) We told her no and she said. Are you sitting down, are you in the car? We told her yes and she said. "A miracle happened. He's getting released on Aug. 3"
So much joy flooded my heart, and continues to do so as I write this. We hung up the phone and humbly bowed our heads and with great joy thanked God for the miracle he granted. We had a couple appointments we were supposed to go to so we couldn't go over, but right after we hung up with Tonya we got a call from our 7pm appointment and it canceled. Miracle number 79089. We went over there and celebrated together. We knelt in prayer to thank our Father in Heaven for what he had done. Tonya offered the prayer and said, "I just want to tell everyone I see that you are still a God of miracles."
This was such a tender and choice moment. While Eric getting released from prison is remarkable miracle, to me it is not the greatest miracle that happened here. For weeks we've been praying and struggling to help Tonya build her faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ. It's occupied my mind and heart day and night. And through this experience Tonya's faith in Jesus Christ was built. After this experience she said, "my faith is a lot stronger that I thought it was."
We read her this scripture:
Ether 12:12
"For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith."
Our Lord is a God of miracles and he works according to our faith in Him.
I know that he patiently works with us to build our faith, and that it is by faith that we change our natures and become as He is. To overcome the natural man, to wash our garments white through the blood of Christ is a miracle, and it is preformed according to our faith in Jesus Christ.

Moroni 7:26 "And after that he came men also were saved by faith in his name; and by faith, they become the sons of God."
Ether 12:19 "And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith and they were glad."

Faith is the first principle of the gospel. It is through faith we progress line upon line, until according to our faith in Jesus Christ, our natures are changed we become like him, and we cannot be kept from within the veil.

I know Jesus Christ is our Savior. I love Him. It is the greatest honor of my life to serve Him. To speak of Him. To teach and testify of Him. To represent Him, and to see my beloved brothers and sisters develop faith in Him- their Redeemer, the Redeemer of Israel.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.