“As many as heard his words believed, and were converted unto the Lord… And their hearts had been changed; that they had no more desire to do evil… and as many as did believe were baptized; and they became a righteous people, and they did establish a church among them, Thus the Lord did begin to pour out his Spirit upon them; But there were many among them who would not hear his words; therefore they went their way. ” -Alma 19

There have been many who choose not to hear the word of the Lord because they ‘don’t want to abandon sin and be comfortable with God. They want to abandon God and be comfortable with sin. That is something I have been pondering on a lot. We have a choice and with that choice we can choose happiness and freedom or despair and captivity. Many people do not change their hearts and improve their lives becasue they choose not to hear or heed the voice of the Spirit. However, there have been MANY MANY MANY who do choose to hear! And they are converted to the Lord and find joy! We have seen many miracles this week! We taught a cute family of 4 who are trying to return to the Lord. We met them while tracting Maple ave. I felt really drawn to it because Vermont and my uncle Jay both gave me a love of Maple trees! It must have been divinity appointed! We also met a cute family of 3- a father going through a separation and his two daughters! All of them want to be baptized! We met another awesome native American family who is also wanting to meet with us! They are SO CUTE! The father is a less active member and the mother is Catholic and they have 2 teenagers and a cute 11 year old! LOVE THEM! And last night we met another sweet family from India who want us to teach them! They were converted to Christianity a couple years ago, but never baptized and never found a church they fully agreed with. They are so excited to read the Book of Mormon and to bring their family closer together!! Tom is also growing well and has set a baptism goal! Laurie and Aaliyah are also looking forward to baptism! We want them to get to church more frequently before making such a huge commitment. They haven’t come at all this month 😦 Laurie and Jenna were on their way this Sunday and of course got a flat tire and had to get the car repaired! But they are wonderful! We discovered that a couple less active members who are being reactivated and a recent converted in the elders area have never gone to the temple so we are also helping them prepare as well as Cliff-dog!!! All is well here in Albany! There are many blessings and so many who open their ears and listen to the Spirit speaking truth to them! They are the ones who act and change! They hear and hearken!

One last quick story of how I heard the voice of the Spirit and didn’t immediately act, but quickly repented and saw a tender mercy! So an appointment had fallen through and we were driving to a part members home. As we neared the home, I felt a sudden impulse to hit the break and stop in the middle of the road. I didn’t listen. I then felt a tightness in my chest and it felt like my heart was literally being pulled towards this house. It was the weirdest sensation I’ve ever felt! First time I experienced the Spirit in that way! I told sister Redd I felt like we needed to stop and tract this street. We then figured might as well try the family while we were in the area and we could tract it after. I agreed, then again felt a sense of urgency. I prayed the family wouldn’t answer the door! We heard them home but- no answer! So we booked it back to that street and passed the first several homes then started running up the stairs and knocking on the doors near the feeling I had on the right side of the street. By the 3rd door we found HER! We found that one person I felt drawn to that the Spirit was pulling us to! We had a 30 minute discussion and taught her the first lesson! She said she’d be honored to accept and read the Book of Mormon! It was such a wild feeling working with the Spirit and having it testify through us! Then sister Redd closed with the most beautiful prayer I’ve ever heard her offer! It was powerful! I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost and even though I didn’t initially act on that impression, I know that we can always repent and there will be blessings waiting for us!

I invite each of you to OPEN YOUR EARS and hear the pleasing word of God through the Spirit, the scriptures, your past written testimonies and others testimonies! I know as you truly hear, your hearts will be changed, as they must be each day, and you will have ‘no more desire to do evil but to do good continually!’ I know belief in Gods love, mercy, justice and power is a choice! I love my Savior! I love that He has given each of us the ability to act for ourselves. We cannot make anyone else hear. We can only open our own ears! All my love- Sister Folkman