Dear Family and Friends,
Today I hit 11
months as a missionary! It is so crazy to think that this time last year
I was at home either just having barely gotten my mission call or about
to get it. This week has been a crazy week too! Monday was a work day,
Tuesday was P-day, and Wednesday we had interviews with our Mission
President. Then for the rest of the week we went about contacting people
and finding people to teach. This week though we met with a less active
member who is going through a pretty messy divorce. She was talking to
us and sharing how she joined the church and then expected all the
people and families to be these perfect Mormon homes, and that wasn't
the case for her. Well, as she was recounting all this some verse in
Mormon chapter 9 came to mind... "30 Behold, I speak unto you as though I
spake from the dead; for I know that ye shall have my words. 31Condemn
me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father because of his
imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give
thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfection,
that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been."
Monday, January 27, 2014
And then there were 11
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Family and Friends
Dear Family and Friends!
This week was weird it
seemed to go by slow but now as I am sitting here and thinking it over I
keep thinking to myself, wait! That was only a week ago? Time here
keeps getting weirder and weirder. I can't believe that next week I hit
11 months... But, this week was good:) Sister Harrop is feeling better
so we tried to hit the pavement hard enough to make up for our sick
week. We got a list from our bishop of Less Active members he wants us
to visit and find out where they are and what their status is. Well, for
the most part you would think we were tracting and not visiting less
active... Every house we went to the Non-Member spouse of the less
active member was the one who answered we were able to find a lot of new
potential investigators:) It was a good week:) This week I was
finishing up reading 2 Nephi and I pondered a lot over verse 4
"Wherefore, now after i have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand
them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye
are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark." This is
something that I have seen a lot on my mission both in myself and
others. There are times when I am going through something rough or
trying to decide what we should do and I do so but I forget to include
the Lord in my decision. This is especially important as we teach
people. "No one can know of spiritual truths without prayer." PMG pg39
The first time I read that statement I was a little taken aback because
we do have the spirit which testifies of truth when it is heard. But,
truly God cannot take away our agency we have to seek out truth or
guidance in order for him to be able to give it to us. He WANTS to bless
us but in many cases he holds off or doesn't because we have forgotten
to ask and to turn to him. I love you all and hope that you have a great
week!
Monday, January 13, 2014
Attitude of Gratitude
Dear Family and Friends,
This week has been a
bit crazy! My poor companion was super sick and she had to spend most of
the week recuperating. So, I ended up having a lot of extra study time
throughout the week. But, it was good. It gave us as a companionship to
reflect on the tender mercies of the Lord. On Thursday both Sister
Harrop and I were feeling restless and wanted to get out and work but
Sister Harrop was still in pretty bad condition so we decided to stay
inside because we have a lot of new babies in the ward and didn't want
to risk getting anyone sick. So, we were moping and we left the house
but we didn't know what to do. Well, that night we received a super
sweet text from the Relief Society President that just said she had seen
and talked with a less active member we had been working with and that
she had said that we are the reason she is holding on to her testimony
and that she is so grateful for it. It was really such a tender mercy to
have received that text on a day both of us were feeling like we were
not doing what we wanted to and not because of any fault of our own but
because of sickness. Luckily though things are looking up and we are
able to get out of the house for longer and see more people gradually.
In fact this week has reminded me of a scripture I was reading recently
in the Book of Mormon it is in 1 Nephi 17 and it is Laman and and Lemuel
and they are complaining to Nephi about all of their afflictions and
all the things that they perceive are wrong in their lives and they say
in verse 20 "And thou(Nephi) art like unto our father, led away by the
foolish imaginations of his heart; yea, he hath led us out of the land
of Jerusalem, and we have wandered in the wilderness for these many
years; and our women have toiled, being big with child; and they have
borne children in the wilderness and suffered all things, save it were death;
and it would have been better that they had died before they come out
of Jerusalem then to have suffered these afflictions." I think of this
because even though Laman and Lemuel are complaining in this verse they
are also highlighting the tender mercies of God. When they are talking
about their women having children in the wilderness and none of them
dying I was thinking about how big of a miracle that was. They were
being protected and watched over by the Lord. However, one of the things
that set Laman and Lemuel apart from their brother Nephi was that they
didn't see the miracles and even when they did they ignored them. They
failed to focus on the good and ignore maybe the dirt and things that
were around them. One thing that my mission has shown me is that an
Attitude of Gratitude is so very necessary. Every night when I come home
I try to identify at least one miracle that I have seen throughout the
day. If I do that then I don't focus on the man who may have yelled at
us but rather I focus on the good things that happened. Missionary life
is so hard at times!... most of the time. There are times when I want to
just cry or give up. But!!! It is so worth it and the blessings of the
Lord are so apparent in my life that if I remember the things he did for
me then the rest of the icky or sad stuff doesn't really matter.
Because I know above all that God loves me and I am His daughter and I
also know that He loves everyone that I come in contact with and as I
focus on that I am able to feel even a small portion of His love for
them. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Monday, January 6, 2014
Back to the Springs!
Dear Family and Friends!
Last week was
transfers week and I found myself being moved to Monument Colorado. It
was a bit of a culture shock from little ol' pueblo but it has been a
lot of fun! My new companion is Sister Harrop (Hair-up) and she is from
Utah... I can't remember if is it Ogden or another town that starts with
an O though.... We get along super well, and I'm excited for this next
transfer. Things were crazy though with good-byes and the New Year.
Ahhh!!! I can't even believe that it is already 2014! Time is flying by
so fast and at the end of this month I will be 11 months out and it will
have been a year since I received my call letter! I don't know where
all the time went! But, other than that this week has consisted of a lot
of unpacking and getting used to a new area all over again as well as a
lot of tearful good-bye's to Pueblo West. It hasn't been too different.
Monument doesn't have street lights or very many sidewalks and curbs
but it is defiantly a nicer area than Pueblo west. Hmmm... Other than
that I don't think anything too exciting happened this week. Recently, I
was thinking a lot about the scripture in Helaman 5:12 Sister Harrop
and Sister Soliven both really like this scripture. So it says:
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