Its crazy that it has already been another week!!

Dear Family and Friends!

       Its crazy that it has already been another week!! Transfers are next week and I just can't figure out where the past 5 weeks have gone! Time seems to keep speeding up and I really wish that it wouldn't. But, it was a really good week! Every week is a good week, I just find myself sad that I'm getting so short on time.

      Hmm.... So this week we finished up the lessons for Kristy (one of our investigators) and now we are just praying that she will have the courage to keep her date. She is super sweet! She didn't really even know if God existed a year ago. But, due to circumstances in her life she found herself feeling the need to come to know God. Now she is here and she is such a spiritual and sweet person. This week as I have been doing my personal studies I have noticed a lot that the words 'faith' and 'patience' are often bunched together.

      I thought that was really interesting. So many times in mission meetings they tell us that if we have faith then everything else will take care of itself. Well, for that last little while I've had a hard finding people to teach. Well, in meetings they tell us that if we have faith then we will find people to teach. So, often I would find myself feeling like I must not have enough faith. However, we must also have patience in the Lords timing. In Alma 60:26 : "And this because of their exceeding faith, and their patience in their tribulations--" Or in Mosiah 24:16 : "And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience... "

       There are many other examples, but these are a few that I've noticed. This week in church a lady bore her testimony and she said simply "sometimes unanswered prayers ARE the answers to our prayers..." I liked this because sometimes I get frustrated with the Lord because I feel that he isn't answering my prayers. Or sometimes I even feel that I am showing forth faith and I'm not seeing the great miracles that everyone around me seems to be seeing. However,  I have come to realize that we cannot just have faith or pray for things but we must also be patient. We must also be okay with whatever the answer is that we get.

        When I first came out on my mission I heard a talk from Elder Bednar in which he was asked to give a newly married man a blessing. This man had just contracted cancer, and instead of asking the normal question of 'do you have faith to be healed' he asked this man 'Do you have the faith to not be healed if it is the will of the Lord?" This is something that has stayed with me. Sometimes, most of the time, it is a lot easier to have faith that what we want to happen will happen. But, do we have the faith to just accept the will of the Lord? Do we have the faith to wait on his timing and know that what happens will be what is best for us? I like those questions, because often they are a lot harder for me to answer.

Sorry, that this is a such a long letter! I kind of got off on a rant, but know that I love you all and that I know that if we have patience AND faith then God will take care of us and whatever happens will be for the best.

Love,

Sister Bice