How crazy is it that this week I will have been out on a mission for 3 months?! Time has seriously flown right on by.
This
week at district meeting we found out that we are no longer allowed to
go to the beach on p-days or on district activities. So that was a
bummer. Im glad that I got to go before that was changed. The beach
here in Pensacola is super pretty! White sand and all :) So I am glad I
got to see that before the change. I got a copy of a talk given by
Elder Bednar that was given in the MTC entitled the Character of
Christ. That is like gold for missionaries. So I was pretty happy
about that.
Sister Owens and I had a pretty awesome experience on Wednesday.
We were contacting some potential and former investigators in a
specific area. We tried contacting a lady named Cathy. We couldn't
find her house, so we just walked around the neighborhood with the
Family History Survey and tracted that way for about 45 minutes. We
then somehow found Cathy's house. We knocked on her door, no answer.
We knocked a second time, no answer. Sister Owens wanted to head out
but I felt like we should knock just one more time. Then a few seconds
after we knocked the third time, through the door Cathy asked who we
were. We told her we were the Sister Missionaries from the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints. And she let us in! She was so
excited to see us and explained to us that she had been expecting us!
How crazy is that?! We visited with her for a while and then shared the
message of the Restoration with her. We gave her a Book of Mormon and
she said she would read it. We were super excited. So you could say
that Wednesday was a pretty good day.
Thursday
we had dinner with an awesome lady in our ward. She has a daughter
that just turned 1 at the end of July. We were helping her fold her
daughter's, Ciana, clothes. Ciana is starting to take steps all by her
self. So Ciana took her first steps when walking from Sister Owens to
me. It was super cute! As missionaries we aren't allowed to hold
babies, so seeing a baby walk between us was pretty exciting stuff!
Especially if you know how much I just love babies. That was the
highlight of the week! haha
Friday
I went back to the doctor because I haven't been getting better
really. I am now on my third round of antibiotics. So hopefully after
this round everything will be good.
Sunday
was super awesome! We had three investigators at church! Ermilisa
loves coming to church. She always looks so happy at church. She
participated in the lesson in Gospel Principles and is pretty much
friends with everyone! Its great to see!
Yesterday we had
the awesome opportunity to have a half mission conference with Elder
Nielson and Elder Stanfil of the Seventy. They were both very good and I
learned so much from the conference. I learned a lot about my purpose
as a missionary. I also had the lights clock on so to speak about the
gospel literally being centered on the Atonement and Doctrine of Jesus
Christ.
I love being a missionary even more now. The
Atonement is absolutely incredible. Like Elder Bednar teaches, the
Atonement makes bad men good through the redeeming power, and it makes
good men better through the enabling and strengthening power.
I
learned that my mission is training me how to live for the rest of my
life. Sister Nielson talked about how the mission is preparing and
teaching us how to build eternal families. And that is so true! I am
so grateful for this opportunity that Heavenly Father has blessed me
with to mold and shape me into the person that I need to be. I have
seen how my increased knowledge of the scriptures and the principles of
the gospel have motivated me to strive to do and be my very best. My
desire to share the Gospel with everyone has increased just like Preach
My Gospel said it would.
I have gained love and desire to
study the scriptures and the principles of the Gospel. President Smith
said yesterday that we are changing and converting ourselves. That is
so true!! If I accomplish nothing else on my mission, I know that I
have been changed from bad to good and have learned how to change from
good to better through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
The Church of Jesus Christ is true!! I know that with all of my heart.
Sister
Stanfil talked about how we have been saved for this time. We were
meant to come to the earth at this time to help hasten the work of the
Lord.
The past five weeks of being sick has taught me how
important it is to be committed to the work, to be diligent, and to rely
on the Lord. It has taught me that I really cannot serve a mission
without the Lord's help. Then stepping back and looking at it with a
broader perspective, I have learned that I cannot live my life without
the Lord's help.
Before coming out on my mission I was
advised to choose to make my mission incredible. I now know that it can
be incredible when we do what is asked of us, when we strengthen our
relationship with the savior and when we understand how perfect Heavenly
Father's plan really is!
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