This
week has been a week full of lessons. Heavenly Father is teaching me
so much! Being a trainer is Exactly what I needed. It is definitely
the HARDEST thing I have ever done, but I know that " I can do all
things through Christ, who strengtheneth me."
This week was a
little crazy with the whole P-Day change, then our STL's decided to
have an exchange this week too! So it was all sorts of crazy!
Tuesday
was Pday and that night we started our exchange. I was with Sister
Brown in P-Cola. She is a super sweet sister! She taught me a ton,
probably without even realizing that she was teaching me haha. We had
an awesome lesson with one of our Investigators, Dianna. She has been
investigating the church for about ten months. She is what we call an
"etern-igator" But we found out that she had a true desire to be
baptized, so we are just trying to figure out what her concerns are.
She is pretty solid though. She comes to church every week and keeps
her commitments! So we just have to pull the trigger with her I
guess. :)
Wednesday
was a good day. Sister Brown and I did some service at the Ronald
McDonald House, and met some really cool people. This family is from Crestview, but they are in Pensacola because they have a son that was
born prematurely. So he is in the Children's hospital here at Sacred
Heart. They are Less active, they converted to the church a few years
ago, but just got out of the habit of attending church. So that was not
just a coincidence that we ran into them. We got all of their
information and got it sent off to the missionaries in the area that
they live.
Sister Brown and I taught a lesson to Ermilisa.
She is progressing towards her baptism on the 17th!! Its awesome to see
her faith grow!
Thursday was
a great day!! We visited a bunch of Less-Active Members. I love
visiting with them and hearing how they got into the church!! Sister P
and I had an awesome lesson with Ermilisa! We taught her about
Service. We somehow got on the topic of people being prepared to
receive the Gospel. The Spirit prompted me to tell her that the reason
she is so prepared to receive this Gospel, and understand it, is because
her Son has accepted it and now wants her to accept it. Her son passed
away in 2010 from a motorcycle accident. The spirit bore witness to us
all that he had accepted it and now wants his mother to partake of that
same knowledge and joy. That was an incredible moment! The spirit is
always so strong when we are teaching Ermilisa. I personally believe
that it is because her son is there too, helping her understand the
things we teach her.
Friday
was a fun day! We visited a returning member and her 3 year old
daughter , Vega. We taught her about Family History and gave her a
booklet to help get her started. Vega is the cutest little girl ever!!
She reminds me a lot of my niece Leah! So i just automatically love her
to death!! She was just hugging me the whole time haha. She tapped me
on the shoulder and said " sister wood, I love you!" that just melted
my heart! She is a cutie!!
Saturday was
awesome as well. We felt prompted to go to a specific neighborhood to
go tracting. We knocked a few doors with no success. We then knocked
this door, and a man came out and started telling us his life story. We
gave him a Book of Mormon and a Restoration Pamphlet. He just needed to know that God
cared about him. He didn't give us his name, but we know where he lives,
so we will be stopping by in a week or so to see how he is doing. The
Gospel will definitely change his life. He said he had been taught my
LDS missionaries before, so maybe now is his time. Ermilisa was able to
watch Women's conference!! She LOVED it!! She called us afterwards and
shared all the things that she loved about it, and told us that she felt
the Spirit the whole time she was listening!!
Sunday
was another great day! Ward Council went really well this week! It
was awesome! Ermilisa attended church in Louisiana and even brought a
friend with her. She is already being a missionary!! She makes me
proud!! :) We had dinner at the Freeman's house ( they are basically
the ward) We listened to their conversion stories. That was a special
experience. Heavenly Father touches our lives in so many different
ways!! We are trying to get a new program started with the ward. " In
Home MTC" We are pretty much going to teach the members all the
discussions, with the intent of getting them to help us when we go to
appointments. They seemed pretty excited about it.. So we will be
meeting up with them in a week to start teaching them the discussions!
So just remember... Every Member a Missionary! :)
The re-occurring
theme this week was prayer. I kept coming across "prayer" in my
studies. The exchange taught me a lot about prayer. And I realized
how vital prayer is when we are teaching lessons. Up until this past
week, I have been trying to just figure out things by myself. I would
search the scriptures, and Preach my gospel, but for some reason i would
always somehow forget to pray about it. I realized how silent i was
being to Heavenly Father. Then i realized why things were so
difficult. That was a very humbling experience. I know that the power
of prayer is REAL! I know that Heavenly Father wants to bless us with
so much, but is just waiting for us to ask for his help. I can honestly
say that anything is 110% easier when we seek Heavenly help.
Another
lesson that I learned this week is that Love is what makes us happy.
We attended the broadcast of Women's conference, and that was something
that really stuck out to me. Love is what makes us happy. That is so
true! I have been studying Charity lately. Charity is the Pure Love of
Christ. So when I heard that " Love is what makes us happy." I knew
what i needed to be better at. I love the people here so much! I love
being a missionary, but i need to show my love, not just feel it. When
we show our love, it changes our focus from ourselves to others. That is
what Christ did. He turned outward, when any other man would turn
inward. Without Charity, we are nothing, even if we have faith, pray,
attend church etc. That means nothing if we don't have Charity.
I
just want you all to know how much i LOVE this Gospel. I know have
seen it not only change others lives, but my own. This Gospel is a
Gospel of Love. It is all centered on Love. I know that Heavenly Father
LOVES all of his children. He knows us each individually. He Loves
us so much that he gave his Only Begotten Son to atone for our sins.
Now if that is not an act of love, i don't know what is. :)
Sister Wood
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