Called to Serve: Week #36 8 Months a Missionary

This week has certainly been incredible. Bonifay is such a special place, with such special people. I love being here and serving with such a great companion. I failed to tell y'all about my dear companion. Her name is Sister Lindsey Porter. She is from West Jordan Utah. She is five feet and a half inch tall (the half inch always counts!) So that makes me 1 whole inch taller than her :) We have a blast serving here in Bonifay! This is her first area, and she has been here for five months. So she knows all there is to know about Bonifay. The thing I love the most is that we are able to learn and grow from each other. We both have the greatest desire to be the best we can be, so that makes the work run a bit smoother :)

So back to this week. It was AWESOME! Probably my most valued week of my mission so far. I will just give y'all a brief summary of each day of my most favorite week! Enjoy :)

Monday: Mondays are great because I get to hear from my awesome friends and family. We email at the bishop's house, so they feed us lunch right after emailing. I love that the members are so involved with the work here. It is a great motivator. We also were able to attend the ward's Family Home Evening activity at the church. All I can say is that the Bonifay ward is awesome! So many people with such strong testimonies of the Gospel. Its wonderful.

Tuesday: Tuesday was all sorts of great! We had district meeting with our fellow missionaries in the area. We had some members in the ward come out with us to some lessons. Again, Bonifay ward is awesome :) But the best part of my Tuesday was my personal studies that morning. I learned how i can become a greater missionary. Not greater in the sight of others, but greater in the sight of the Lord. I read a talk called "the fourth missionary" and it helped me to realize that i need to turn all of myself over to the Lord. The only thing that the Lord does not have that is ours, is our will. So when we give everything to him, we are going to get much much more out of life than if we just did things our way. The Lord's ways are much higher than ours, but in the end, they are much easier and more rewarding.

Wednesday: Wednesday we had exchanges. That is were we switch companions for 24 hours with another set of sister missionaries. I stayed here in Bonifay with Sister Haught. She is pretty great! We went to a lesson with one of our investigators, Liz. We taught her about the Holy Ghost. Liz has been prepared in so many different ways. The spirit was so strong in the lesson we had with her. Liz now has a baptismal date set for February 27th. That day means so much to her. It is an anniversary of her sister's death. What makes it so special though, is that Liz has the desire to be baptized, and then go and do her sister's baptism in the temple. I know without a doubt that her deceased sister has so much to do with Liz being so prepared for baptism.

Thursday: Thursday was quite the day. I have been fighting a head cold, so my energy level that day was about a 2.5 out of 10. Sister Haught and I had studies, and then went to the church to prepare to exchange back. We always like to have a purpose for our exchange so we can learn and grow together. My purpose for this exchange was to be able to see myself and other through God's eyes. I definitely was able to see at least a sliver of what God sees in me. We read the talk by President Russel M Nelson " Becoming true Millenials" That was a great talk that I know will help me in my mission and my life after.

Friday: Friday we had a member present lesson with Liz. That went really well and she committed to reading to Book of Mormon, and coming to church. We also got her less active mother to commit to coming to church as well. We were able to have a great lesson with another investigator about the sabbath day. We pretty much had her set to come to church. She is pretty stubborn though :) The Spirit just needs a little more time with work within her to soften her heart :) We got fed subway by brother and sister Snaidman. They are probably some of the funniest people i have ever met!

Saturday: Oh boy... Saturday was awesome! We helped the Snaidman's paint some bedrooms. I always love to paint! So I quite enjoyed that. We tried contacting a former investigator. We ended up getting a return appointment with her mom for later that evening. Some of our plans feel through, but we remained diligent and stuck to our back up plans. We were able to see an investigator and talk about her desire to progress in the gospel. So we are excited to see where things go with her. Liz text us during dinner and told us that she has been reading out of the Book of Mormon. That made us so excited! We had an awesome lesson with two new investigators. Arthur, and Kristi. I know that the Lord has prepared these two to receive the Gospel. They committed to attend church.

Today i learned how important it is to work in unity with my companion. When we are unifies, the spirit is then able to guide us together. I am the happiest when i am doing the Lord's work. I have learned that the only way to do things the right way is to do it His way.

Sunday: Sunday was awesome! We had a total of four investigators, two recent converts, and one less active member attend church! It is truly amazing to see these people progress in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This scripture describes perfectly how I have felt this week.

Alma 29: 9,13

Book of Mormon

9I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

13Yea, and that same God did establish his church among them; yea, and that same God hath called me by a holy calling, to preach the word unto this people, and hath given me much success, in the which my joy is full.

I know that the Lord prepares people to receive the restored Gospel. I am so grateful that I have been blessed with this opportunity to serve the Lord with all capacity.

Have a blessed week!

Love,

Sister Melissa Jean Wood

An investigator's daughter took my camera and snapped some pictures for me.... :)