Week 45:
My joy was full this week as I......
Went to the temple twice this week. One of the trips was with my zone. It has been 7 months since I have been and I have been looking forward to this trip for quite some time now. It brought me so much joy to enter those doors and feel try spirit so strongly through the whole session and then just bask in the spirit of revelation. It was so re-energizing to my spirit. I am so grateful we have a temple so close which gives me the opportunity to go and also take investigators again!!! The other temple trip was two days later with a less active who I taught in Hazel Dell. Her name is sister Burke and we re-activated her and taught her the temple prep classes and did so much to strengthen her. It was such a tender experience as I watched her for the first time go through. She was so ready and I know this experience will lift her up and keep her steady.
I got to see sister Davenport and sister batey. It was such a fun little reunion being able to see these amazing women. It was so fun to catch up and just have some time together after the temple to go grab a bite to eat before they took me back to my area. Our mission president's new rule with the temple is that a companionship can go but their companions can't so sister batey's comp hung out with mine in our area until we got back. It was kinda weird, but it made it special because we could focus on sister Burke. We took her aside and had a moment where we could answer some of her questions, point out the symbolism and teach her alittle more about what will happen as she keeps coming back and how she can tap into the temple's spirit more in the celestial kingdom. This was her day and it was spent focused on her, so I was grateful for that experience that I will always remember.
Had a lesson with a new gator named Vikki. It was an awesome lesson because we invited her to be baptized and she accepted! The problem is she is in another area so we had a hand off lesson with the elders in her area and it went really well. It was awesome to see her so excited to get the spiritual nourishment that she has been searching for. Her mother adores sister wilson and me so Sunday night we went by a less active who has permission to come to our ward (who is neighbors with Vicki) and we dropped off some banana bread a member gave us and it was so good to get that face time with her mom. She defiantly has been touch by the light of Christ and the spirit and it's fun to help her recognize it.
Met an investigator in this area that we have been trying to see for awhile . Her daughter (age 11) just recently got baptized and her mom is on date. Sister Wilson and I felt like we had a really rocky lesson with them and we challenged them to read the Book of Mormon more. They expressed their concerns of not understanding it and getting frustrated and just giving up. We decided we were going to send them a scripture of the day and expound alittle bit on it and asked them to expound back. The mom did and it was awesome. We sent her a scripture that talked about being temperance(at the end) and she went ahead and expanded on that by reading an awesome talk called "being temperate in all things" by Kent D. Watson in the October 2009 general conference. It made sister Wilson and me so happy to know she took our challenge to heart and that she was able to learn and expound on the scriptures to the point that she can apply it in her life (which was our goal). We decided to make a list and send our scripture texts everyday to those who could benefit from it!!
Worked all week with sister Wilson in finding those who are ready to receive the message of the restoration for the first time or the second or the third. We had some downs this week but they are completely washed away as I have pondered on this week and the things that I have learned and seen the ways in which I have grown. I am still SO awkward at the door, but we have worked hard and laughed hard. I know the savior is standing right next to me as I invite those children of God on the other side of the door to come unto him. I would love to share a quote with y'all that I have just loved and internalized. It is of course about missionary work and it is of course it's by elder holland, "I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary. Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him--the Way, the Truth, and the Life."
His words have supported me and lifted me during my service out here. I know that this quote not only pertains to missionary work but also our membership in the church and our lasting conversion to our savior and father in heaven. How grateful I am to be learning so much about the atonement, true repentance and how important this is for our people we are teaching to know, internalize, gain testimony and be converted in. There is a talk I want to challenge y'all to read. It's by elder renlund. It's in the October 2009 general conference called "a hearts mighty change." It is a powerful talk given about the Atonement and true, long lasting repentance that turns into conversion. I was touched by the analogy and I know how important it is to humbly ask for forgiveness and call upon the powers of the atonement to aid and assist us all in every aspect of life. There is so much to learn and find joy in. I hope y'all have a joyful week! Keep striving and never give up!
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