This week has been really good. We learned how to quilt at the Humanitarian Center so we have been giving service on our downtime there. It's actually really relaxing (Shoutout to Grandma Baczuk-let's quilt together!). I am so grateful for the time that I have had to serve there at the Humanitarian Center. It has really opened my eyes not only to what the church does in it's humanitarian efforts, but to what I can do more in my life to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ. I have seen the Gospel of Jesus Christ in action, and like it says in the video, I want and pray that Heavenly Father will use me as an answer to other people's prayers.
Oh man it has slowed down a huge amount on Temple Square this week...it's made for a lot of turn-over in the mission. They are sending 25 sisters outbound, 24 are going home, 18 new sisters are coming, and 20 sisters are coming back from outbound....I'm just glad I am not in charge of airport runs because that transfer day is going to be crazy! We are all really excited to see what this transfer has to bring. With so much change we are excited to see all the miracles and experiences that will happen.
We found an awesome New Investigator yesterday named Richard. He is Native American and came on chat asking questions because missionaries had come and given him a pass-along card with the address of the church, but he is bedridden at the moment, waiting for some type of surgery. He is looking for something that he can be a part of that will give him hope. We had such a great conversation with him and were able to share why the Book of Mormon is so special to us, and how we think it would be interesting and special to him too. I mean it's literally a record of his ancestry haha. He really wants to read it. I so look forward to him gaining a testimony of it and seeing how it will change his life.
Do you remember Cameron? I taught him before I went outbound and he is in my old single's ward up in Ogden. Well he hasn't received approval to be baptized but has been going to church, except for the last couple weeks. He said that he doesn't have an excuse, but that he has just been busy and lazy. We talked about the importance of church with him and compared it to a job. You know, after a week of work, you physically need a day to recuperate and prepare for the next week. For us spiritually, it is similar. We need that time with Heavenly Father to prepare for our next week and to spiritually recuperate. Our spirits get tired too! He recognized that and was going to go yesterday, but someone stole his gas tank from his jeep so he had to go to the police station to file a police report :( Satan sucks. Haha. But we are looking forward to him going next week. I hope that he will get approval to get baptized so he can get the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
Tim is doing really good. We read with him in the scriptures (he is in 2 Nephi....I need help reading that too haha) and talked about the importance of the little things; going to church, reading scriptures, and praying. Then we invited him to do something that I have been trying out lately. It's been such a neat experience for me, and I invite you to try it out too! :) The night before or the morning of Sunday before church, I pray and ask Heavenly Father that one of the hymns we will sing in Sacrament will be something from Him that i need to hear. I have had the coolest experiences doing that and those hymns are now some of my favorite. Try it out on Sunday, it's like you are getting a blessing.
I got to see Saige this week! She had been one the square for a little bit but because we had some things going on, by the time I was able to respond to her text, I thought she had left. But it turns out she was still here! So we were able to do a lesson with her and then go to Nauvoo Cafe for dinner. The lesson was amazing...she is such an awesome girl. She is so dilligent in praying and reading and going to church, but she was telling me how she has been really struggling spiritually lately because no matter what she has done or how often she has tried, she hasn't felt the spirit. She was starting to get upset because she doesn't like feeling the spirit. She hadn't done anything wrong. We were talking about why she would need to go through something like this when something popped into my head. I thought of my senior year of High School when I was on the seminary council and we decided our theme of Climb the Mountain (Shout out to Bishop Somerville!). The scripture for that was DC 123:17 "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." We compared her trial right now to climbing a mountain. She is going through switchbacks, steep climbs, faint paths, etc., but when she gets to the top of mountain and she can see all that she conquered, it will be worth it because without the bitter, we wouldn't know the sweet (2 Ne. 2:11-"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility."). She just has to cheerfully do everything in her power, and then she can stand still to see God's hand in her life. A Conference Talk popped into my mind to have her read. It's one of my favorites: 'Where is the Pavilion' by Elder Eyring. We gave her that and a few other things to do, and then went to dinner. The next day, she texted us and told us that she was up at 2 AM and decided to watch the talk. She said that it felt so good to hear, and that just like the woman in the talk, she decided to really really pray and she felt such peace. She said that that peace allowed her to know that Heavenly Father hears her. She might not have gotten to the top of the mountain and finished her trial, but she is heard and that meant so much to her. This experience meant to much to me! I was so grateful that she was able to feel how much she is loved. It taught me so much about why we must pass through hard times, and the kind of attitude we should have as we do so. She is such an example to me and I am so grateful that months ago, someone came on chat and pretended to be her haha.
Well anyway I think I have word vomitted enough for today haha. I am so SO grateful for my calling to be a missionary. It amazes me that Heavenly Father lets me. It amazes me that not only that, but He allows me to teach other the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ! I am just a 21 year old girl and I don't feel qualified to do that...But I'm amazed to see that He does qualify me to do His work, and that it is nothing that I can do, but it is Jesus Christ next to me, making this all possible. Just like it says in DC 84: 88, "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." I have felt that. It is such a miracle!
I love you! Have a wonderful week,
Love,
P.s. I attached a cliche picture of Asians on Temple Square (this is a real picture a sister took, it's not staged!!), and a picture of me and Saige, a picture of the transfer board this transfer, and a picture of me being silly yesterday.
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