What an inspiring week it has been! I feel so uplifted and edified and motivated. I think I have found another 'gear':) haha. My desire continues to grow each day and we seriously do see miracles every single day. I have truly been trying to recognize the hand of the Lord in all aspects of my life and really say prayers of gratitude for EVERYTHING and it has made all of the difference. I hope and pray that my desire continues to grow because we are seeing some amazing things throughout our area. We just really need to help investigators hit their baptismal dates and I think that is going to come through the help of the ward, baptismal calendars, and really establishing expectations from the start.
It was hard for me to see Elder Robinson go. I don't think I have truly bonded with another missionary then like I did with Elder Robinson. We seriously had so much fun together and we worked our guts out. He truly did know what time it was:) haha. I am grateful for the bond that we developed. I am excited to be serving with Elder Williams and I know that it is inspired to have us together. I know that we get all of our companions for a reason and I am excited to learn from him and his experiences.
The Motto we have for the Zone this transfer is 'Being One'. We really want to focus on being unified within our companionship's which will lead to a District level and eventually a Zone Level. We are all on the same team and fighting for the same cause and as we are able to unify and focus on our purpose TOGETHER that the Lord will truly open the windows of heaven. The Scriptures that we want everyone to contemplate and focus on throughout the Zone are Mosiah 18:21 which is a scripture that the Stake Presidency has for their vision. As well as 4 Nephi 1:15-17. And D&C 38:27. These scriptures all relate greatly with one another and I truly believe with all of my heart that as we increase our faith in the Lord and Purify and Sanctify ourselves through obedience to the Gospel and righteousness, that the windows of heaven will open and the flood will take place. It talks about in 4 Nephi how there was never a happier people in the history of the world just because they were living the gospel and doing what they could! That is what we want to see happen within the Zone and throughout the entire mission. Last week we had a meeting with the Stake President and we were also invited to give a presentation on Member Missionary work and the Stake Council Meeting. It went very well and Elder Williams gave an inspired commitment to all the members of the council which we will be following up on at the next meeting. President Fletcher also invited us to give the presentation to all of the Bishops throughout the Stake at a meeting on the 21st. We are excited about that and hopefully we can create the link that is frequently missing between Ward Mission Leaders and the ward council. Again, it comes back to unity and if we are not all 'one' or on the same page, then we are not the Lord's.
So Sam and Paul were doing well until the day they were supposed to get interviewed for baptism, of course. They had some complications arise and they had some relationship issues and so the interview didn't take place. It was frustrating and I was a bit frustrated because we had talked about opposition the night before. We had really done everything that we could to help them get ready so we just left it up to the Lord. Luckily, a few days later they were able to work things out but they are going on holiday for a week. so we will have to push their date back a bit. I sometimes wish people realized how much effort and studies and prayers and fasting and time we put into them to help them. I think it would change their perspective haha. But it is part of the job! We did go through the interview questions with them and they did great. They have been taught everything they need to know to be baptised. They also were able to come to 2 ward activities this weekend which was so great for them! Sam finally admitted to me that Mormons aren't boring:) hahaha.
Lois is doing good as well. She texted us the other morning and told us how one of her co-workers came into work and was super sad because she had just lost her uncle. Lois told us that she was able to tell her about the plan of Salvation that we had talked about the night before and was able to comfort her friend and reassure her that she would see her uncle again. Getting that text from her was a tender mercy of the Lord and filled my soul with gratitude. She told us that we had just completely changed her life in the space of 3 weeks. I love this work!
We got Tommy Reeves to church this week who hasn't attended in nearly 30 years. It was so good and a great experience for him. He is the best haha he gives us a curry and plays the drums for us almost every time we go over to see him. To paint you a picture of Tommy, he is 71 years old and a drummer in a band. He is about 4 foot 2 and packs a mean punch hahahah!
WE also found some amazing new investigators this week. We found a family of 5 from Nigeria that is seriously so amazing. They want to come to church so bad but the mother works on Sundays. The father is still a bit unsure about us and he is a proud catholic haha. But they told us that they met missionaries in Spain that taught them Spanish. Crazy!
We have so many amazing people that we work with. I wish I had more time to talk about them all but to get any detail it would take me forever haha.
I love what the Bible dictionary says about faith. .“To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone”. True faith must be centered in Jesus Christ. “Faith is a principle of action and of power”. It requires us to do, not merely to believe. Faith is a spiritual gift from God that comes through the Holy Ghost. It requires a correct understanding and knowledge of Jesus Christ, His divine attributes and perfect character, His teachings, Atonement, Resurrection, and priesthood power. Obedience to these principles develops complete trust in Him and His ordained servants and assurance of His promised blessings. There is no other thing in which we can have absolute assurance. There is no other foundation in life that can bring the same peace, joy, and hope. In uncertain and difficult times, faith is truly a spiritual gift worthy of our utmost efforts. Faith will help me to 'awaken to a remembrance, or a knowledge, of my duty' as it states in Alma 4:3
I also read this talk called @That's How The Light Gets In' and I would like to share a part of it with you. It really helped me out. Problems show up in many aspects of our lives: curing diseases, preventing accidents, reducing pollution and traffic jams, and building smarter robots. They are also important for better understanding how the world works: modeling important biological and chemical processes; modeling populations of people, animals, and bacteria; understanding how galaxies form; and many other aspects of our world.
With all these problems, as long as we insist on getting a perfect answer—the one and only very best route—we are utterly paralyzed by the size and complexity of the problem. You could say we are paralyzed by perfection. It is not only human weaknesses we must accept. Sometimes perfection just isn’t possible in our finite, imperfect world. When my wife was a missionary in Germany, she and her companion decided they were going to keep all of the mission rules—exactly. They got out their white handbooks and the additional list of rules for their mission and sat down with their blue planners to schedule everything into the week: wake up at 6:30 and then spend one-half hour for personal scripture study, one-half hour for companion scripture study, one-half hour for exercise, and so on throughout the day. But somehow they couldn’t make it all fit before their required bedtime of 10:30. They tried and tried, but they just couldn’t get it to work. They only figured out why it was so hard to schedule when they added up all the hours necessary to keep every rule each day—twenty-five. The realities of living in our limited, imperfect world mean that we have no choice but to make do with an approximation—to admit and accept imperfection.when we are afraid of failure we are more likely to fail. When I was a teenager I worked for two summers as a lifeguard and a swim instructor. One of the things I learned in that job was that people’s fear of water is usually their greatest obstacle to successful swimming. A person learning to float on his back, for example, when he is afraid, will instinctively try to sit up, which causes him to sink. To float he must relax and put his head back and his legs down. Then he can float on his back with very little effort. The real key is learning to trust that a little water splashing in your face does not mean you are drowning. It may not be what we imagine to be perfect floating, but it is good enough. Even going completely below the water is not failure—if you remain relaxed, a gentle hand motion quickly brings you back up to the top. But as soon as you become nervous, you try to sit up, and you will sink.
THE LORD DOES NOT CARE ABOUT US MESSING UP OR NOT. HE CARES ABOUT WHERE WE GO FROM THAT POINT FORWARD.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
Our bells are cracked. But let us ring those bells that still can ring. Stop worrying about your failure to achieve perfection—perfection is not possible in this life. Instead, embrace the light and healing power of Christ that come in through our cracks and imperfections.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
This gospel is perfect and I know it with all of my heart. I am grateful to know the precious things that have been manifested to me through the Holy ghost.
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