Well here we are again!! I can't believe I only have 1 month left. ONE! It's becoming real with all the little things I have to do to prepare to come home. And, since I'm in a new area, everyone asks how long I've been out and then they always say, "oh wow! So you're going home really soon! This will probably be your last area huh?" Always. Anyway so that's a lovely reminder about how the time is slipping away so quickly.
This week has been good. A lot of knocking doors and trying to meet members. We have been trying to contact people the ward leaders have given us but people haven't been answering their doors and such. It's still spring break though so hopefully we can contact more people soon. But the ward mission leaders and bishops are really great in all of our wards! So that is awesome. One of the bishops has us over every week for lunch and to discuss the work! So that is really nice of him. I enjoy having support from the leaders.
So we finally met one of our investigators. She has had some hard things happen in her life and she can't move past them. She believes in God and has faith, but part of her is angry at God for all the bad things that have happened to her throughout her life. So we have very long lessons with her...she talks so much and really wants to be understood so she always explains how hard everything is for her. She just had a surgery that will take a year to recover from so she is struggling. So we are trying to help her put those hard things aside and just feel gods help to get through it, not to take it all away. So we had some good conversations with her. But she just doesn't understand why God lets bad things happen to good people. So we are working slowly, ever so slowly, with her. She is a very sweet and giving lady though. She made us a little brunch the other day because she loves to cook! She's sweet.
GUESS WHO IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!! I got word the other day that one of the investigators from my previous area, the one who didn't want to get baptized until November, is getting baptized on April 7th!!!!!!! I'm so excited! So that is a miracle and tender mercy :) I hope I can go back for it.
We also had another cool miracle this week. A non member called us looking for the previous sisters from a few months ago. She had met them and wanted to feed them dinner sometime but had been super busy, so she called and asked if she could feed them dinner. We told her they were gone but she said would like to feed us dinner then. So that's the first miracle. The second miracle is that was the one night that we didn't have a dinner! (That never happens in this stake, you are always fed really well). So we were able to have dinner with her! She is devout catholic but loves missionaries and respects what we do. We didn't push too much because she said multiple times that people warned her not to have us over because we would try to convert her. But she mentioned something about the godhead and wasn't sure what we believed in so we told her we would come back and talk about it with her and she really wants us to come back. She doesn't want to convert but she is more prepared than she realizes. She's super nice. So that is a miracle!! It also shows how important it is to plant seeds sometimes. The sister before us left a good impression and she must have felt the spirit. So we don't always get to see the fruits of our labors, and you never know whose life you will touch. They touched their lives and they only met once! Crazy.
Also, I finished the Book of Mormon again! It's so crazy how much I've learned just from reading it this last time. The Book of Mormon really is a springboard to personal revelation. I absolutely love reading the scriptures and learning about the gospel. It makes me so happy :)
Anyway I'm running out of time. So my spiritual though... I have been thinking a lot about our struggling investigator we just met and how to help her; I am also reading in the Doctrine of Covenants. So I came across the sections where Joseph Smith is in Liberty Jail and these verses stuck out to me.
"My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes." D&C 121:7-8
"If thou art called to pass through tribulation; if thou art in perils among false brethren; if thou art in perils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea; If thou art accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us? O, my father, what are the men going to do with you? and if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine enemies prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb; And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good." D&C 122:5-7
Even Joseph Smith questioned where God was and why all these bad things were happening. But when we understand that God knows and is fully aware of what is going on in our lives, and know that he wants us to be happy and become the person he knows we can become, then we can trust in him and know that all things we go through really will work together for our good. When this life is over we really will see how short our trials are. So hang on, keep fighting and pushing through the hard things because someday you will see the benefits and ways you have grown. We might not even know why in this life, but someday we will. So trust God and look to him for strength in all things.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9
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