Kids, this week was GREAT. Not because we baptized anyone or even got a baptismal date, BUT because I think I’m fiiiiinaaaallyyyyyy figuring out this missionary thing. I think I’ve finally figured out what it takes to get the results you want.
One of my favorite parts of this week was when we all drove to Lake City to have a conference with the Lake City Zone & P&S Craig✨
It was the best. Partly because Sister Craig & I were wearing the same shoes. The other partly because I had already received 2/4 trainings we got (how long have I been here…?) AND THEY WERE EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED. ugh. Thank you Heavenly Father to restoring divine revelation to the earth. I think my favorite part was Sister Craig’s training on Pres Uchtdorf’s Oct 2014 address titles, “Receiving a Testimony of Light & Truth.” I would encourage you to read it. The basis of the training was, “just because you can’t explain why elephants are in the Book of Mormon doesn’t mean it’s not true!” It was clearly great. I just want to be on an eternal spiritual trajectory & that isn’t possible if we stop doing the things to renew our testimony daily, i.e. Daily scripture study, prayer, taking the sacrament each week.
“The more we incline our hearts and minds toward God, the more Heavenly light distills upon our souls. And each time we willingly and earnestly seek that light, we indicate to God our readiness to receive more light. Gradually, things that before seemed hazy, dark, and remote become clear, bright, and familiar to us. By the same token, if we remove ourselves from the light of the gospel, our own light begins to dim–not in a day or a week but gradually over time–until we look back and can’t quite understand why we had ever believed the gospel was true. Our previous knowledge might even seem foolish to us because what once was so clear has again become blurred, hazy, and distant.”
My other favorite part of the week happened on Saturday. The elders in our Ward had an investigator who got baptized! She is so cute & wrote a 6 1/2 page testimony of her experience with the gospel. She really is a changed person. Our investigator Sunil came to the baptism. (He’s the one who came on the church tour) He’s 39. From Trinidad. He owns a condo & a car & has a job. He’s met a lot of people in the ward. He’s really progressing. He’s reading the Book of Mormon right now to prove it right. He loves Joseph smith & totally understands the priesthood. I think. We invited him to be baptized (because we’re inviting everyone now) & he said he would be if he came to know God was real. He prayed at the end of our last lesson & prayed that he would find truth & be able to recognize it. Today he texted us & said he thinks he received an answer to his prayer!! We are so excited to meet with him again. He needs the church & the church needs him.
I got to go on a trade off with Sister Yolos this week which was such a tender mercy. We just hung out on UF campus all day & talked to 1 million people, most of which seemed to be Jewish. We had a lesson that night with a young man from China who wants to be baptized soooooo bad but he knows someday he will have to go back to China & all the Christians he knows there can’t get jobs or wives. His parents will not let him take the lessons anymore. He is so sad. & that made me so sad. God bless America. It may not be perfect, but it’s waaaayyyyy better than it could be.
I love the gospel! & I love you! Florida is beautiful this time of year & I wish you could be here to experience it with me.
Have a blessed week!
