This morning I read a talk from www.lds.org about
changing. It talked about how we have so many goals at the beginning of the
year to accomplish so much and then gave four steps to accomplishing those things.
The first is to ask the Lord for help, He has the plan and knows what we need
so asking him what we can improve on is best and is key. After that we need to
remember to think small, remember that great things come to pass by the small
and simple and after that we need to reflect every now and then on how we are
doing and recommit to following. He talked about how he does this during the
sacrament a time when he can ponder and renew covenants with Christ and after
that is to always keep going. We haven't failed unless we stop trying.
We went finding today and it was more than
interesting. We tried an apartment complex that our zone leaders said we should
try and guess what was there? No Hispanics. None, nadie, nope. All white and
Chinese and one Indian women who didn't speak English who called someone on the
phone to translate back and forth. So that was fun.
Elder Hall got a new missionary as well and
couldn’t be
back to the area until around 7:30 so he asked us to go to the canal to see a
potential. Now let me tell you about the canal, the canal is populated highly
with everyone and their dogs and isn't the safest place around. However, they asked
us to go at night and I wasn't super fond of that idea so we asked the zone
leaders to go with us. So we partied and walked around the canal forever trying
to find the address. We finally did and talked to their potential and then
drove home super quick.
We visited a woman named Jennifer!!! It was so
awesome we taught English and then she asked if she could make us some
sandwiches which gave us an opportunity to transition into showing a video. We
showed her the Easter video and talked about Christ, she talked about how she
had been to churches before where she hadn't felt the peace from her church but
that when she went to our church on Christmas she felt peace and then something
different she hadn't felt before.
Yea basically those words are candy for missionaries
and we took it and ran and asked if we could share the lessons, she so readily
agreed and it was so exciting! As this was going on something awesome happened,
I remembered my setting apart and how it said that people's ancestors and
premortal children would be praying for me to find those that they need me to
find. After that, all that came to my mind was "she has a baby, that baby
is 8 months old, you have been a missionary for about 13 now." This moment
was probably one of the coolest moments of my mission. I was amazed, so
grateful, and SO happy to think that her 8 month old baby could have been
praying for me before being born! The Lord answered prayers and lead us to
Jennifer and hopefully I was able to help one of God’s children in such a way.
Everyone has hard times and everyone gets over
them and this might just be a time for me. Wednesday was a very hard day for me
starting out but it all got better because of the enabling power of the
atonement. Ready for this, yes well I asked to learn about the enabling power
of the atonement. I did indeed so this time period is for me to learn.
I thought about how I really didn't feel
motivation there was none, nothing at all and it was hard downright hard for a
bit of time. But there was a decision point and that was language study I had
to decide whether I was going to push past what I was feeling or if I was going
to let it overtake me. I remembered what dad told me about taking things step
by step so with that I went and did language study and told my Heavenly Father
that I would check in again after that.
That was my point, we are told the power kicks
in after we push past what we can do and language study was me pushing past. I
said a prayer to begin and I just laid it out and said hey I can't do this
right now without you so I need you and I began studying Spanish. I began, and
like a staircase I made my way back up to where I needed to be and that lead to
us going to Jennifer's and having that amazing time. So my prayer was indeed
answered and if that isn't cool than I'm not sure what is. The Lord knows us
and what we can and can't handle and He is there and will step in right when we
need it.
I was handing out food at a foodbank and
started talking to this man named Nicholas and he was surprised I spoke Spanish
so I explained why and he was impressed and we shook hands and he stood out to
me and that was all. Things continued on until I saw him sit down with his two
little boys on the grass after the line and the spirit said ok go! It's time
for you to talk to them and I said but whoa awkward and the spirit said ha I
didn't ask for your opinion. So, I grabbed Hermana Mendez and we went and it
was the smoothest contact I have had my entire mission! It went so well we just
talked and got to know him and his cute boys and we exchanged information of
course he also invited us to his church and his services but hey he doesn't
know the power the priesthood holds. So whether or not that pans out it was so
cool to see how the spirit guided and prepared and how He prompted that contact
so of course he wouldn't let us fail.
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