Hello family!!!
Today is my 7 month mark!! Crazy stuff! I can't believe that I have been out 7 months. And with my mission probably only being 17 months, that means I will be home 10 months from today! That is nuts!
Is Laralee having her baby today?!?! I hope so! That is so exciting!! I can't wait to see pictures of her!
Well, here is this week:
Tuesday: Valentine's Day. This is the best Valentine's day I have ever had in my life. Why? I'll tell you. That night we went and tried a referral from a member in our ward. These people have a ton of member friends, they have had missionaries over on P-days playing in their basement, but they have never had the lessons. So we went over on Valentine's Day and we were chatting with them. The husband is really funny and the wife has MS and is super quiet. Well, we were talking about how they were able to get through all of their hardships with her having MS and he said well, I took those marriage vows seriously, for richer or poorer in sickness in health. And then right away I said, but how do you feel about "until death do you part" and he said he had never really thought about it. So then, I got to bear my testimony of eternal families. I told him that as missionaries we aren't here just to baptize people, we want to make forever families and that he needed to do that with his wife. So, on Valentines Day, and the 30 year anniversary of when he proposed to her, he agreed to learn from us because he wanted to be with her forever. IT was amazing!!!!! That beats any bouquet, chocolate or card!!! I got to tell a couple who loves each other SO much that they could be together forever. Soooo awesome!!!!
Wednesday: We had the most amazing zone conference of all time. Our ward mission leader was asked to come speak. He is PHENOMENAL. He is seriously changing my life and the way I exercise my faith. I will have to show you a little handout that he gave to me the first day I got here. But basically, he takes the Lord's promises very seriously in the scriptures when he says that he will grant unto us according to our desires. And if we desire righteous things, and we do everything that we are supposed to be doing, he will grant it to us. He takes the tithing promise in Malachi to refer not just to tithing, where the Lord says PROVE ME NOW herewith If I will not pour out my blessings unto you. Since 1994, Brother A has achieved every single goal that he came to the Lord with. He taught us new ways to desire righteous things and to PROVE Heavenly Father so we could receive those blessings from the desires of our hearts. SOOOOOOO AWESOME! I am learning so much here, and it is amazing.
Thursday: We tried the whole thing that Brother A was telling us about. And we are teaching these two girls that are so great. But their mom really never joins in on the lesson. Well, we have been PRAYING for a way to get her involved. But we couldn't think of anything. But, we needed to teach the girls about the Holy Ghost and so we played that game where you blindfold them and they have to get somewhere and there is a still small voice telling them where to go while everyone else is yelling. Anyway, afterwards we were talking about all the ways the Holy Ghost either comforts us or warns us of things, and then J just opened up. She shared about when her baby died and she was angry with God and that she has learned that God does love her and it was like the footprints in the sand type of deal. It was amazing!!! And I know it was all Heavenly Father because there is no way that that Holy Ghost game did it! Soooooooo COOOLLL!
Friday: We did weekly planning and then we were in the Trail Center. But our weekly planning was so awesome! Sister Davis is so willing to make changes and do everything to become more consecrated and better missionaries. So, it's so nice to have that support when I am wanting to just CHANGE for the better!
Saturday: Good day out in our area, we were able to see a lot of people. I have just developed such a love for studying the scriptures and studying Preach My Gospel. I look forward to it every morning. I wish that on P-day I didn't have to do all these other things because I just want to study!!!! It's so awesome!
Sunday: Whirlwind day. We started out by talking to this guy in the projects. He was out with his daughters playing in the snow and they just looked like a happy nice family. Then we told them that we were missionaries and that we shared a message that greatly blessed families. He asked me who gave us the authority to teach, and I said a prophet of God. Then he asked if he was an Israelite... not a normal question that we get... then he went off on how only the Israelites are allowed to preach the gospel and allowed to be prophets and that you can't be an Israelite if you are not black, hispanic or asian (basically everything but white). Then he said that only the minorities are the choice people and that everyone else was sent here to serve them. That we weren't actually God's children and that when it says God so loved the world in John 3 16 that it meant the Israelite world. He couldn't be reasoned with, and even after listening to his false doctrine, he wouldn't let me bear my testimony to him about God's love. So, we just left. It broke my heart. I can't believe that things are THAT distorted. To actually believe that God doesn't love all of us? That some of us are on this earth just to serve others and that Jesus' sacrifice didnt' pertain to us. What a sad thing to believe, and I don't imagine they get too many converts. It just broke my heart and I left crying because of the things that that man actually believed to be true and how much Satan has ruined plain and precious truths. I felt like Nephi in Helaman 10:3-5 when he is so discouraged and sad about the things that the people are doing. So many of the BOM missionaries feel that way, so if I can stand shoulder to shoulder with them, then I can't complain. One thing that I am grateful for though is that the FIRST principle that we teach in the Restoration is that God is our Loving Heavenly Father. What a beautiful, plain, precious, and true principle.
Then we went and taught T. He is 8 and so cute. He told us that his brother died from "Spiderman-gitis" (aka Spinal menangitis) haha. But we met with him right before church, and we invited him to come next week and he asked if he could come today, so we told him to ask his mom and next thing I know he's got his white shirt on and is ready to go! It was crazy that his mom let him go off with a bunch of strangers for 4 hours, but he had a great time at church and wants to get baptized!!
Then, that night, R (M's mom, who I took on tour and they referred themselves at the TC, and no R is active, but M is still not baptized), texted us and said that M has been calling his grandpa to set a date for baptism!!!! But he wanted to tell me, so I'll have to act surprised tonight, but I just screamed when I read it!!!! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY for this little family! Such an answer to our prayers! I love them so much and I can't wait for M to get baptized! Ahh! So, yeah, started out the day with tears of sadness, but ended the day with tears of joy. What a wonderful day.
The pictures are of Me with the Mangum's who went home this morning. They are so sweet and I am really going to miss them. They are from Louisiana and so I would always ask them about the Bayou and swamp people. They said I could come so I could go alligator hunting and eat some. I'm excited for that. :)
Then the other is just from this morning. We are emailing on the Bishop's computer since the library is closed for the holiday, so upstairs of where they live. Did the video that I sent last week work??
I can't believe those that are going to Disneyland!!!! I am so jealous. Let's plan a trip for this Christmas. Deal.
Well, I have had a wonderful week and I can't wait to hear from all of you again soon! Tell Laralee that I got the strawberries on Wednesday and they were DELICIOUS!!! Oh my goodness!! So good. It sounds like things are going well back at home and I am happy to hear that. I love you all so much and I can't tell you enough how grateful I am for all of you supporting me and my mission. This is the best thing that I have ever done in my life and it is changing me into the person that I have always wanted to become. I love you all!!!!
Love,
Sister Proctor
No comments:
Post a Comment