What a week! Here are some highlights:
I
finished reading the Book of Mormon again! What was even more fun is
that Sister Tobler and I finished on the same day :) I cannot tell you
how much I have learned from this book. This time through I learned a
lot about how to receive answers to prayers. It has shown me so much
about faith, God's plan for me, His commandments. Most importantly it
has pointed me continuously to Jesus Christ. Through it I have developed
a stronger testimony of who He is and why I need Him so desperately in
my life. And through consistent study I am grateful to know that
testimony will never stop growing.
Other
exciting news, my friend James got baptized! I first met her in band
and she is just so great! She is one of the most caring people I have
ever met. Well, while I was still at home I found out she was meeting
with missionaries! She was actually preparing for baptism, but the
timing wasn't right. A few months ago I felt prompted to reach out to
her and discovered she was still meeting with missionaries! She attended
church regularly, read the Book of Mormon often. Her testimony had grown
immensely, and even though I only had the opportunity to chat with her
through Facebook I could tell that she was filled with such a different
light than she had been before. This Saturday she made the step of being
baptized! I could not be happier and I am so proud of her!
Another
highlight of my week was that on Monday I got to go on exchanges with
the amazing Sister Clark! Boy have I missed her sweet spirit. It was an
honor to be able to serve with her in Lancaster again for the day :) One
of the biggest miracles we saw was Amy. Sherry Price, who was baptized
recently, had invited her Sister-in-law Amy to attend. By attending that
baptism Amy realized that this gospel is what she has been looking for
and what has been missing in her life. She is absolutely amazing and so
dedicated and excited to learn all she can about Christ's restored
gospel. Elder and Sister Thompson have been working closely with her,
and Sister Clark and I had the wonderful opportunity to help her accept a
baptismal date! She is so prepared and I know this is going to change
her life!
Baptism is such a special and exciting thing that helps us to look to our Savior Jesus Christ!
There
have been many miracles that have happened this week, but it has
honestly been a crazy one! I feel like we were constantly running all
over the place, trying our best to help people, and still never feeling
like anything would go according to plan. BUT this week was a great
reminder to me that it's not my plans that matter, but it's God's plans
that will really make the difference. There were countless times this
week that I was stressed feeling like nothing was working out or that I
was not being successful. But then right after those moments, or
sometimes even during, we would experience some huge miracle like
finding three new investigators in half an hour or because we were
running later than planned we would pull up at just the right moment to
see an investigator we really needed to get in contact with who got home
at that exact moment. It is moments like those that confirm to me that I
am exactly where God needs me, doing exactly what He hopes I will be
doing.
Sometimes
though that confirmation would not come. There were moments that I felt
like I was supposed to be somewhere else, doing some other thing, or
that no matter how hard I try I can't possibly do the task the Lord has
given me. Those moments are really hard, when I know I could be more
successful. What do we do then? Well, we learn from our mistakes and
keep on trying. This week I have been studying my favorite talk from
this most recent General Conference titled "Until Seventy Times Seven"
by Elder Lynn G. Robbins. There is a question he poses very early in his
message that really related to how I have been feeling lately. He says,
"We may wonder—if both Nephi and Moses were on the Lord’s errand, why
didn’t the Lord intervene and help them achieve success on their first
try? Why did He allow them—and why does He allow us—to flounder and fail
in our attempts to succeed?" I have been wondering that same thing, if I
am on the Lord's errand and doing His work, why does it seem like
everything is against me or that I can't accomplish this work? Elder
Robbins made another point that helped answer my question. He teaches
us about the necessity of having real intent as we use the Atonement of
Jesus Christ to become what He wants us to be. He says that when we do
this we change. "That kind of change results in spiritual growth. Our
success, then, isn’t going from failure to failure, but growing from
failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm."
This
life isn't about being perfect. That is what we are all striving for,
but we will never get there in this life. And we certainly won't get
there very quickly if everything is handed to us. That is why, even when
we are doing the work of the Lord, it requires great effort and
sometimes what even appears to be failure, otherwise there would be no
growth. We are successful simply by getting up after we fall. Each
failure or hardship that we experience, if we rely on Jesus Christ to
give us the strength to rise from it, will be an opportunity to grow one
step closer to success. I urge you all to focus on Jesus Christ in your
daily lives. As you do so, you will gain the perspective you need to
never lose enthusiasm as you are given the experiences necessary to grow
spiritually in the ups and downs in life's journey.
Look to Christ and remember, just keep smiling!
