This has been a fantastic week!!!!! Especially at the end.
We had some amazing lessons with Elisa this week. We were really
worried about her because she was still having some struggles with the
word of wisdom. We met with her last Saturday and saw a big change in
her. We talked about the two things that she wanted to work on to
prepare herself for the baptismal interview, receiving a testimony on
the Prophet Thomas S. Monson and quitting coffee. We asked her how she
was doing on both of them and she said "oh I think that President
Monson is what we would call in the Catholic Church a Saint!!!" As a
gift, Sister Griffin had given her "On the Lord's Errand" and she
loved watching it. She has a testimony of the prophet now. When we
asked her how she was doing with the coffee, she said that she was
still trying to get off of it. Sister Griffin and Reese (a family
friend) both shared their strong testimonies about the word of wisdom.
Afterwards I felt impressed to say "Elisa, to prepare yourself for
your baptism, will you give us all of your coffee right now?" She
immediately dos so and told us to throw it all away! We took pictures
doing it. She has such great faith! I've never taught anyone more
prepared ever before in my mission! The baptism will be this Saturday
at 7:00P.M. Everyone keep Elisa in your prayers as she gets through
these last couple days before her baptism and confirmation.
Kenny is awesome! He came to church yesterday and we went over the
baptismal interview questions. He's completely ready to go as well.
What a huge miracle he was!!!! Thank you Elder Cunningham!!! After the
lesson his wife started bragging about what an amazing drummer he is!
Kenny mentioned that he played but he made it sound like he was just
an amateur but his wife showed me a video and he is a professional!!!
Kenny is very humble so he would have never told me himself but I'm
glad his wife did haha!!! Kenny will be baptized this Saturday at 6:00
P.M. right before Elisa. It's going to be one of the best days of my
mission!!!
The Lord has yet blessed us even more! Yesterday we had two people
unexpectedly come to church! Tenaz is the sister of a recent convert
in the 1st Ward and she decided to come just before she started work!
She loved it and is committed to come to all of the classes the next
Sunday. We're going to ask her then if she will take the missionary
lessons with us. We know that she'll say yes! Her brother is such a
great example to the family and we're praying that he can help the
rest of his family join the church and be sealed together forever.
Nicole was the other one that came to church. In fact, she reached out
to us via text and asked us if we would meet with her and help her
start her "journey." We we're so grateful and replied with an "of
course!!!" We're going to try to meet with her this week maybe
tomorrow or Thursday. We're super excited. I've been praying all this
month that the Lord would help us find new people to teach and we
worked so hard only to have the Lord have them fall out of the sky it
seems haha! I testify that the Lord is the paymaster and rewards those
that serve him with all their "heart, might, mind, and strength."
Recently in my studies I've been learning about what it truly means to
give your "heat, might, mind, and strength with an eye single to the
glory of God." This quote from C.S.S. Lewis is something that I found
to go along with what I learned: "Give me all. I don't want so
much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so
much of your work: I want You. All of you. I have not come to
torment or frustrate the natural man. but to kill it. No
half-measures will do. I don't want to only prune a branch here
and another there; rather, I want the whole tree out. Hand it
all over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of
your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them all over to me,
give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self in my
image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself.
My will, shall become your will. My heart, shall become your
heart." When we give our hearts, we put both feet in the mission. All
of our wants or passions are put away and we accept the fact that
change happens and we embrace it and find peace and happiness doing
it. After the mission, instead of going back, we take a step forward.
I testify that if we can give our hearts to the Lord, he will change
them and perfect them in His own time.
I love all of you and I hope you all have a wonderful week!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment