I want to start off my email with a scripture. This scripture has been coming to mind all week. It is found in the Doctrine and Covenants. As Jesus Christ was organizing His church on the earth in the 1800's, Joseph Smith had questions of how he was to do it. The Doctrine and Covenants is a collection of his questions, and revelations from Heavenly Father.
Doctrine and Covenants 6:33-34 "Fear not to do good...Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good..."
This scripture has come to mind over and over again all week. As we try our best to do what the Lord would have us do, we can always be assured we are doing what is right when we are doing what is good.
So this week started out rough. Monday night we had a lesson with a man who wanted to argue and tear us down in any way possible. We stood strong because we
know. Nothing he can say can change that.
Jacob 7:5
"And he had hope to shake me from the faith, notwithstanding the many revelations and the many things which I had seen concerning these things; for I truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto me. And also, I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time; wherefore, I could not be shaken."
We felt a lot like Jacob. We haven't seen angels or anything, but we have seen the hand of the Lord in our lives, and we have had answers to prayer. And we
know that this gospel is true, and that it is Jesus Christ's.
We also taught Ethan. He's still getting ready for his baptism. He is so cute! Ever since we taught him about keeping the Sabbath day holy, he has been praying that he and his family can keep it holy in every prayer. So cute!
So we got really sick with a nasty cold this week and it has been awful. We've kept on trucking but STILL. We completely lost our voices, starting with me, on Wednesday and they STILL aren't back entirely. GAH! Missionary work is talking. Drat you, Satan!
Wednesday we got to see Jeanette and her family. We were struggling with the talking thing so we'd switch off and do as much as we could. Sister Lundquist had more voice than I did so she mostly had to teach the whole time. Eloi, Jeanette's brother, joined us in the lesson! He was listening intently to what we shared about the Restoration. :)
Thursday we had the ward party! It was really fun. Again, if you haven't checked out
christmas.mormon.org you totally should! It's wonderful.
Friday was cool, we went to the main street Christmas market to talk with people (our voices were still on the fritz). Every year they close main street and fill it with vendors. They have all these pretty lights and alpacas with santa hats and it's just so fun! We went around sharing the Christmas video with everyone who owns a smart phone. ;) We asked them to just pull it up and watch it right then! Everyone who watched it, liked it.
We taught Ethan again, he still remembers all the hand signs for the 10 commandments. What a cutie! :) He is going to be baptized this week, on Saturday! Please pray for him and his family that everything can get worked out for his baptism. :) He is so amazing!
Saturday both of our voices were shot. We talked to one lady, Carey, and we had a good conversation, but I started having this cough attack and so that was awkward.... So we decided to stop contacting people for the moment and do service so we didn't have to talk. We asked Sister R if we could randomly rake her yard and she was like "sure" so we did and that was fun.
It has been crazy warm here, by the way. Like in the 70's all week. Weird!
So we were struggling on Saturday. We really wanted to teach, but we could NOT talk! My voice started coming back in the afternoon, so we went walking around this apartment complex and we were passing by a door and both of us heard people talking/shouting inside. Sister Lundquist stopped and was like "should we knock?" And I was like, "yeah, we may save someone from getting yelled at." So we knocked. Crystal answered the door. We talked to her for a little bit and asked if we could talk with them and she was like, "yeah, come on in, my friend really needs a message right now." Kristy was sitting on the couch with tears rolling down her face. :(
We shared the Restoration, testifying of God's love for the both of them. Partway through, their friend Shaniqua came in, with her kids, and we invited them all to join us. It was amazing! At the end, we all prayed together. They are amazing people! We are excited to go see them this Saturday.
We also saw Jeanette and her family that night and talked about the Book of Mormon and the Plan of Salvation. They had lots of thoughts about it and it was so cool. At the end we prayed together. We invited Jeanette and Anna to come to church.
THEY CAME!
It was so cool! They came just in time to take the Sacrament. Wow! I know that there is an amazing spirit at church, Jeannette said she felt "calm." "That's the Spirit!" we testified. I know that the spirit that we feel at church is real, it is the Spirit of God. :) Wow! What an amazing miracle that they were able to come. :) We love them! They invited us over for Christmas, too! What an amazing family. :)
Sunday I had my voice back (sort of) but Sister Lundquist's was
gone. So I did most of the talking. We went and taught this girl named Georgie. She's about 15. We met her last week and she said we could come back. So standing on her porch as it got dark, we shared the Restoration. She really liked it. We invited her to read from the Book of Mormon. She is so cool!
Paulette and Sister S invited us over after church for a chicken salad sandwhich, so that was wonderful. We shared the story of Enos with them and talked about how Heavenly Father answers prayers, especially for the sincerely repentant.
I love Heavenly Father! I love the scriptures. I love His gospel, I know it is true.
I thought of an analogy for this this week. Bear with me here. So imagine a big, solid rock, right? Now imagine this red velvety curtain big enough to entirely hide the big rock.
Imagine lots of people, living and working and doing stuff in front of the curtain. Some people don't even notice that it's there, others see it and kind of inspect it, look at it and poke it, but there's no gaps in it to look through and it's too heavy to lift up or get under. Some people give up and wander off. Others stay, looking intently, and wondering what it could be hiding.
Well! Imagine messengers coming from behind the curtain, they hop over like it's nothing and start talking to someone! They tell that person about the rock, that it's real, tangible, and just behind the curtain.
That person is so excited! He believes these people. So he goes and he tells as many people as will listen. The people right next to the curtain are the ones who are most eager. They've been wondering what was behind the curtain for
ages. But they can't see the rock. They can't touch it. Some believe the man, and some don't. Others who ignore the curtain entirely ignore the man's message.
I will liken this analogy to
absolute truth. There IS absolute, eternal truths. God exists. Jesus Christ is real. They love us. They have a Plan for us. We are the children of God. Those things are
true. Just because we can't see or touch the rock doesn't mean it's not there!
God sends angels to prophets, like Moses, Abraham, Noah, and Joseph Smith, and tells them about the truth. The gospel and the commandments they want us to live. The prophets then tell us, and we have to act on faith, and we have to pray and ask if these things are true. And Heavenly Father will reveal things to us through prayer, not necessarily by ministering angels, but perhaps just by a quiet feeling or assurance that we are doing what is right.
So if that made no sense, I'm sorry ;) but it just makes so much sense to me that there is
out there, and Heavenly Father is a God of truth and light.
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