This
week was GREAT! I'm finally starting to feel like a missionary and to fit in to
exactly what I need to do. This is the END of my first transfer but it's all
good because I'm staying in the same area, with the same companion. Sadly my
favorite STL ever is leaving, Sister Aisa, to return to Australia. I'm going to love every single Hna from now on....regardless of how hard
it is.
My
studying in the Book of Mormon has been insane. So, basically I started out studying names
then went on a ride lead entirely by the Lord. Everything connects - which is
crazy to me :) Names,
callings, Urimm and Thummim, temples, kingdoms of Glory, purification and
sanctification, circumcision, blindness, uncircumcised hearts, prayer, mind,
revelation, understanding and submission. The Lord AMAZES me with everything
that He knows and is willing to teach me. Basically, I learned this week about how the heart and mind work
with each other. Our mind is kind of like a funnel to the things of the world.
It receives temptations, senses, knowledge, etc. Everything goes into the mind
and it processed there right? Then the heart filters out what is true and good
from the bad. We filter our minds through our hearts, through the Holy Ghost.
The reason we need the heart/HG is because our minds have the veil. Our
memories are held back from us. BUT we will always remember feelings better
than anything else. Essentially, our hearts do not have the veil. That is how
others are able to have the Light of Christ without the Holy Ghost (before
baptism). This light is actually the Holy Ghost helping us to recognize those
things that we already previously knew but cannot remember due to the veil.
However, the only way that we can achieve "understanding" is by being
completely submissive to the Lord. When we understand more about the Lord and
His purpose in our lives and therefore, our divine heritage, we UNDERSTAND
everything more fully. It's like we are given a puzzle piece to the universe
every time we give a piece of ourselves more fully to the Lord. If you want to
read more about it, look at the talk by Neal A Maxwell called "Willing to
Submit". It is the BEST!
Miracles
this week: Lis, one of our amazing soon to be baptized, got a really big
miracle this week. So we had set up a FHE with a member in our ward and invited
her but she can't view messages till she gets off at work at 6-6:30. So at
around 6 we went over to her house because we felt like we needed to talk to
her just a little bit to round her up for the FHE. We went over and she opened
the door. (She told us later that at the exact moment we were knocking on the
door, she was sending us a message saying she couldn't go.) We talked about
what would happen, how fun it would be and how long it would be. That day had
been terrible for her because her card (All her money) had been declined, work
was difficult and she was overworked (happens a LOT with Latins. A lot of work
with almost no pay) , she couldn't call her family and she had been having
family problems at home with her kids. When kids are going off the path, the
mothers really struggle. I've seen it myself :) But anyway, we convinced
her to come. She really enjoyed it and the members did amazing. Anyways, a few
days later we were teaching her and she told us more about her experience. She
had been feeling really alone and felt very depressed that week. We called her
up and invited her and she did NOT want to go. But she felt like she should
give it a chance when we showed up at her house. She came and then the rest of
her week was WONDERFUL. She had so many tender mercies and blessings happen
from just FHE! She was happier, she had hope for her family and she felt like
the Lord was there for her. The Lord loves ALL his children :)
SUPER
FUN THING! So, we have two awesome people from our district going home, our STL
and Zone Leader. Because they are going home, we got it approved to go
"Sunrising". We drove down the pier in Lantana Florida and watched
the sunrise. I was up and at 'em at 4 this morning! We drove all the way down
there and took some of the most amazing pictures. Only sad part is that,
weirdly enough, IT WAS RAINY! Huh, who da thunk in Florida right? Seriously, it
feels like Seattle sometimes. It's even cold here! We had clouds everywhere and
it was lightly drizzling. Lame. But that's okay because we still got some
awesome pictures. The Lord created one of the most beautiful places
I have ever seen here.
Another
miracle is Amado. So he is an older guy that we met while walking down the
street. The stinker actually was kind of cat calling us and calling us
"dolls" because we are blonde with blue eyes. All Latins say we look
like Dolls or that Hna and I are sisters. *insert eye roll with a rueful grin.
(I've really learned that my vocabulary has a lot of words that most people
don't even know. Hna McAfee often needs me to explain the meaning of words I
say. In English and Spanish!) Anyway, we gave him a card and walked away. Then
a week or so later, we knocked on his door whilst harvesting. Interesting. Had
a lesson but he just wasn't interested. Then he called the number for a Finding
Faith DVD and when we came over he said that he had religious people come to
his house all the time but that he only listens to us because we are the
closest to the Catholic church. He then expressed interest in learning more. He
had been so humbled over the past few weeks and was ready to accept the gospel.
We meet with him tomorrow. Keep you posted :)
Love
you All!
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