MEEK

Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the land, and give thee answers to thy prayers.

 

Write it in your heart.

 

I love my mission. I very literally could not be who I am now without deciding to go and do what the Lord has asked me to do. I am changing daily. I find purpose in my prayers and enjoy praying because I know the Lord hears me. He is the best listener. I asked Him how I could improve and one word came into my mind: meekness.

 

To be honest, I've never given the work "meek" much thought. When thinking of the Savior's attributes, we think of charity, hope, and faith. I have overlooked one of His most prominent attributes, meekness! Elder Ulisses Soares says "being meek does not mean weakness, but it does mean behaving with goodness and kindness, showing strength, serenity, healthy self-worth, and self-control." When we are meek, we control our minds which have control over our actions. Elder Soares goes on to point out the Savior's meekness at the end of His life. He didn't speak a word, held His natural reactions inside of Him, He truly desired their happiness. The only words He spoke were "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Get rid of pride. Christ could've proven them wrong because he hadn't commit sin, but he didn't.

 

The only opinion that matters is God's. So why do you need to prove your point?

 

This week we had interviews with President Stoker, which went SO great. I love that he cries, like just a little tear here and there. It's the best. He told me so many wonderful things that brought me so much joy! He asked me how I am becoming who God wants me to be. I told him about prayer. It's changing my life and changing who I am. I have a relationship with Heavenly Father. It's a relationship that now means more to me than any other relationship I've ever had. He is the one I know will always help me to do what's best for myself and those around me. We talked about what praying vocally does for us. For me, I connect with my heart. My mind gets out of the way and I speak from the desires of my soul. My real needs and desires come up. I have thoughts that come into my mind that come from God. Sometimes He answers me then and there, other times it's during studies, and sometimes it's a few months later! It's always when I need though. How we pray determines how He answers. We need to be specific! Not generic! I loved talking about this with President, it's a soft spot in both of our hearts. He promised me some amazing things.

 

We continued to have miracles happen this week. We now have a teaching pool and people to plan for. That's a prayer that was answered! One of our members shared the Gospel and the friend is now being taught and has a commitment to be baptized if she finds this is true.

 

Rafael (the member) has a friend named Odennis (the new investigator). She is 19 and from the DR, has the most adorable 6 month old son EVER. A week or two ago she came to see the church building with Rafael, was a bit hesitant She loved it and loved Sister Turley and I, we connected with her! The Spencer's (the member family) invited all of us over for dinner last night. We taught with heavy emphasis on God is our loving Heavenly Father and the Gospel blesses families. How the prophet is the mouthpiece of God, on and on. We had a great discussion. We introduced the Book of Mormon, she couldn't wait to get a copy! She has a baptismal commitment too! WHAAAAT! Agh I love her. She'll do anything to help Theo, she's caring, respectful, loving. We are going to teach her on Tuesday!!

 

 

SOoooo a few weeks ago we ran into people named Gigi and Peppe. We went back and they invited us in. The less active daughter was there! Along with like 15 grandchildren! Haha! We gathered around their kitchen table and talked about who God is and why we pray and other things. They described the spirit the missionaries brought as "peaceful while they're here, and a little after they leave. You feel like there aren't any problems, they just go away." They nailed how the Spirit feels so accurately. We are teaching them again Saturday. We had a closing prayer with EVERYONE IN THE WHOLE HOUSE around the table. There were a ton of family members there! Tons of kids, mostly small. When I prayed it was silent. So reverent I felt like I was in the temple. The kind of silence you don't want to disrupt by breathing wrong. After that, the kids knew I am a Child of God, so we all sang it.

 

JoAnne is loving the Plan of Salvation. We are going into more depth to get her ready for the temple prep class so SHE CAN ENTER THE TEMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Tracy wasn't there last week but we are meeting with her tonight and she's super excited. We are too:)

 

Kalisa and Oliver. It is a lot harder to explain the Restoration when you don't speak French of any kind. We got the French missionary manual and use that to translate our vocabulary. Visuals are awesome so we've been using a ton of those! I adore them though, so happy to teach them because THEY'RE SO HAPPY TO LEARN!!! It's incredible!!!

 

I am doing so well. I've never been happier. Never seen the Lord answer so many of my prayers. I know all this is happening because of the way we pray and the faith we are exerting. He is pleased, and I am pleased knowing that!

President Stoker and I eating sugar on snow at the mission home a few weeks ago!