Dear Family,
Thank you for your emails each week! I always look forward to reading them! It kind of feels like Christmas everytime I get a letter and they make me SMILE :) I'm glad to hear it's been a good week for everyone! Conner, I hope you had a great first date! Remember to always be the gentlemen you are, I sure miss you!!!! Hope, it sounds like you were quite the soccer player! Keep up the hard work, and when I get home you'll probably be so good, you'll be famous!!! Where is Mitchell living? The performance you went to sounds pretty great! You'll have to show me his songs when I get back!
So I have almost hit my 3 month mark! That doesn't seem like very long, but I sometimes forget what it's like to not be a missionary! I just love it so much!!! I don't have too long since we are in a hurry today. We are going to Bloomfield (Sister Williams first area) to visit Sis. Mayo (the sister who took us to Greenfield Village). We get to see her every Sunday and she is so Amazing! I'm excited to get to spend our day with her!
This week we really tried to Talk to more people. Just like Elder Ballard talked about in his talk, if we want to teach more people, we have to talk to more people. We sometimes find difficulty finding people who are interested but all we can do is invite and show them how happy the gospel makes us!!! While walking this week we had a cop pull us over. He started questioning us, and we showed him our certificates for the church. It was so cool to be able to hold that power of authority in my hands! And just having President Monson's signature in my hands brings so much power as well! So because of the push of member missionary work our ward is doing AMAZING at asking their neighbors and friends. I've started to feel the pressure in being able to show the members I'm working hard too! I realized how much trust the Lord has in me and how much of a desire I have to make him proud! I know that evertime we invite someone to come closer to Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ are proud of us!
So Nancie update.. She LOVED Conference and told us she KNOWS the Book of Mormon is True, she KNOWS that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and she KNOWS that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God, and she told us she KNOWS this is the TRUE CHURCH! Monday she told us she feels like something is missing and she keeps praying about it. I know what she feels is missing is the gift of the holy ghost and can only recieve that gift after she is baptized and confirmed! Anyways in the middle of the night she woke up and said Heavenly Father had answered her prayer, and told her she needed to let go of the past. The first thing she thought of was that she hadn't talked to her pastor and gotten is approval, she told us this and in my head I was like "NO!!!" We talked with her about what she may need to let go of, and how fear is what holds us from moving forward. We bore our testimonies of how with the gift of the Holy Ghost, there is no need to fear, because TRUE JOY lies ahead of her! She was able to talk to President Gerber and at church she just said, I HAVE to get baptized! So I guess we'll see when she will! She just needs to let go of her fear. I've really had to exercise patience, I know everything is on God's timing, but sometimes I just want things to happen NOW. I guess that is just my imperfection showing. I just know how happy the gospel of Jesus Christ can make EVERYONE and I just feel like Lehi beckoning his loved ones to partake of the fruit, but he sees those (like Laman and Lemuel) go elsewhere. He knows it will make them happy but they chose against it. I'm sure Heavenly Father feels the same way sometimes, he knows what will make us happy but we often go the opposite way.
We had interviews with President Gerber this week and I really just love him so much! It's such a comforting feeling when you can feel someone's love for you just through their handshake! He is a great leader and Sister Gerber as well is on the most amazing women I've ever met! Just know that the missionaries here are in good hands!
I have truly come to love this area I am in!! All of the members, less-actives, investigators, and strangers I meet on the street I JUST LOVE THEM! This is the last week of the trasfer so I'll find out Saturday night, whether I will continue to serve here or not. No matter what happens I will go where the Lord wants me to go, but I truly will ALWAYS Love the people here!
One last quick thought. I've been reading Alma with all of the wars going on. I really LOVE Moroni! He is such a great leader for his people!! As Amalikiah leads the Lamanites to attack, they get there and they see how strong their people have become. Then Amalikiah says, ok let's attack the weak land that they have, but when they get there, they see that it is not weak any longer but actually REALLY STRONG! Before the Lamanites had come, Moroni had been making preparations. He had his people put on their armor and fortify their land. I love how he especially makes the weak areas the strongest! In our lives we need to CONSTANTLY be preparing ourselves and become spiritually STRONG! If we don't we will not be able to fight against the trials that come our way! Make sure you are putting your armor on and finding out what your weaknesses are, so you can make them strong, because that is where satan will want to target! He knows our weaknesses too but we don't have to let our weaknesses stay weak forever!
I'm so grateful for all of you and the examples that you are to me! I know you are strong and continue to stay strong by doing the fundamentals that keep us safe! Never miss a prayer!! Always read scriptures together as a family and as individuals! And try your hardest to never miss church (all of your meetings)! I love you all so much and have a fantastic week!!
Love, Sister Samantha Tracy
No comments:
Post a Comment