Companion: Sister Melissa Rowley
"...I know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness... he hath filled me with his love unto the consuming of my flesh... O Lord I will praise thee forever; yea my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation." (2 Nephi 4:19-21,30)
I'm not gonna lie, it's hard to be a missionary sometimes. This journey is a journey of love, light, and truth. My desire is to be stripped of "all ungodliness." The process of that is like a tree being pruned. It can be difficult and painful at times but ultimately I've found the greatest joy and growth in doing so. I have found that no matter what difficulties come, when I turn to the Lord, he strengthens me. His grace is sufficient. Of this, I know of a surety.
We got transfer calls yesterday. Sister Rowley and I are staying together. :) We look forward to this upcoming transfer. Maybe it'll feel a little more normal since we know the area better.
This has been a great week! I learned an important lesson on the power of prayer the other day as Sister Rowley and I were praying together. I asked specifically for an opportunity to serve that day. I really felt it, and had confidence that God would provide. I didn't think much of it after that. A few hours later we were out finding people to teach and stopped by a potential investigators home. She thought we were a little crazy for doing this in the cold. It's been really cold the past few days. Texas cold is different than Utah cold because it's more wet and sinks into your bones.. Of course, we didn't mind at all. She told us to come back when it's warmer. And you'll never guess what happened. Her dog got out. Ha ha ha! I think it's my lot on my mission to catch people's dogs. This will be the third time I've gone after someone’s dog. We felt bad for him getting out and tried to get him. They were only in their pajamas so weren't able to get out right away, but told us not to worry about it. So we got in our car and decided to go find the dog. He ended up in a garage. I told Sister Rowley to jump out of the car as soon as I had it stopped. She did, and I followed soon after. We put him in our car, and brought him back to the owner. They were really happy and appreciated us bringing him back. They instantly became more receptive and we were able to talk a little with them. In the future they may be much more open to us teaching them. What a tender mercy! I recognized as soon as we got back in the car that this was a direct answer to our prayer. I began to reflect on how I've asked in the past. I realized that I have not always offered a spirit-led, faith-filled prayer. I now know with deeper understanding that God hears my prayers and he always answers. If we don't seem to receive an answer, perhaps it's because we have not put forth the faith and humility necessary to listen and see. From now on, I will strive to be more faith-filled in my prayers.
We've been teaching a woman named {L}. It has been a learning experience for all of us. She's been through a lot and has so many questions. Questions that are difficult to answer. Because of some things that were happening we started to wonder if we were going to need to stop teaching her. That was really hard. Heartbreaking, in fact. She has come so far and has felt the spirit. We have truly come to love her. It was humbling as we prayerfully prepared for her next lesson. It was going to be the lesson where we determined whether or not to continue. We prayed for the spirit to be with us and did our best to prepare. That lesson was miraculous. We were not the teachers. The Holy Ghost was. We talked about faith and read Alma 32. She once again committed to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. The joy we felt after that was indescribable. For now, we will continue to teach her.
There is an old lady in her 90's that lives next door to a family in our ward. We met her once more than three weeks ago after Sister Tan referred her to us. She is so sweet. She's nearly blind, but has a very sharp mind. She has a cute high old lady voice. We decided to stop by two days ago and see how she was doing. As soon as she opened the door we asked her if she needed anything. She let us in and gave us two bags of homemade cookies. It was the cutest thing. I wasn't sure if she remembered us, but after talking to her she remembered us better than we did her. We were teaching her more about the Book of Mormon and she remembered something we told her the last time we came by that we couldn't even remember. Someday I want to be the kind of old lady that has stashes of homemade cookies to give to any random person. Ha ha.
I'm grateful to be a part of this glorious work. I love the Lord.
Sincerely,
Sister Record
Pictures
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| Pear Seeds! Who knew?? |
We came to the Andrew's to do a service project. We got there, and they wanted us to make cookies. They were just so excited, we couldn't turn it down. We did it as fast as we could so we could get to something they actually needed help with. Ha ha. It was really fun. And it brightened their day.
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| Sister Record and Sister Rowley making cookies |
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| Sister Rowley and Sister Record |
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| Sister Record and Sister Rowley |
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| Sister Record and Sister Rowley |
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| Sister Rowley and Sister Record enjoying some cookies |
Yesterday we had dinner with the best family ever! They are so funny. We had a great time with them. (He's the Elders quorum President, and she works with the young women.)
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| Sister Record and Sister Rowley with a member family |
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