Hi everyone!
As I reviewed all of these great spiritual messages from the week described, I was smiling from ear to ear. As well as when I was inserting all of the links to the readings referenced. It is so cool that people are having spiritual experiences like these, and it is SO COOL that Jesus is so easy to access. I type a few simple words into a search engine and His word is right before my eyes. It is so easy to come unto Christ. That has never been more true than it is today, but Christ has always been reaching out to all people and wanting them to let Him into their lives. I've done it, and I can say it is the happiest decision, and I've seen many people do the same and become entirely better for it.
This was also an awesome reminder that the doctrine of Christ is the best and super worth studying! There is nothing better to learn about if you want to come unto Christ because it is literally the step-by-step guide of how to do it. I'm definitely going to recommit to studying about the doctrine of Christ.
I also want to note that I was not expecting my invitation to read the Restoration proclamation this week. It really took me by surprise. I couldn't figure out a reason for it, and by the looks of my letter I couldn't at the time I wrote it either. All I could think was that it must definitely be meant to be. So I don't know who you are, but I know someone out there--all of us, probably--needs to read this. When you do, I know that God will tell you something He wants you to know. It might be something that you feel, a thought that comes to your mind, or something else. But He will tell you something.
Thanks for coming and I hope you enjoy!
Hello one and all!
LA LOVE:
I won't reveal the big news just yet, but this week I recorded something with some friends, went to Temple Hill to record something else for the mission, and participated in a Zoom call with the Redondo 1st young women, all for THREE DIFFERENT big and spicy events we have coming up in coming days. Stay tuned, everyone. I am so excited.
I just participated in my first drive-by parades and they were the most ADORABLE THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME EVER.
EVENTS OF THE WEEK:
I had my first p-day with Sister Nault! Honestly not much happened but hey it's still noteworthy.
We had the most amazing zone conference this week. It was fantastic all around, and we talked about great finding methods, but the highlight was definitely at the end. President said that our purpose as missionaries is to teach repentance and baptize converts. This is true and I love it. President noted that we are very good at teaching repentance, or so it seems, because we teach a lot. However, this mission lacks in baptizing converts. President counseled with the Lord about how we can solve this problem. The clear impression that he got was that we needed to study the doctrine of the lessons more, particularly the doctrine of Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end). Us missionaries did not understand it enough and how all of those points in the doctrine of Christ connect; they are not at all separate occurrences. We needed to understand how the doctrine of Christ fits into God's plan for us, the Plan of Salvation or the Plan of Happiness. He challenged us to study from our lessons every day, and to dedicate ALL of our personal study time this week to studying the doctrine of Christ. I took up the challenge and I can say it worked. I have learned a lot, and the successes that Sister Nault and I have had this week are not coincidental. We have had many phone calls with our dear friends in the zone where we've talked about the things we've learned about the doctrine of Christ as we've studied this week, and it is incredible how much all of our testimonies have grown. I am so grateful for inspired mission leaders taht show us the will of the Lord for this mission.
We had a fantastic district council this week and we talked about how to ask for referrals! We have found a lot of success in that finding method as well.
We had a great weekly planning follow-up as a mission this week to discuss the new method of organizing weekly planning that President, Hermana, and the assistants made! Honestly it is fantastic and a great way to organize and plan for our friends. President said that the eighth chapter of Preach My Gospel ("How Do I Use My Time Wisely?") is being entirely rewritten, and the Church missionary department reached out to him and asked if they could look at and use the stuff he put together! So feature us in Preach My Gospel in a little bit probably! Wow, I'll never be more famous than I am as a missionary.
So Sister Nault is a really fantastic missionary so she is on the committee for teaching and finding online for the mission. On this committee the selected missionaries try ways to find and teach online and then report to President on how it went so we can help the mission with online missionary work. I'm not on this committee, but I still got invited to their meeting because my companion was there, so like hey, I get to try all the cool online stuff with all the pro missionaries!
We had a great mission prep class where we learned about patience and extending invitations to our friends! I love those mission prep kids. They are so amazing.
FRIENDS:
Well guys, we had another call with Craig T. this week. We got real honest with our man: Craig is really focused on his imperfections, the little details that distract him from what is needful, turning to Jesus Christ. We talked about how he needs to put more trust in the Lord, and he agreed to let us help him grow his faith. CRAIG IS BACK! We also talked a little bit about eternal families, and how through obeying God's laws and repentance we can be together with our families forever! He also had a great Sabbath worship experience with Aaron and his family. He is repenting so fast! Our man is back and better than ever.
We taught David, a guy we met in January! We talked about how God communicates through prophets and how we have one today!
Ariana was so happy to see Sister Nault because she was the missionary that baptized her! We read "Spiritual Capacity" by Michelle Craig and talked about how we can be receptive to the Spirit.
This week with Cathryn we talked about letting go of things we don't need and moving to God's will (so in short, repenting) in the context of "Remember Lot's Wife" by Jeffrey R. Holland. Repentance is a super liberating process so we thought of something that we wanted to let go of. Well everyone, during this whole time that we've been teaching Cathryn, as many of you know, we've been talking about when she wants to be baptized. One day Cathryn texted us and said she wants to be baptized on the twenty-second of June. We were so shocked and so happy! She knows that it's time and we love her. We called her a few minutes after and talked about what we would have to do to make that happen. Let's go!
We read John 14:18 with Mary this week and talked about the Holy Ghost as our Comforter. I also sang the song "The Holy Ghost" for her because I love the way that song describes the Holy Ghost's different roles in our lives and the ways we obtain this power.
We had several lessons with Hilario this week, but this time I didn't do it alone! My dear friends Elder Jones and Elder Judd joined us so they could teach Hilario in Spanish. I understand Spanish well enough that I could read scriptures with them and hop into the conversation in English on occasion haha. I love learning languages! It is so fun. And I love sharing lessons with other missionaries, because the more friends you get in there the better. Hilario had concerns about the Book of Mormon, so in our first lesson with him we explained how the Book of Mormon testifies of Jesus Christ and works like the Bible and right alongside it. We read the first fifteen verses of 3 Nephi 11 together the next time. Hilario LOVED it. He has accepted the Book of Mormon as the word of God.
We shared a message with a new referral named Louise! We got to know her beliefs and interest in religion, which reminded us of a scripture to share, Mosiah 3:5-8, in which we talked about the coming of the Messiah.
We talked about the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ with Diana this week: faith, repentance, and baptism. She had a great understanding of them all but had some questions about baptism. She had a great Sabbath worship experience with Ariana on Sunday where we learned more about repentance. It was so great. Diana is progressing so much and I am really happy for her.
We went in pretty deep about the Restoration with Monica this week. She seemed to understand it and is ready to learn more! She had a great Sabbath worship experience with the Nakamoto family about repentance.
We talked about building strong family relationships with John and Nataly this week by reading "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" with them! They are the best.
We had a great lesson about faith with Ken this week. "Faith, trust, believe" was his theme for the week so we read Matthew 17:14-20 together and talked a lot about believing that God can exercise power in our lives.
This week as we read the scriptures with Beverly, she said she saw Jesus as a friend and a shelter. Her testimony is so strong. We love her so much.
As you can see, this week was full of miracles and I didn't even have time to mention them all. People mean well and are worried about us when they say this must be such a hard time for missionaries, and I suppose it has been difficult sometimes, but for the most part it really hasn't. This has been the happiest time of my mission. So many amazing things are happening. We are learning so much about how to do our work. The miracles have not ceased and we are having a great time. I rejoice in being a missionary right now. I wouldn't have it any other way.
I also wanted to invite you all to read the recent proclamation made by the prophet and apostles earlier this year--"The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: A Bicentennial Proclamation to the World". I have a copy of this proclamation hanging on my wall, and I was looking at it this week and thinking about how I wanted to share it with all of you. The beautiful truths in this proclamation are precious treasures. I invite you all to read and ponder and even pray about this statement. If you do so with a sincere heart, I promise it will bring you great joy.
Thanks and much love!
--Sister Day
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