Hey everyone!
Today's post was a good one for me to reflect on. Here I discuss the miracle of being a missionary and how there was a long time in my life where it felt like it would never be a reality--and then it was. An overall theme in this entire letter, actually, is incredible things coming even when it is hard to have any hope at all. I know my mission couldn't have been any sooner or any later. It was literally the PERFECT mission for me. Every last detail. That's something that I've been thinking about a lot lately with a lot of different things in my life. When we follow God, our plans all come together.
So I guess this is just your friendly reminder that your dreams can come true even if they are not yet realized. Just because the answer is no today, it doesn't mean it has to be no forever. Stay strong and stay hopeful and keep striving for the right thing! Whatever it is, it will come in its day. If I can serve a mission, I promise you, anything in God's will is possible. My stake president said it himself: I am a miracle. The fact that I was able to serve a mission at all is incredible. And it was the most amazing thing.
Not all is lost, my friends. Keep it up.
Enjoy!
Hello one and all!
LA LOVE:
So you know how the standard when you hear sirens coming is to pull over to the side of the road and wait for the trucks to pass? In LA that's not a thing. Everyone just stands still and lets the trucks maneuver around them because honestly that's way easier and less chaotic than us all trying to pull over; we would just be more in the way if we did that.
EVENTS OF THE WEEK:
I hit eight months in the mission! When I told Destiny how long I had been out and how long I had left, she said, "That's gonna go fast." It sure is! This week I've been reflecting a lot on the miracle of being a missionary. For a long time in my life the mission seemed a lot like a distant dream that would never actually happen, but now it's finally here! And I've been doing it for a good amount of time now, and it's better than even I could've imagined it would be. This is the best thing I could be doing with my life right now, and I'm doing it at the exact right time. I am so happy to be a missionary for the Lord.
On p-day I got together with Sister Pond and Sister Hendershot to practice the musical number we were assigned to do at zone conference. Went to McDonald's for lunch and had an interview with President! I am constantly amazed by how much he loves us. President is really happy with the work we've been doing in Wilshire 2 and sees the work we have ahead of us. We've been working on a lot of the things we learned about at zone conference and have seen a lot of success, so he is happy about that!
At district council this week we talked about a bunch of different finding methods and how our areas are doing. it was the last district council of the transfer so that was pretty sad, but we've all loved our time together and had a great last council.
Right after our last district council we had another free Bible finding activity! Our last one had a lot of success for other areas, but it turns out none of the people that signed up to receive free Bibles lived in our district! This time our district had better personal success and it was super fun yet again. I cannot tell you how much I love my district. At the beginning of the transfer we pretty much didn't know any of them, and now they are my best friends.
I also had a song practice for a musical number I got assigned to do with some other pals (Sister Broderick, Sister Flinders, Sister Pond, Sister Zegarra, Sister Child, Sister Hendershot, and Sister Horlacher, what a bunch of pals) for a sisters' brunch that's coming up so that's cool too!
We went to a musical event at the visitors' center that was beautiful. It was a mother and daughter, both classically trained singers, singing testimonies of Jesus Christ. Rhona and her fiancé Phil came and they loved it! They got to have a tour of the visitors' center before so they loved that. We told them they have events like that all the time so they are excited to come back.
Last night was our transfer call. Sister Birch and I were pretty sure we were both staying in Wilshire, and we were right! There were, however, a few spicy surprises involved in this coming transfer. The first one is that we are getting roommates! We are still not sure who they are, so we'll see when the transfer actually happens. The second is that we are not just covering Wilshire 2, but we are also now covering the Olympic ward--that's the Korean ward! As you are surely aware, I don't speak Korean, and neither does Sister Birch. But we are going to start learning, because we want to be able to serve in the area the best we can. The third surprise was that our Wilshire area is going to be split--there will now be a Wilshire 3! Three companionships in the Wilshire ward! We were definitely not expecting any of that. I am so excited for the upcoming transfer. This transfer I learned a lot about the law of the harvest--if you sow, you WILL reap. It doesn't matter what or how or when. At the beginning of this transfer we started with pretty much nothing. Our friends are now being integrated into the ward and making a ton of friends, sharing what's in their hearts and coming unto Christ. I am so happy about the progress that has been made here. I have learned that with hard work comes joyous rewards.
FRIENDS:
We met with Isaac, a friend we met on the street! He has a really strong faith in God and has seen his belief bless his life.
We had lunch with Rossanna and Gustavo and talked about the Ten Commandments. Gustavo said that the Ten Commandments are guidelines to happy life and just common sense. That's exactly right Gustavo!
We met with Rhona and taught her about the rest of the Plan of Salvation. We talked about how being with God forever is our ultimate goal, how Jesus is the one that makes it all possible, and we introduced the Book of Mormon. At first Rhona was a little hesitant about the Book of Mormon, but we read it with her the next time we visited and she saw how it works to support the Bible and felt much more at peace with it.
Destiny said her week went so much better after she went to church and prayed every day. We also talked about repentance and how Heavenly Father never stops loving us, and He never wants us to turn away from Him.
We met with Joy, who has been going through a lot of struggles in her life. However, she knows she needs God so she decided to come back to church. She loved it there and was so happy and made a lot of friends.
We talked with Abulla to follow up on how he's been doing since his baptism. He said he feels like a totally new person. He has been working hard to implement what he is learning from the scriptures. He hopes his family follows his example. He is pretty much the coolest person we know.
We did another Bible study with Ayanna. She has such a strong faith in the gospel. We invited her to be taught and she said yes!
Monique is such a faithful woman. She has been experiencing many trials but has not given up on her faith. She is trusting the Lord through it all.
We met with Elvira and Johnny and had a great Bible study with them! They are all about relying on Jesus Christ. We invited them to be taught as well and they agreed too!
We met with Victoria and T! T is a member of the ward who is coming back to church, and Victoria is his wife who is not a member but knows the Church will make her family stronger and is interested in learning more! Victoria is actually the one who influenced T to come back to church! They are seriously so cool and have very strong faith.
This transfer I also learned a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ from the amazing example of the people I serve. Rossanna once asked what people meant when they referred to "the Atonement" because no one had ever really explained that to her. We told her how it was Jesus suffering in the garden, dying on the cross, and being resurrected, the prices He paid so He could buy us from sin and death. Once she understood that, she was amazed by how casually people threw around that word. She said, "Doesn't that deserve a moment of silence?" It really does. At the beginning of every prayer he says, Brother Caphart says, "We thank Thee for the Atonement of Jesus Christ." I think that's awesome. We should all be sure to thank Heavenly Father for the gift of His magnificent Son, who saved us from hell and gave us the hope of a glorious future. As they say in "The Living Christ", "God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son."
Thanks and much love!
--Sister Day
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