Sister Torie Inman: Sister Inman Letter

HUMP DAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!

Howdy Hey! I just passed my Hump Day! (My halfway point) Wow. In some ways, I feel new to this. I still feel like I don't quite know how things work. But in other ways, I feel like I have actually had quite a bit of experience. In the mission field, I have reached the status of being a "seasoned" missionary. I have learned so much. I am more confident. I am starting to figure things out. Not everything, but some things. I am starting to feel sure that the effort that I am making is acceptable to the Lord. And maybe it's because I have started to give an acceptable offering lately! I have definitely been able to see how the Lord has strengthened my ability to serve a mission, and to devote as much of my time, talents, and efforts to serving the Lord as possible.

This week was rough physically, but glory hallelujah was it a great week to be a missionary!!! Our hard work is finally starting to show itself. God definitely helped us this week. (He does every week, but I think we gave Him more to work with this week as we tried even harder to make it happen.)

I am reminded of a scripture, Alma 26:

1 And now, these are the words of Ammon to his brethren, which say thus: My brothers and my brethren,behold I say unto you, how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started from the land of Zarahemla that God would have granted unto us such great blessings?

2 And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?

3 Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work.

5 Behold, the field was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the sickle, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your sheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted.

8 Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise,yea, let us give thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever.

10 And it came to pass that when Ammon had said these words, his brother Aaron rebuked him, saying: Ammon, I fear that thy joy doth carry thee away unto boasting.

11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea,behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

13 Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice?

14 Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from the chains of hell.

16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.

I love those scriptures, and didn't expect I would feel the way he does! But it is true, I know for sure that it wasn't anything that I did by myself that allowed us great success, but Heavenly Father who blesses us as we try our hardest.

For Hump Day, we went to a Gelato Shoppe in Tucson, called Frost. It is SO GOOD. Totally worth it. We went with our Sister Training Leaders and they each said 3 things they loved about me, and Sister Hunt said 3, making 9 altogether. I got a package in the mail from Mom, Which was AWESOME!!!! Perfect timing, too! :D I got some super cute, much needed, comfy new shoes, and homemade strawberry jam that I have been CRAVING for weeks!!! :)

I was really sore from the trampoline place, but nothing good get me down that day. Even though we had some disappointments that day. To quote my journal, "I was just in a good mood today. Nothing could get me down. I'm happy. I've had a good mission. I'm doing the Lord's work. How could you be sad on hump day?" :)

Wednesday we had district meeting, and the Brinkerhoff's invited us to their district lunch that they made! SUPER good food. I love them. We had a lesson with Bob, the 80yr old man, and discovered that we need to start from scratch with him. He doesn't seem to understand who God is, much less his relationship with Him. He is quite influenced by the world's view of things...

Thursday was awesome! We had 3 solid lessons, got a new investigator, had a member present lesson, and a lesson with a recent convert, named Adrienna! And we mentioned baptism in every one. (Our zone has a goal to mention or invite someone to baptism at every teaching appointment. We have accepted the challenge, and it has been pretty powerful and neat to feel the Spirit increase each time!). We did service at the State Park, and the Sisters landscaped the front entrance median, cleaned up and weeded the rocks, etc. and the Elders took out the picnic tables from the picnic area and replaced them all with new ones.

Our new investigator's name is Megan, who just got married to a less active who seems to still be strong in the faith, and has had an incredible, good influence on her, and her children since they have been together. he taught them how to pray, and he has been helping introduce them to the scriptures and the church. She is in her mid-20s and is totally awesome! She is so ready to learn and to completely embrace the Gospel. I am so excited to work with her, and I know that she is going to be one of those goldens. I can just tell. Woo! I love those!

Friday we met with Spryte again, and had a great, powerful lesson on prayer and scripture study!

That evening, we had another amazing visit with a woman who has been through a lot in her life. The Elders had been working with her before, but I think that she really needs some female support and love. Her name is Shandra, and she is in her 40's. She has been through some really really rough times in her life, and is ready to embrace the Gospel, and return unto Christ. She just opened up to us, and thanked us over and over again for coming over and bringing the Spirit into her home, and for listening, and for showing her and confirming to her that God is aware of her, that He loves her, and that she can continue to build her faith and foundation upon Jesus Christ. We shared with her Helaman 5:12, and she said she knew it was inspired of God that we were sent here. What a fantastic experience for all of us. :) We have another lesson with her on Tuesday of this week!

Saturday we had another lesson with Megan! We gave her a quad combination (scriptures) and she was super excited about it and said "this is exactly what I need! Now I can follow along with David! (her husband). I'm excited to work with her.

Sunday was great! We had lots of meetings, and were going this way and that between wards, but we got to go to both sacrament meetings, had ward council, coordination, and we taught a little bit in Primary! Good stuff. Then we had another great lesson with Spryte about Obedience, Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, and Taught the first 5 of the 10 commandments, using hand signals to remember them. Awesome lesson, confirmed to me that the Sabbath Day can be a delight, because although it is the Lord's day, it is meant for us!

Anyway, I hope you have a fantastic week, and look for the tender mercies that God has in store for you! I am so grateful to have each of you in my family and I hope that you continue to do what is right, and try your best to be effective, faithful disciples of Christ!

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Inman