Sister Torie Inman: Sister Inman Letter

Feliz Navidad, Merry CHRIST-mas, and Happy Birthday, Jesus! :)

Well hello my fantastic family!!!

This week was pretty rough, work-wise. We are running very dry on new investigators (or any, for that matter), so naturally it was hard to stay motivated to go out and to work. This week, we will definitely be exercising an increased amount of faith! God's power and influence in our lives is in part limited to how much faith we have, and our desire and commitment to act! But we did have a few miracle happen this week, despite the fact that people are sick, lessons cancel, and much of our other time this week was spent at ward functions, meetings, and service! Next week will be SO much better. There is a lot of guilt that you feel when you know you haven't done as much as you feel you could or should have. I never want to have another day or week like that again.

We're ready to pound the pavement this week, be exactly obedient, have more meaningful studies, and set goals for every day during the week, and ACCOMPLISH them in faith.

This past week, I was really trying to focus on listening to and immediately following the promptings that the Spirit gives me. So, with a determination to act, Heavenly Father prompted us throughout the week of things that we could do to serve others. One particular morning, I was feeling not-so-motivated and depressed. So I prayed for the strength and motivation to be a missionary that day, and asked for direction. Immediately, the thought came into my head, "Get up and go serve someone." I immediately got up, and went over to Sister Spencer. I started by saying, "I don't know about you, but I am having a very hard time this morning. I'm feeling depressed, and I need to do something about it." She finished my thought and said "We need to go serve someone. Right now." I said, "Exactly, that's just what I was thinking too! Let's think about some people that we could serve, ask around, and we'll go."

We prayed to know who needed our service, and then looked over some names in the ward. A few came to our minds, and we sent them all messages. I wrote a few names down, and one stood out to me. Sister Spencer also had that same name in mind. So that morning, we texted her and asked if we could come over and serve her. She responded and said YES. So we went over to her house a short while later. She was so grateful and she was very overwhelmed as a young mother who was recently called to the Primary Presidency. She had been praying for a miracle, because she had a task at hand that would have been impossible for her to do on her own. Something simple as cutting out like 60 balloon-shaped papers, and taping them on the end of bendy straws. She was also one in charge of table decorations for the Christmas party the next night. It literally would have been impossible without a miracle. She couldn't believe it! She thanked us over and over again and was almost brought to tears, because God had answered her prayers through us.

On another occasion, a family's name kept popping in my head, and I didn't know why. They are an active, awesome family, and we love them! But we went over there anyway, and asked her if there was something that we could do to help her. (She has her hands full with a lot of hyperactive kids, and she has so much on her plate). She said no, but then asked if we wanted to come inside. We did, and then after a little while, she asked if we could please help her with her dishes. We said yes, absolutely! And we ended up cleaning her whole kitchen. It turns out that she hadn't eaten or had much all day, and began to shake and didn't feel so good. So we were able to let her rest and eat while we listed this small burden for her. It felt so good to serve!!

On Sunday, we did our musical number in Sacrament. (The same one we will be doing at the Christmas Conference- Mary, Did You Know?). We have been earnestly praying as we have practiced that we would be able to sing and perform in such a way that the Spirit could testify, and fill the room so that all could be blessed by it. We had been praying that we could feel the emotion and true meaning of the song we performed, and when we finally broke it down, read through the words, pondered, and discussed what it really meant, the Spirit testified to both of us that the Savior is truly the Redeemer of the World, that He did come to earth to be born in humble circumstances, and to understand each of us personally as He suffered our pains and afflictions and temptations, and everything we would ever go through. Well, our musical number went really well, and it brought the Spirit for sure! People cried, and thanked us. I was so grateful to my Heavenly Father.

I have a testimony that if we are willing to follow the promptings that we receive, and ACT according to His will, we can not only receive answers to our own prayers, but we can also be the answer to someone else's. I don't want to be the reason that someone else's prayer goes unanswered on delayed. Here's to a new week, and I'm excited to be the Lord's servant this week. Especially the week of His birthday!

What gift can we give Him? Our Hearts! Look for ways to serve this week. Develop Christlike attributes, and as you do this, you will come to know the Savior, as you will become more like Him.

Have a great week and Merry Christmas! I look forward to Skyping you on Sunday! See you soon!

Sister Inman