3 sacrament Meetings, Miracles, and Experiences, Oh My!
Wow, what a week!
Unfortunately, I don't have as much time as I'd like to share all of my experiences with you, though. :(
This week, we were super productive, and filled our time with as much finding and teaching as possible! We just felt an extra push and boost of motivation to try as many people as we can, contact and talk to everyone, and just be the best we could be. Lots of good things resulted from it, and we felt successful at the end of each day. You know those days when you get to the end and are like, "YEAH! I FEEL SO ACCOMPLISHED! *Fist pound to the air*" ? Yep, it's a good feeling. Even though a few of our appointments fell through.
Diane is still absolutely amazing. She is prepared. She is so solid. She is continuing to progress towards baptism!
On Saturday, we went on exchanges, and so I went to another area for the day with another missionary, Sister Barker, who just finished being trained, and she is SOLID! As part of our day, we went tracting for about 1.5 hours. I actually feel pretty confident now! Whereas before, I'd be pretty scared and my anxiety would go up, and everything else. But it was a neat experience, because we switched every other door that opened who would start. So each of us got about 45 minutes of tracting where we were the ones doing the talking! It was really good! I got to the point where I could bear testimony of the message we share sincerely, and offer it as something of a gift. People were a little nicer when we presented it as something that we have experienced joy from, that we wanted to share with everybody. Of course the one house that I felt I had the best door approach happened to be the only member of the church that lived on that block, haha. Good practice, I suppose! But it was good! my testimony of the Book of Mormon and the message of the Restoration increased significantly through bearing witness of the joy we experienced from it!
This week, with various experiences, I have gained a greater confidence in my ability to let things roll off my shoulder, not allow things to get to me, and keep pushing forward in faith, trying my very best every day. And even if I wasn't as great as I was the day before in one aspect, if I know I have been trying my best for that day, and the Lord knows that, I have a greater ability and motivation to try harder and do better. As a result, I have felt the peace and presence of the Holy Ghost so much more lately! I also prepared well for the sacrament on Saturday, and because of that, I had a wonderful experience, and could actually feel the cleansing and sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost as I pondered during and partook of the Sacrament. It was a wonderful, Spirit-filled day!
I look forward to continuing to see the miracles happen in this area, as we continue to exercise our faith. We have been striving to ask everybody for referrals, especially after sharing a message with them that allows the Spirit to be there. So far, it's been miraculous, that's for sure! Last night, we felt inspired to share the Restoration for our dinner message anyway, even though the nonmember family they invited to join us ended up having to cancel. As we did this, the Spirit was SO strong, and before we shared the message, we invited them to listen to the feelings they had as we spoke, and think of who is ready to receive the message we have to share. It was quite possibly one of the most powerful times I have taught the Restoration, and I'm positive that everyone who was in tune felt the Spirit super strong. We walked out of there with 5 referrals. :)
Here are a couple of thoughts that I gained/had from my studies/church this week:
-Because of his decreased strength, the prophet ONLY says what is most important. Pay attention to what he says when he speaks to us!
-Imagine this life as a construction business. You are the worker. A man says to you, I want you to build me a mansion. I will give you a huge reward to build this house. Spare no expense, use the finest materials, hire the best workers etc. Say that you begin to work on it, and only think about the big reward you'll gain, but don't take the time or care to put the work in to equal the reward. After a while, you start to slack off, use flimsy materials, don't lay a firm foundation, use flimsy nails, walls, hire inexperienced workers, etc, etc. At the end of this job, the man comes back to you, and hands you the keys to this mansion, as his reward and gift for you. How would you feel after having not worked hard or diligently, or sincerely, or in full faith? In other words, What mansion are you building? What do you want Heavenly Father to give you the keys to? Will you work out and earn your reward? Just a thought. God is preparing us a mansion, but if you think about it, we have a say in what we get!
I love being the Lord's missionary in this part of His vineyard!
Have a great week! I love you!
Sister Inman
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