This is a quote from a talk I recieved from a good
missionary, and it kind of describes my week,
"To cause your faith to grow you may wish to measure your faith by the number of your predetermined righteous desires that are fulfilled. However you must always remember that when you exercise your faith in something that does not occur the way you desired it to, that your only object in view must then be to redouble your faith the next time. Prayers on the surface that appear not to be answered are the very times when some of the greatest prayers have been answered. One must double his faith in these apparent trials lest he lose it." Elder Cook.
We started this week with
interviews with our mission president and with a district meeting all about
faith. As we talked and discussed what faith is I felt a huge desire to
increase my faith, just as the apostles asked the savior to increase theirs. As
a result it has been a week of highs and a week lows. Early this week a lady in
our ward that Sister Williams and I had worked with a lot passed away. But
because of that I was able to really ponder what it meant to be a member of
this church and to really believe that we will be with our families forever and
live again with our Heavenly Father.
We had a great week of contacting, and experienced tons of little miracles as we gained more courage to talk to people and gave people Books of Mormon - one small miracle example happened as we were sitting on the bahn. This really scary looking man got on (he was tall and broad and bald and had his face full of piercing and tons of necklaces and also a gazzilion tattoos.) My first natural thought was 'I want to give that dude a wide berth'. But then I had the thought to go and talk to him. I immedietly reminded myself that he was a scary old mafia man and I don't want to do that. But again I kept thinking it- I kept trying to avoid it. We got off at our stop and he got off at it too, so I had the thought again you should go talk to that man-my response "silly spirit that is very inconvenient-i'de rather not"
but as soon as I thought the word inconvenient it rememinded me of what President Stoddard said during our interview earlier in the week- "sometimes we have impressions and we think, oh that was an inconvenient thought, but they turn out to be promptings of the spirit" at that point this man had walked into the bank so I told sister Davis, sorry but we have to wait out in the cold until this man comes back out. So we waited and then he came back out and I walked up to him and told him who we are and our purpose here as missionaries. I told him about the Book of Mormon and how it is a second testament of Jesus Christ. I asked him if he was religious- he just stared at me turned is head and pulled down his leather Jacket to reveal a very large tattoo of a cross! haha We talked for a little bit and ended up telling me that lately his faith has been dimmed because a lot of people he loved had died. I told him that I knew that God had a plan for each of those people and that we all are here for a specific reason and that we would love to share this message with him. He didnt want to meet with us, but he did take the book of mormon and said he would read in it. That experience was just a testimony builder for me, because I was able to see how a small thought lead to a chance to share the gospel.
We were startled last night by a call from our investigator saying that he wanted to cancel his baptismal date, needless to say it was a shock and we are both praying very hard for him and also that we can speak clearly and with the spirit in order to touch his heart so that he can rekindle his desire to be baptized.
I know that the lord has a plan for each of us, and that he loves us all very much- I have learned about trusting God this week and I hope to increase my faith in the coming weeks as I serve side by side with the Lord to help bring precious souls to him.
We had a great week of contacting, and experienced tons of little miracles as we gained more courage to talk to people and gave people Books of Mormon - one small miracle example happened as we were sitting on the bahn. This really scary looking man got on (he was tall and broad and bald and had his face full of piercing and tons of necklaces and also a gazzilion tattoos.) My first natural thought was 'I want to give that dude a wide berth'. But then I had the thought to go and talk to him. I immedietly reminded myself that he was a scary old mafia man and I don't want to do that. But again I kept thinking it- I kept trying to avoid it. We got off at our stop and he got off at it too, so I had the thought again you should go talk to that man-my response "silly spirit that is very inconvenient-i'de rather not"
but as soon as I thought the word inconvenient it rememinded me of what President Stoddard said during our interview earlier in the week- "sometimes we have impressions and we think, oh that was an inconvenient thought, but they turn out to be promptings of the spirit" at that point this man had walked into the bank so I told sister Davis, sorry but we have to wait out in the cold until this man comes back out. So we waited and then he came back out and I walked up to him and told him who we are and our purpose here as missionaries. I told him about the Book of Mormon and how it is a second testament of Jesus Christ. I asked him if he was religious- he just stared at me turned is head and pulled down his leather Jacket to reveal a very large tattoo of a cross! haha We talked for a little bit and ended up telling me that lately his faith has been dimmed because a lot of people he loved had died. I told him that I knew that God had a plan for each of those people and that we all are here for a specific reason and that we would love to share this message with him. He didnt want to meet with us, but he did take the book of mormon and said he would read in it. That experience was just a testimony builder for me, because I was able to see how a small thought lead to a chance to share the gospel.
We were startled last night by a call from our investigator saying that he wanted to cancel his baptismal date, needless to say it was a shock and we are both praying very hard for him and also that we can speak clearly and with the spirit in order to touch his heart so that he can rekindle his desire to be baptized.
I know that the lord has a plan for each of us, and that he loves us all very much- I have learned about trusting God this week and I hope to increase my faith in the coming weeks as I serve side by side with the Lord to help bring precious souls to him.
Liebe Grüße
Sister Shurts
from the scribbled notes of a sister missionary
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| Our creepy German cellar |
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| Sister Herne asleep on the Bahn (train)...I've worn her out. |
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| Beautiful Sunset over the Herne canal |
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