Becoming a Southern Bell: Press Forward Saints!

Hey Y'all!

"Press forward, Saints, with steadfast faith in Christ,

With hope's bright flame alight in heart and mind,

With love of God and love of all mankind."

It's been a good week here in Good ole' Atlanta Georgia! :D covering three wards has been definitely an experience, but I have loved it. Our mission President has asked us to continue covering three wards for a few more weeks and then he'll make the decision on which ward to remove us from. So we will be pretty busy for a while, but that's just missionary work right? :)

Not a ton happened this week, my poor companion caught a sickness that has been going around the mission so we needed to stay inside as much as possible. But we still managed to attend both FHE and Institute for YSA and we also did something we call Tabling up at the Georgia Tech campus. It's a really pretty campus! :D What we do is set up a table on a walk way, put out pamphlets and Books of Mormons and other church produced items, then go and stop people, asking if they would like to do a religious survey we have. It was really fun and we got a few good lessons from it. :)

"Press forward, feasting on the word of Christ.

Receive his name, rejoicing in his might.

Come unto God; find everlasting light."

On Friday we did something y'all should be familiar with. :) CHALK ART!!! :D This time, we took a member of Dunwoody ward, Sister Parry with us. She is an amazing artist and loved the opportunity to draw out the plan of salvation with us. She did most of the work, but we added scriptures, questions, and words when needed. Not only did we find a couple people who were interested, but it was also a great opportunity to get to know Sister Parry. :) The only down side was that with the wind, we had a bitter cold day, so our fingers were frozen by the time we got back in the car.

Also, this week, we met with a former investigator named "A". She is a super nice woman, who we needed to drop because she works three 3 jobs and never could meet. Her schedule is starting to open up more so we asked if we could come back and teach her again. She said yes! :D "A" has a Book of Mormon and expressed a desire to come to church and to learn more so she can pray about it. I think that with some time she will get Baptized. :) There are a few things that might pose as stumbling blocks, but we are still hopeful!

"Press on, enduring in the ways of Christ.

His love proclaim thru days of mortal strife.

Thus saith our God: "Ye have eternal life!"

We didn't have too much more happen, but before I leave y'all I want to share with you something that I studied this past week. It's from 1Nephi when Nephi was asked to build a ship. His brothers, after seeing what he was about to do, mocked him and told him that it was pointless, he couldn't do it. Nephi's reply was one of faith and courage. Buy perhaps my favorite part came at the end when he was speaking of God's power. It is 1 Nephi 17:50-51 and it says:

"And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done.

And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship?"

I love his faith and knowledge in God's power. He doesn't doubt for a second what the Lord can do, and that He will help him. Nephi goes forward, believing in the power of God. It made me think how often we sometimes forget the power of God. He has the ability to turn water to earth, to part seas, to heal the sick, to restore sight to the blind, to do any number of things as long as we have faith. Sometimes we think that miracles like these don't happen in these modern days. But how often is it because we don't have faith that they can happen? They seem like crazy things, but they happen even now. Joseph Smith himself saw in vision God the Father and Jesus Christ, and many other heavenly messengers. This is still possible today. Perhaps we don't need to build ships, or divide waters, but we cannot forget the power our Heavenly Father has to help us in any trial we have put in front of us. It's why he gives us trials, so we can ask for his help. I know that's true because I have seen it and received a testimony of it in my own life. And it continues to help me everyday as I work as his missionary. :) I encourage y'all to look back and see a time when the Lord has used his power to help you overcome your challenges.

Y'all's Southern Bell,

Sister Welch

Me blowing bubbles :-)