Hey Y'all!
Whose mighty hand hath made me whole,
Whose wondrous pow'r hath raised me up"
Well It's been a crazy week, and a lot has happened. :) First off, there has been some changes for the missionaries. They have changed our schedules, giving us more time for p-day, more time for sleep if we need, and more time to go out and do the work. My companion and I have been testing it out for the past two weeks before it was announced on the World Wide Missionary Broadcast. :) Another big change was to our key indicators that we set goals on. They shortened the list and made us focus more on baptisms. This will be awesome! :D I'm excited to see how this will change our focus as missionaries.
Another big change was with me and my companion. We have been asked to test out serving in the YSA ward that meets at our church building too. We are doing this for one week to see how it goes. However, we are still covering our old areas. Yes, I said areaS. We cover two wards normally so we are now covering 3 wards! If our mission president likes having us in YSA then we will probably loose one of our other family wards so that we aren't triple covering. But how crazy is that?! We went to the YSA ward on top of our others yesterday and it was lots of fun! I hope that we can cover that ward, I've never served in a YSA ward before so it would be lots of fun. :)
"And filled with sweet my bitter cup!
What tongue my gratitude can tell,
O gracious God of Israel."
The rest of the week has been crazy, but really good. :) We had a really awesome lesson with a man named Willie. He asked for a bible several weeks ago but it's been hard to get an appointment with him until last week. We took a member named Sister Feigleson who was a temple square missionary not too long ago with us to see him. The lesson went very well, and she was able to connect to Willie pretty well. :) He took a Book of Mormon too, and said he would come to church the first week of February. We have another appointment with him this week, and we are taking sister Feigleson again. :D
"Ever can I repay thee, Lord,
But I can love thee. Thy pure word,
Hath it not been my one delight,"
We went on exchanges with the Twin Oaks sisters on Thursday. I went out with Sister Mangum, a missionary that came out with me when I returned 4 weeks ago. It's crazy to me to see how missionaries have changed in just a few short weeks! She is so strong and she's barely been a missionary for a month! While walking to a park to go finding, we came across a man named Ted. He was an interesting character. After just a short while, he started sharing his whole life story about how he was framed for something and thrown in jail and all the chaos that happened after. It was crazy. But something that really caught my attention was how happy he was even though he told us all these horrible things. He kept saying how grateful he was to be healthy and alive and free form prison. He really had a good outlook on life, even though all these terrible things happened. I was impressed. We gave him a card, with a link to a video about Christ. I hope he reads it and wants to meet with us. :)
"My joy by day, my dream by night?
Then let my lips proclaim it still,
And all my life reflect thy will."
To top off the week, Sister Davies and I with the Zone Leaders did a zone training for three hours on Friday while President and Sister Foote were doing interviews. It was crazy and stressful, but also really fun. I learned a lot in preparing to teach all the missionaries in our zone. :) That's one of the biggest blessings of being a Sister Training Leader.
"O'errule mine acts to serve thine ends.
Change frowning foes to smiling friends.
Chasten my soul till I shall be
In perfect harmony with thee.
Make me more worthy of thy love,
And fit me for the life above."
I was emailing a friend who just returned from his mission the transfer I went back out. I asked him a question and his response hit me so much that I felt inspired to write about it in my weekly email. I asked him what was his favorite part about being a missionary.
His reply was this: "This quote from adjusting to missionary life is my favorite part of being a missionary: "You have a front row seat to the greatest miracle of all: the effect of Christ’s Atonement on individuals and families."
That is a quote from a little booklet we get as missionaries which I have probably read a thousand times on the mission. But I never realized the full power of it until my friend pointed it out like that. As a missionary, I have a front row seat in seeing the greatest miracle known to the universe. The Atonement working in others lives. There are people in this world who never tasted the sweet fruit of the gospel and of Christ's Atonement. It is my mission to not only see it in action, but introduce it into their lives. To personally bring that fruit in to their homes as ask them to accept it. Along with my friend, I would have to say that quote is the best part about being a missionary. It is the reason we are missionaries, and it is the fruits of our labors as we go about doing the Lords work. At this time in my life, I wouldn't rather be anywhere else doing anything else. I'm grateful to God for giving me 9 more months to be His servant and to watch these miracles unfold.
Y'all's Southern Bell,
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