Written 1/11/15
"But Wesley, what about the R.O.U.S's?"
There seems to be some good Princess Bride themes happening in my life lately, if you know what I mean :) Apparently rats are not exclusive to Inayauan... But we have poison now, so no fear, Mom.
I hope this disjointed email makes sense. Lets start with the funny happenings:
This week we finished teaching the Word of Wisdom to an investigator, and she runs to the kitchen to feed us snacks before we go, and she comes out with..... Iced tea. Ahahaha. I guess we need to raise the caliber of our teaching skills. (Don't worry, we didn't drink it.)
We also had a visitor for weekly planning this week. I wanted to attach a picture but the computer doesn't seem to allow it, so I'll send it next week. But we had a huge frog prince hop into our house and onto our area book on Friday during planning, so we had to pause for 10 minutes while we got the situation under control by trapping him with a strainer. We're so resourceful. :)
MLC was 4 kinds of amazing. I got to see Sister McKee and Sister Char, the only other 2 sisters in my batch that are "foreigners" (we're referred to as the foreigners here) and that was wonderful. I never get tired of being in the mission home with President. I've learned more about faith from him than anyone else. At our Zone Training meeting on Thursday, I got a letter from my recent convert, L., from Manapla. It was the BEST letter ever... I quote just a bit from the rough translation:
"Sister, Cheequi and I got to go to the temple last November! I'm so happy I got to visit the Lord's house. It was so good and it's so sacred. I'm continuing to read, pray, and attend church. I have so many friends here, sister! No matter how poor we are, we're still seeing blessings arrive. I'm so happy, Sister. Thank you that I became a member of this church and that I've become close to our Heavenly Father."
This work brings the greatest joy. The kind of joy I feel when Sister En. bought a head lamp she can wear at night so she can read to her husband after he gets home from work? Can't describe that one. I just love what the gospel does to people. We've seen this week that our investigators have been opening up to us and trusting us a lot more, leading to resolved concerns, commitments being kept and repentance. We met a man, a young father who's name is Brother P.J., (flashback to my first area!) who told us he read the restoration pamphlet we'd given him and felt so light and good inside, and that he knows it's true. Experiences like this strengthen my testimony that there are people prepared.
M. G. is getting baptized this week. She's the maid of one of our members and has been going to church for about 7 months, but has only just made the decision to be baptized in the past little while. She's a sweet 26 year old, and I cant wait to see her join the true church.
I testify that faith is the antidote to all maladies, spiritual and physical. I've come to know what we can do with true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we have faith, no disappointment lasts. If we have faith, no discouragement can keep us down. If we have faith, no fear can block our path. It helps us to be patient in trials. In Hebrews 11:24-26 it describes what Moses accomplished by faith:
"'By faith Moses...[chose] rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt..."
and then in verse 40, it explains why we must suffer sometimes for the cause of Christ:
"God having provided some better thing for them thru their sufferings, for without their sufferings they could not be madeperfect."
By faith we can do all things. Even suffer. When we humble ourselves, we make way for faith to take over. President Benson once said, "To the proud, the applause of the world rings in their ears. To the humble, the applause of heaven warms their hearts." Humility is a prerequisite to faith. As we long for the applause of heaven, we look to please the Lord and not man, it is then that we will feel our faith beginning to grow. And with faith we can do all things.
We got told this week, "Well, Jesus was a member of the Catholic church, right?"
Jesus is a Mormon, my friends. And I have faith in Him.
Peace out,
Sister Luke
