 |
| Sis Sprunt - Sis Crandall |
Hi, I realized that I haven't been
writing that much about the Christlike attributes that I'm studying. But
I'm still studying one each month! And this month, October, I've been
studying about knowledge.
There's a phrase in
PMG that I love that says "no one can know a spiritual truth without
prayer." Praying to know if the Gospel is true is super important! I
skip over this step a lot. I like learning about Gospel things, and they
always make sense to me, but I also need to pray to gain a spiritual
confirmation. Knowledge is nothing unless it's paired with testimony and
conversion!
In the Bible Dictionary is says
that "one progresses only as fast as he gains knowledge." That reminds
me of a scripture in D&C 130 that says that when we gain knowledge
by diligence and obedience in this life, we will have an advantage in
the next life. I think we also have an advantage in this life too:) And
that advantage is over Satan.
"Revelation" in the
BD talks about how to gain knowledge: "The principle of gaining
knowledge by revelation is the principle of salvation...[without divine
revelation] man could not know of the things of God and could not be
saved with any degree of salvation in the eternities." We can't be saved
in ignorance! This reminds me of all that mom has been studying--When
we are reverent we gain revelation, which helps us gain knowledge, which
is the principle of salvation!
PMG also teaches
that "the scriptures open the window to revelation." When I meet
people--members included--who say that they are too busy to read the
scriptures, it just breaks my heart. Don't they get it??? That's all we
really need to do! It makes me think about the talk that Sister Reeves
gave in the April Conference. The Church isn't asking too much from its
members. All God asks is that we put Him first! It's those three simple
things: go to church, pray, and read the scriptures. If we're doing
those things and making those the priority, then we'll have reverent
lives! Not just reverent moments.
And lastly,
today I was reading in D&C 121 and I really liked verse 33.
Basically God says that the arm of man is "puny" and we can never stop
Him from "pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the
Latter-day Saints."
Which makes me think of the Temple!.......
Which
Millie went to this week:) And everyone decided to NOT take pictures so
that I wouldn't be able to see any of them. So I've been pretty
reflective on my temple covenants this week and how serving a mission
has taught me what it means to keep a covenant. I roomed with Sister
Nelson in Stafford for three transfers, and she went home in September.
After the departing temple trip, I asked her what it was like going to
the temple after not having gone for so long. She said that she
understood the session better than she did before her mission. Even
though I don't have the opportunity to go to the temple regularly (or at
all), I know that I will understand it better when I go back. I've
forgotten a lot of things, but I sure do remember and understand my
covenants!
Anyway so this week we had a nice
week. It was pretty sloooow after we dropped Maria and her family last
week. We used to see them at least 3 times a week. We also dropped 3 or 4
other investigators who weren't really progressing and weren't as
interested. My teaching pool has never been this small, but it's cool
how we can focus more on those that really want to make covenants! We've
spent quite a bit of time tracting and street contacting, and I feel
like we find 4 interested Americans for every interested Hispanic. The
English Sisters just love us and our referrals!
On Tuesday
we street contacted Ashley who was waiting at the bus stop for her son
to come home. He's only 3, but attends a special class for autistic
children. She's a single mom and she's really concerned about raising
her son alone. He also doesn't speak yet. We chatted with her a bit and
explained how the church could bless her life. She was really interested
and asked us to pray with her before we left. It was kind of like that
experience I had with Porfiria last summer. I explained to Ashley that
we didn't have priesthood power, but we had been given authority as
representatives of Jesus Christ. I said a prayer for her son, right
there on the street, and promised her that one day her son would speak.
It terrified me, but I have faith that it will happen! The English
Sisters went by to teach her last week, and they said that she accepted a
baptismal date within 15 minutes!!! I'm so excited!!!!!!!:)
I've
come to realize that as a missionary, I have to talk to everyone! God
puts people in my path, Hispanic and American, who are prepared to
receive the Gospel! For this reason, I've come to love street contacting
more than tracting. Tracting is a little less natural. Yes, God can
lead us to inspired doors, but it's much more natural to just put them
in our paths. Usually the people are more receptive to street contacts
than to knocking on their doors. There have been so many times where
I've wanted to skip someone because we were in a hurry or they didn't
look interested or it felt awkward. When I feel this way I seek for a
little burst of courage to talk to them and it always works out:) God
really loves His children.
We're still teaching
Juan, and he has started reading a ton from the Book of Mormon! He said
that he can for sure come to church next week! He's already in 2
Nefi!!! He really likes it, and wants to know if it's true.
We
taught Kelly and her brother Herlim the Word of Wisdom. It was so cute.
"No coffee???" Then when we committed them to live it for a week,
Herlim said, "I'm going to stop for the rest of my life!" Yay!:)
We're
teaching Elvira and her 5 kids. (The older 4 are boys and it's so cute
to watch them take care of their little sister!) We talked about Lehi's
dream and tied a ribbon from their porch to a tree in the back yard.
They had to close their eyes and make it to the tree where their mom was
waiting with candy. One of the boys, the youngest, didn't want to do
it. We talked with Elvira afterwards about how bad God feels when we
don't want to be with Him. It was a really great lesson! I love teaching
kids:)
One of the reasons why this week was
slow was probably because it was transfer week...that seems to slow down
everything, even when I'm not being transferred. Hermana Powell is
staying here and she's training Hermana Payne from Utah! (la
fabrica--Spanish for the factory because all they do in Utah is produce
missionaries, according to all the members here.) Hermana Powell's only
been out 2 transfers, so her Spanish isn't super great/fluent yet. She's
been pretty nervous, so we're going to do a part day exchange on Wednesday
as well as do a combined language study. I think she's a great trainer
and Hermana Payne seems really nice:) And surprise! A new set of Elders
showed up! Somehow that didn't get communicated to us missionaries in
the Branch nor the Zone Leaders. They got a car (which we didn't when we
arrived...) but for a couple days they didn't have a phone and they
still don't have an apartment. (They're living with the English Elders
in Innsbrook.) The Branch is super hyped because now we have 2 sets of
Elderes y 2 sets of Hermanas!!! 8 missionaries! I'm not sure how this
little Ramita is going to feed all of us and supply member presents!
The Branch also had a sealing on Saturday:) The Vindiola Familia was sealed in the temple! We got to go to the reception and it was very nice. And crazy and Hispanic.
And
Hermana Sprunt's birthday was yesterday, so that was fun. She got some
music from her family, including FROZEN in Spanish! We have to skip all
of the love songs, but we're trying to memorize "Libre Soy" ("I am
Free," and in English, "Let it Go"). That makes car rides a little less
boring;)
Okay that's all for todayyy....
Love you all so much! Have a happy week!:)
Love, Hermanita Crandall
No comments:
Post a Comment