Everyone!
I'll share about one of the coolest things from this week!
Thursday I took Sister Empey on an exchange. At the end of the day, we
had a cool opportunity to participate in something unique. Sister
Empey and Sister Ballard were contacted a few days ago by someone who
was part of a Christian group on campus. In this group, they come from
different religions and discuss different views on topics and
doctrines. There are usually about 30 people there. We went and it was
interesting!
They started talking about miracles and we had some stuff prepared
from the recent conference talk about miracles. We didn't get to share
any of that because the topic quickly changed to prophets. They were
discussing some of the qualifications for someone to be a prophet and
they were saying some not true things. The director guy said that
there was no such thing as a true prophet any more. I'm sure he wasn't
meaning to, but he was being pretty rude about there not being a
prophet in these days. He asked a quick question if there even were
any churches who believe in prophets now. I was scared and didn't act
quick enough to stand up for our beliefs. Then they moved on.
The guilt that I felt for not speaking up wrenched my soul. It was so
bad that I was literally shaking. I pictured a few things. First, I
saw the judgment bar and Thomas S Monson sitting next to Jesus Christ.
He asked, "why didn't you stand up for me?" And I felt SO BAD. I also
thought of the scripture about being not ashamed, and I wasn't that. I
was ashamed! And I was ashamed that I was ashamed. So I decided to
repent and pray for a lot of courage to raise my hand. I had no idea
what I would say so I prayed for the spirit to help. The conversation
turned more into an argument which made it even more scary.
Right before we had to leave to be home on time, I rose my hand and
they called on me. I don't remember exactly what I said because the
spirit did most of it, but it was something like, "in The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we know that there is a prophet on
the earth today..." and went on talking about dispensations and Joseph
Smith and the Book of Mormon. I bore my testimony a ton and I really
just mostly remember that I felt the spirit SO STRONG and the whole
room was silent. Then Sister Empey jumped in and bore witness to what
I shared. It was so cool! The director guy didn't know what to say for
a sec then asked how we knew the Book of Mormon was true. I said, "I
prayed about it." Then he said something about evidence blah blah blah
and I said, "I base my faith on faith, not evidence." And that
definitely resonated with him and he didn't know what to say. He asked
if there were things in the Bible to back it up and we said yes but we
really needed to leave to be home on time. We offered to send the info
or come back another time to present it. They agreed to let us do so!
Afterwards, I felt so good. I felt like I did not have to worry about
standing before God and trying to explain that the only reason I
didn't defend my beliefs or our beloved prophet was because of fear. I
know that I got the courage from God, and I'm thankful that I did. I
will never be timid about my beliefs again. I'm thankful I could stand
up for the prophet just a few days after I sustained him.
The church is true.
Then lots of other random things happened. I have been struggling with
some things this transfer and asked for a priesthood blessing. I was
told exactly what I needed to hear and was promised patience and love
which I had been lacking. I felt a renewal of the spirit and know that
I'll be able to make it through.
This will take a second to explain the back story. So back in 2013 my
family went to Nauvoo to be part of the Nauvoo Pageant. While there, I
became pretty good friends with a Sister Missionary named Sister
Newell. She helped inspire me and helped me see that missionaries
don't have to be weirdos. Then in 2014 my family went again. And she
was there, again! I was still pretty good friends with her and would
chat every time I saw her. Then go to 2015-2016 when I was at BYU. She
was home from her mission and going to school. It was before my
mission when I was going to school! Whenever we'd see each other on
campus we would talk for a long time and always be late to class. I
went to her wedding reception! Then last week I found out that last
summer, she and her husband had moved for her husband to start
optometry school. And guess where? OSU!!! They live in the family ward
that covers the campus area!! Through some other missionaries I got
her phone number and we were able to have lunch together this week. It
was SO FUN!! God knew that we needed each other on our missions :').
This week we witnessed a lot of repentance from our investigators!
P: we've been worried about his lack of desire and excitement
for the gospel. We had an awesome lesson this week with a member who
just got home from his mission. We were able to help him see that
he needs a greater desire to follow Jesus Christ. The other sisters
told us he walked out the institute door smiling ear to ear!
K: we have been talking with her a lot about how to receive
answers to her prayers. This week she realized on her own that she
needs to read and pray more. She committed herself to do it daily and
set a reminder on her phone.
J: she's been a not progressing investigator for a while. We
regained consistent contact when we started using Facebook! We finally
had a lesson this week and she recognized at she hadn't been doing the
things she committed to do (read and pray daily). She committed
herself to do it and had the idea herself to set a reminder around the
time she went to bed. She's been reading and is super excited to
always tell us about what she's reading.
M: he was taught like everything last year by the sisters. We were
able to start teaching him again this week. we had a really cool
lesson on the restoration and focused on the priesthood. He made some
cool realizations and is going to read and pray everyday! He has a
sincere desire, real intent, and faith in Christ! I'm so excited about
him.
N: a member friend brought him to church. He said its been
several years since he's been and wants to start getting back into it.
Somehow he managed going all of church without talking to any
missionaries. We were sitting outside breaking our fast when he left.
We introduced ourselves and thought he was a member or something. We
found out that he wasn't, that he loved church, that he's already
working on getting Sundays off every week so he can come again, and he
really wants to meet with us! Tender mercy.
S: bus driver guy we teach on FB. He's Jewish and is very strong
in his faith. He has been reading the Book of Mormon every day and is
soaking it in. He told us that he really believes the Book of Mormon
could be divinely inspired. He always "jokes" about getting baptized
and being converted. This week he told me if he does convert that I
can baptize him. Haha we explained the whole priesthood thing and I
said I knew some people who would gladly do it. His heart is
softening! He had an incident on his bus the other night. Some guy was
using illegal substances and was getting sent to a rehab place. Shimon
had to make him not use the bad stuff. The kid was scared to go to
rehab and asked for something that could comfort him. Shimon gave him
his Book of Mormon and knew it would bring him peace. He asked for
another copy for himself asap. I love it!!!
I know the gospel is true! I love that I am on a mission and that I
have the opportunity to defend my beliefs and things I know to be
true. I love my Savior and the truth of His restored gospel.
Love you all!!
Pics
German Village last week!
Sister Newell! Now Hayley and no longer Newell haha
Brutus the buckeye
On Wednesdays we wear pink 💕OSU district
I'll share about one of the coolest things from this week!
Thursday I took Sister Empey on an exchange. At the end of the day, we
had a cool opportunity to participate in something unique. Sister
Empey and Sister Ballard were contacted a few days ago by someone who
was part of a Christian group on campus. In this group, they come from
different religions and discuss different views on topics and
doctrines. There are usually about 30 people there. We went and it was
interesting!
They started talking about miracles and we had some stuff prepared
from the recent conference talk about miracles. We didn't get to share
any of that because the topic quickly changed to prophets. They were
discussing some of the qualifications for someone to be a prophet and
they were saying some not true things. The director guy said that
there was no such thing as a true prophet any more. I'm sure he wasn't
meaning to, but he was being pretty rude about there not being a
prophet in these days. He asked a quick question if there even were
any churches who believe in prophets now. I was scared and didn't act
quick enough to stand up for our beliefs. Then they moved on.
The guilt that I felt for not speaking up wrenched my soul. It was so
bad that I was literally shaking. I pictured a few things. First, I
saw the judgment bar and Thomas S Monson sitting next to Jesus Christ.
He asked, "why didn't you stand up for me?" And I felt SO BAD. I also
thought of the scripture about being not ashamed, and I wasn't that. I
was ashamed! And I was ashamed that I was ashamed. So I decided to
repent and pray for a lot of courage to raise my hand. I had no idea
what I would say so I prayed for the spirit to help. The conversation
turned more into an argument which made it even more scary.
Right before we had to leave to be home on time, I rose my hand and
they called on me. I don't remember exactly what I said because the
spirit did most of it, but it was something like, "in The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we know that there is a prophet on
the earth today..." and went on talking about dispensations and Joseph
Smith and the Book of Mormon. I bore my testimony a ton and I really
just mostly remember that I felt the spirit SO STRONG and the whole
room was silent. Then Sister Empey jumped in and bore witness to what
I shared. It was so cool! The director guy didn't know what to say for
a sec then asked how we knew the Book of Mormon was true. I said, "I
prayed about it." Then he said something about evidence blah blah blah
and I said, "I base my faith on faith, not evidence." And that
definitely resonated with him and he didn't know what to say. He asked
if there were things in the Bible to back it up and we said yes but we
really needed to leave to be home on time. We offered to send the info
or come back another time to present it. They agreed to let us do so!
Afterwards, I felt so good. I felt like I did not have to worry about
standing before God and trying to explain that the only reason I
didn't defend my beliefs or our beloved prophet was because of fear. I
know that I got the courage from God, and I'm thankful that I did. I
will never be timid about my beliefs again. I'm thankful I could stand
up for the prophet just a few days after I sustained him.
The church is true.
Then lots of other random things happened. I have been struggling with
some things this transfer and asked for a priesthood blessing. I was
told exactly what I needed to hear and was promised patience and love
which I had been lacking. I felt a renewal of the spirit and know that
I'll be able to make it through.
This will take a second to explain the back story. So back in 2013 my
family went to Nauvoo to be part of the Nauvoo Pageant. While there, I
became pretty good friends with a Sister Missionary named Sister
Newell. She helped inspire me and helped me see that missionaries
don't have to be weirdos. Then in 2014 my family went again. And she
was there, again! I was still pretty good friends with her and would
chat every time I saw her. Then go to 2015-2016 when I was at BYU. She
was home from her mission and going to school. It was before my
mission when I was going to school! Whenever we'd see each other on
campus we would talk for a long time and always be late to class. I
went to her wedding reception! Then last week I found out that last
summer, she and her husband had moved for her husband to start
optometry school. And guess where? OSU!!! They live in the family ward
that covers the campus area!! Through some other missionaries I got
her phone number and we were able to have lunch together this week. It
was SO FUN!! God knew that we needed each other on our missions :').
This week we witnessed a lot of repentance from our investigators!
P: we've been worried about his lack of desire and excitement
for the gospel. We had an awesome lesson this week with a member who
just got home from his mission. We were able to help him see that
he needs a greater desire to follow Jesus Christ. The other sisters
told us he walked out the institute door smiling ear to ear!
K: we have been talking with her a lot about how to receive
answers to her prayers. This week she realized on her own that she
needs to read and pray more. She committed herself to do it daily and
set a reminder on her phone.
J: she's been a not progressing investigator for a while. We
regained consistent contact when we started using Facebook! We finally
had a lesson this week and she recognized at she hadn't been doing the
things she committed to do (read and pray daily). She committed
herself to do it and had the idea herself to set a reminder around the
time she went to bed. She's been reading and is super excited to
always tell us about what she's reading.
M: he was taught like everything last year by the sisters. We were
able to start teaching him again this week. we had a really cool
lesson on the restoration and focused on the priesthood. He made some
cool realizations and is going to read and pray everyday! He has a
sincere desire, real intent, and faith in Christ! I'm so excited about
him.
N: a member friend brought him to church. He said its been
several years since he's been and wants to start getting back into it.
Somehow he managed going all of church without talking to any
missionaries. We were sitting outside breaking our fast when he left.
We introduced ourselves and thought he was a member or something. We
found out that he wasn't, that he loved church, that he's already
working on getting Sundays off every week so he can come again, and he
really wants to meet with us! Tender mercy.
S: bus driver guy we teach on FB. He's Jewish and is very strong
in his faith. He has been reading the Book of Mormon every day and is
soaking it in. He told us that he really believes the Book of Mormon
could be divinely inspired. He always "jokes" about getting baptized
and being converted. This week he told me if he does convert that I
can baptize him. Haha we explained the whole priesthood thing and I
said I knew some people who would gladly do it. His heart is
softening! He had an incident on his bus the other night. Some guy was
using illegal substances and was getting sent to a rehab place. Shimon
had to make him not use the bad stuff. The kid was scared to go to
rehab and asked for something that could comfort him. Shimon gave him
his Book of Mormon and knew it would bring him peace. He asked for
another copy for himself asap. I love it!!!
I know the gospel is true! I love that I am on a mission and that I
have the opportunity to defend my beliefs and things I know to be
true. I love my Savior and the truth of His restored gospel.
Love you all!!
Pics
German Village last week!
Sister Newell! Now Hayley and no longer Newell haha
Brutus the buckeye
On Wednesdays we wear pink 💕OSU district
Bus driver friend took us to lunch and got the pink memo without us telling him!
Exchanges and Corrin (recent convert)
Found the roof garden
I love Corrin!!!
Exchanges and Corrin (recent convert)
Found the roof garden
I love Corrin!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment