Bless the Deep South

Hello everyone! 

This week has been quite the week. It is safe to say that I already love Glasgow :) it is the greenest, most beautiful country town that I ever did see. We have a very large area here so we drive a lot and the rolling hills/cow pastures/country homes are absolutely beautiful. I am in my element here with old trucks and cute country accents. I am fixin' to stay here for a while, that is for darn sure :)

My companion is so cute and sweet and the ward is wonderful! They are very active in helping with the missionary work, especially since the missionaries have been finding so many people to teach and baptize. They are catching the fire of missionary work in their hearts so we are excited to have them out to help us! 

I have learned so much this week, but there is one lesson that I am learning that sticks out. It has to do with our motivation and how it affects all aspects of our lives. Lately, I have noticed that my drive and motivation for doing missionary work is lacking. I find myself succumbing to fear and justification at times and have been very self critical and down on myself about my ability to serve the Lord. As I have studied and prayed about this, I have learned through the Spirit why I have been feeling this way. I have been so focused on exact obedience that I sometimes lose the sight of why I am being obedient. Instead of focusing on the Savior, I have been allowing my fear and duty run the show. I felt impressed to study joy the other day because I was looking for ways to find more joy in the work and something that I read in a talk by President Nelson really stuck out. He said, "When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation, which President Thomas S. Monson just taught us, and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening--or not happening--in our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the source of all joy. We feel it at Christmastime when we sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.” And we can feel it all year round. For Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ is joy!" I realized that I haven't been focusing on the Savior as much. When I think of Him throughout the day and how He has blessed my life, my desire to share and my ability to overcome fear is greatly increased. I feel overwhelming joy and peace. I am so grateful for my Savior and His sacrifice for each of us. His gospel is the only way to make it back home to our Heavenly Father, and what a glorious gospel to be able to share with everyone around us. I am so happy when I have that as my main focus, so that is my goal for this next week. 

In the end, this is not about me at all. As I forget myself and go to work, I see His hand work in my life and miracles come to pass. I know that He has many people here in Glasgow ready to hear the gospel. We just need to follow the Spirit and talk to everyone that we can. The people hear are so prepared!!! I can't wait to see what Heavenly Father has in store for us here :) 

We had lots of miracles this week and some amazing experiences. We transferred on Tuesday and had Ward coordination that night so I was able to meet the Ward mission leader and his wife (love them!) On Wednesday, we did service at a store in town and then went to a member's home for lunch and some service over there. That night, I was able to meet Denise! She is the sweetest human alive and I love her to death. She is so dedicated and faithful and she has amazed me from the moment that I met her. She has such a strong desire to follow God and the Savior and is an amazing example to her family. He husband isn't interested in being baptized at this time but he comes to church with her and even made an amazing comment about the Savior in gospel principles, so we are very impressed with him and have very high hopes for him accepting the gospel in the future. 

One of the amazing experiences from this week is that Denise got baptized! Sister Hafen and sister O'Keeffe got special permission to make the trip down so sister Hafen was able to be there for her and it was so sweet. She was just beaming with joy! Afterwards, she said she felt calm and it was so joyful to see her take that major step in faith to follow the example of our Savior. This is the best part about being a missionary. You are able to be a first hand witness to the Spirit changing the hearts of those that you come to love and you get to experience Heavenly Father using you and your companion as instruments to strengthen and help them. She is already a strong, faithful member of this church and will one day live with our Heavenly Father for eternity. I am so grateful for the chance I have to work with this sweet woman and her sweet family (along with her two ferrets, two snakes, skink, iguana, and two dogs). ️ her husband actually even let us help clean out the animal cages this week as well which was super cool!! 

We also got to go to a Pentecostal bible study this week as a church swap since our investigator came to church with us last Sunday. It was quite the experience! There was a lot of yelling and "Amen!"s exclaimed throughout the room, along with some interesting music. It was very interesting to feel the difference in Spirit there. These people are doing all they can to follow the Savior but it was so apparent to us how much they were missing. My companion and I were discussing after about how grateful we are for the Book of Mormon because it clears up so much of the confusion and misconceptions that so many churches have about God, our Savior, and His gospel. We are glad that we don't really ever have to go back to that place but it was quite an interesting experience and ended up strengthening my testimony of how important these restored truths, along with the priesthood authority, is to our understanding in this life and eternal life in the world to come. 

We have been working hard to try and find some solid new investigators this week but haven't had much luck this week. At Zone conference, however, we had amazing trainings on being more effective finders and teachers so that we can be more effective at baptizing those who are truly converted to the gospel. I recognized a lot of things that I need to change and am excited to apply them this week. We have set out goals high this week and are going to work on exercising faith in our Savior and His power so that we may reach these goals with His help. I know that with Christ and Heavenly Father on our side, all things are possible. We intend to find 8 new investigators this week and have 3 on date so we will keep you posted on our progress! We already have much with potential and are excited to act as instruments in Gods hands to see His work go forth. 

Yesterday was an amazing day. I love fast Sunday so much because it gives me a chance to sacrifice my worldly desire for food in order to receive spiritual nourishment. I gained an increase in love for my Savior and His Atoning sacrifice. We were able to help our recent convert, Brother Roman, get excited for the temple trip next week and were able to bring some peace and solace to another recent convert who is going through a really hard time. We have our ward mission leader and his wife out with us in the afternoon and their testimonies really enhanced the lessons we taught. 

Overall, this week was a great week. We had a miracle happen where we ended up contacting a lady who is actually a member whos records aren't in the Ward. We have been trying to visit her but with no luck so we will keep you posted on her progress. We know that Heavenly Father is at the head of this work with His Beloved Son and as we follow all of our promptings, we will be able to serve with all of our heart, might, mind and strength and bring God's children the truth and joy that this gospel brings.

Hurrah for Israel. I love you all!! Thank you for all of the love, support, and prayers. I know that this church is true and that this work is continuing to be hastened by the Lord. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve Him. Have an amazing week! 

Love,

Sister Dorian