Highlands for Life!

Hello hello everyone!

I hope you all had a great week :) we had an amazing week full of miracles, funny moments, and great times with members. Everyone was very sad to hear about Sister Henderson's departure so we got fed lots which was so much fun! I absolutely love eating with members because the Spirit  there is strong and it just feels like home :) oh and MIRANDA GOT BAPTIZED. More details to follow but hat was the highlight of the week for sure 🏻

Sister Henderson left this morning which was super sad and I am still in denial a little bit, but this is what is best for her and I am excited to hear about all of her one-armed adventures! I will be staying here in Louisville for 6 more weeks and my new companion is Sister Moore. I am so excited!!!! She came to the mission a few weeks after me so she has basically been out as long as I have. We met at new missionary training and totally clicked so I have a feeling we are going to have lots of fun. Oh, and she is serving with my MTC companion right now which is way awesome. I am excited to stay in the Ward for a little longer as well so this transfer is gong to be a great one. 

This week was so fun. We have been continuing to find the truly prepared and have been cleaning out our area book in the process. On Monday, we had to drop the couple that I wrote about a few weeks ago (we helped them carry there groceries home one night). However, we had a pivotal lesson with an investigator that lives in that complex. We taught her about the Atonement and faith and after that she started messaging us about her Book of Mormon reading. Her main concern is that she thinks all churches have truth so it is hard for her to grasp the fact that one of them could be the whole truth. We have faith that as she continues to read and Pray, her answer will come and then it will be up to her to accept or reject it. We absolutely love her and have high hopes for her. 

On Tuesday, we went to an apartment complex in our area to do some finding. That night, we had a lesson with one of our investigators that hasn't been keeping many commitments. We brought a member over and read the Book of Mormon with him and he talked about how the Book of Mormon makes him feel good inside. He then told us that he couldn't come to church because there aren't enough people at his work so he has to go for all of his shifts and can't switch. Right after we testified of Heavenly Father's commandments and how He will provide a way for us to accomplish the things He commands, this investigator got a phone call for an interview with a job that would allow him to get Sunday's off. We were so excited! We didn't get to see him later on that week so we still have t found out how the interview went but it was such a miracle to see that! Heavenly Father was able to touch this investigators heart with a small sign letting him know that He is there and that He will always provide a way. This experience really testified to me as well that the Lord gives us commandments because He loves us and even though they may not be easy to follow, we will always have a way provided for us when we have faith in Him.

On Wednesday, we were able to teach some great lessons. One that stuck out was our lesson with Miranda. It was right before her interview. We taught her a few of the commandments that we wanted to go into more detail with and it was so amazing to see her desire to be obedient and follow the commandments. Even though she didn't understand some at first, she kept and open mind and heart so the Spirit was able to testify of the truthfulness of these things and she readily accepted the invitations to follow them. It brought us so much peace to see her repenting and changing for the better. 

On Thursday, we had Zone Meeting and it snowed!! Zone Meeting was amazing. We received a training on a challenge that our whole mission will be doing for this transfer called "Being Purified". We all did our 24hr fast yesterday and made a list of every single thing that we are doing that isn't exactly obedient. Whether big or small, we wrote down everything. Then, every morning of the transfer, we have been asked to pray about each item on the list and ask Heavenly Father to strengthen us so that we can "fast" from those things for an entire transfer. Then every night, we go over the list again in prayer, talking about our successes and repenting for our failures and coming up with ways to be better the next day. When I heard about this challenge, I immediately started realizing things in my daily routine that I could change to be more purified. They weren't crazy horrible things, just things that are hindering my ability to have the Spirit as abundantly as I could on my mission. So, even though it has been so hard to work on these little things, I have already felt a difference in my teaching. While exact obedience is looked down upon in society today at times, it is something that Heavenly Father has asked each of us to strive to achieve. I am excited to see what things I can learn as we do this challenge and how I can better help my investigators to make and keep commitments by setting the example for them. We can't expect our investigators to be obedient if we aren't willing to do it as well!

On Friday, we had weekly planning and made the programs for the baptism. Then we went to Olive Garden with our relief society president! She is literally the sweetest. Then we were going to do a Meet the Mormons movie night but only one of our less actives showed up so we went and finished planning while they watched. Then we taught them (less active and the two members that showed up and it was so fun! After that, we went over to Ward mission leaders and had hot wings. Sooooo yummy :) 

Saturday was great. We had another lesson with our investigator that we taught on Monday. She still doesn't want to commit to a date but hasn't really sincerely prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true either so that is what she is gong to work on this week. Then we had a lesson with a member who fed us after and then we went and taught Miranda for the last time before her baptism. 

On Sunday, as I said before, MIRANDA GOT BAPTIZED! She picked us up for Ward council and then hung out in the chapel during our meeting. She did great for Sunday school but then during relief society she got a super bad tooth ache that made her really sick. She is such a trooper though so she stuck with it. The service was the best baptismal service that I have been to so far because most of the Ward was able to come since it was after church. Our speakers were great and the music was wonderful. I was so full of joy when I saw this amazing daughter of God make her first of many covenants with our Heavenly Father. It was such a special moment since I have been blessed to see her go through her entire conversion process up to this point and have developed such a love for her and her family. I am so grateful to be staying here for just a little longer to help get her integrated into the Ward so she can stay strong and make it back to God again. After we got home from church, we went out and tried to teach some lessons before our dinner appt that night. All of our scheduled lessons fell through but we ended up teaching a guy on the street. He is very set in his Islamic faith but we still got the chance to share the doctrine and give him a chance to accept it. 

What happened Sunday night was really amazing. We went over to a member's home who was a convert herself and is Mirandas main fellowship right now and talked with her about her ideas for how to help Miranda stay active. She gave us amazing insight that I never would have thought of having lived in this church my whole life. Being a convert is a very scary and foreign thing and if they don't feel loved, encouraged, and accepted, they will likely go back to their old ways. I am so grateful for the time we were able to spend with her. Then we had comp study over cookies and hot chocolate with a senior missionary couple that just transferred into the ward (WE LOVE THEM) 

I love you all so much! I am so grateful for this chance to be a missionary. I have seen so many miracles as a missionary and know that more in store for this area as we work to be purified and exactly obedient. The Atonement works perfectly to cleanse us and perfect us, but we have to do our part to change as well. We must be willing and humble enough for the Lord to change our hearts. I can testify that this is God's church and this is where we access all of the blessings that the Atonement has to offer. Let us strive more fully to share it with all of our fellow brothers and sisters so that they may experience this joy as well. I love you all!!

Love, 

Sister Dorian

"41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it." Mosiah 2:41