Sister Sariah Dorian in Kentucky: "Therefore come unto me and be ye saved..." -3 Nephi 12:20 💛

Hello everyone!

Happy Easter! I absolutely love these holidays as a missionary that are centered on Jesus Christ because not only do we testify of Him in everything that we do and say and help others find Him, we also get to experience His Atonement in our own lives as well. Church yesterday was absolutely AMAZING. I love this gospel. I love my life. I love the Savior and I LOVE the chance that we all have to serve Him here on Earth. What a neat privilege that is

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I learned a few lessons this week, so I will feature two of them here ;) the first one has to do with change. I was studying an Ensign article this week called "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox (taken from his BYU speech a few years back) and something he said really stuck with me. He said, "The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can live after we die but that we can live more abundantly (see John 10:10). The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can be cleansed and consoled but that we can be transformed (see Romans 8). Scriptures make it clear that no unclean thing can dwell with God (see Alma 40:26), but no unchanged thing will even want to." When I read this, the Spirit was able to teach me more about what the purpose of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is. The Atonement of our Savior is not just to cleanse us from sin, although that is essential. The Atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the avenue by which we can be transformed. I have experienced this transforming effect many times in my life, especially on my mission. I have seen others experience it and it brings me such joy! This life is not a time for us to be perfect or fail. "This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God" -Alma 34:32 That preparation happens as we access the Atonement and choose to be transformed.

The other lesson I learned this week related to our purpose as missionaries but can extend to our purpose as members of this restored gospel and all other positions we hold in the church. Often times, we get discouraged when people don't listen to our message, decide to drop us, don't keep their commitments, or a number of other things. We feel as if we aren't fulfilling our purpose when these things occur and we wonder what we could have done differently. An STL at a meeting this week said something that forever changed my perspective of this. She quoted the scripture in Moses 1:39 which states, "For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Then she asked, "Will all of Gods children achieve eternal life?" Obviously we know that not everyone will. She went on to ask, "Because not everyone will be saved in the celestial kingdom, has God failed in His purpose?" Of course not! Heavenly Father is perfect at fulfilling His purpose, and he still will not have perfect results. This was such an eye opener to me. Everyone has agency in this life. All we can control is ourselves, so when we make choices to act in faith and submit to Heavenly Fathers will, miracles occur. So great!!

This week was another finding week for sure. We had some amazing lessons with investigators and less actives, along with our recent converts. Our older recent convert has been doing really well. She was baptized back in October and has been going strong with the gospel ever since. We also had a few lessons with our recent convert that just got baptized. She is doing so well. She has been striving to go back to the basics and have the Spirit with her always as she goes through the day. It is so wonderful to see the changes that occur in people as they accept and act on the principles of the gospel. We just love her :)

We were also finally able to set a baptismal date with our investigator that we have been working with for the past few weeks. He has a traumatic brain injury so we weren't sure if he was accountable but we brought a member of the bishopric who cleared him! The next lesson we had with him, we were able to set a baptismal date with him. :) we still aren't sure about when because his work makes it near impossible for him to come on Sunday's but we have faith that things will work out. Yay!

Also, our most progressing investigator has been doing great. He is getting baptized this week and we are so excited for him. He has noticed lots of opposition come his way but he has been combatting it with mighty prayer and finding solace in the Book of Mormon. Mormon 9 is now his favorite chapter basically ever. Again, it is so amazing to see others apply these principles and see miracles come to pass because of it. We are excited to see him make this covenant and receive the eternal gift of the Holy Ghost to continue to strengthen him in his life.

Our other investigators have been hard to get in contact with, but we have faith for good things to come. We have been going to different parts of our area, trying to find the prepared. We have been following promptings and talking to as many people as we can and are excited to see what Heavenly Father has in store for us.

I love you all. I hope you had an AMAZING Easter filled with happiness, joy, peace, and Reese's Easter eggs :) have a great week! Thank you for all of the love, support, and prayers. It means the world

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