Hello hello!
How has everyone's week been?? Our week has been quite eventful (as it always is) so I am excited to tell y'all about it. Glasgow is such a blessed land and we are so lucky to be serving here in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission. We had to say goodbye to our wonderful mission president and his wife this week but are excited to welcome in President and Sister Hughes to the best mission ever ;) we are doing mini Zone conferences with them this week so more details to follow about them but so far, things have been pretty much the same!
This week, I really gained a testimony of prayer and following the Spirit in this work of salvation and in our own daily personal lives. We have been really striving to make this the Lords work instead of our work so anytime we are stuck about which way to go, we have started praying about it and following where the Spirit leads us. Even if where we went didn't show many signs of success, we knew we were being lead by the Spirit and where doing Heavenly Fathers will. It reminds me of a quote from the Ricciardi Letter, where Elder Humphrey receives a revelation saying "'Elder Humphrey, I am here. I know who you are. I sent you to those neighborhoods, the very ones where you experienced nothing but rejection. I prompted your changes in direction to even more difficult neighborhoods. I know where each of the elect in your area resides. I know their names. I could send you to those addresses only, and save you the time and sacrifice looking for them. BUT ELDER HUMPHREY, WHAT GOOD WOULD THAT SERVE YOU? The mission experience is to do what you are told, when you are told, to go where you are asked, and know that the blessing comes from enduring what I ask of you. This is not about you; it is about opening your mouth at all times in all places. Doing my will without thought to the end result or consequence… this is what serving a mission is.'" I know that this is so true. There were a few times this week where we felt very good about going somewhere and ended up with a bunch of closed doors. But, we followed the Spirit to the best of our ability and gave Heavenly Father's children a chance to hear this glorious message. And because we were able to show Heavenly Father that we were willing to be obedient instruments in His hands, He blessed us with miracles. Much of this life is learning how to follow the Spirit. Once we master that skill (which will take a lifetime I am sure), we will become as Nephi in the Book of Mormon who said, "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he hath commanded" 1 Nephi 3:7 I know that this church is true and that Heavenly Father qualifies the called. What a merciful Father He is for allowing us this opportunity to learn and grow in this way. It is truly amazing!
Now for the week. We started out the week doing a whole bunch of service. We have an investigator who we call Brother Buford and he is pretty awesome! We have been helping him paint the outside of his house so we have developed a really strong bond with him and his mother who is living with him right now. He has grown up his whole life in another church but is open minded to the message that we share. He was pretty nervous about a baptismal date when we taught him but we had two amazing young women there who gave powerful testimonies of the Book of Mormon and its power in conversion, so it was a great lesson. We are actually going golfing with him this afternoon because he LOVES GOLF. I am super excited to golf again, even though it will be in a skirt and missionary shoes ;) we also cleaned snake cages out again that day, which was super fun haha
On Wednesday, we had an amazing lesson with one of the less actives that we have been working with for a while. There are a few members in the Ward that have been really interested in getting him back to church so we took them to a lesson with us and it was so powerful. The Spirit was strong and he was moved by there testimonies. Things seemed to click just a little more and we are so proud of his progress. Members have been so helpful in the lessons that we bring them to and their testimony is such a strong component to any lesson. It is also such a wonderful feeling to see someone that you have been working with progress and understand more about Heavenly Father and His love for us. It was great!
We have had a difficult time lately with this couple we have been teaching (not Brian and Trish...I will update you on them in a sec). This couple has been encountering lots of anti from other sources so as we have met with them, they have had lots of questions and have been just waiting for a chance to prove us wrong since so many people were telling them that we were. During on of our lessons this week, I guess she misunderstood what we had taught about the Holy Ghost and things went pretty downhill from there. We have faith that we are going to get her back on track but as of now, her boyfriend is more interested in investigating than she is. Her boyfriend has been reading off and on and has lots of questions, so we are going to continue working with him.
Brian and Trish are doing ok, but we have had some crazy experiences with them this week. Brian hasn't sat in on our lessons for a few weeks because he has been sick or preoccupied but we had this wonderful lesson with Trish. We taught her the word of Wisdom and even though she said it was going to be hard, she said she is going to do it! She then opened up a lot about the struggles she has gone through in her life and began to accept fault for a lot of the trials she is going through, which was a big step for her! She began to cry and express her desire for peace of mind and heart since she has been searching for it through every venue presented to her with no lasting success. We testified to her of baptism and the Holy Ghost and the chance she has to be free of guilt and to find that lasting peace and were literally about to set a baptismal date and then her phone rang. It was Brian, very angry and distressed and needing her to come pick him up since some friends had taken him somewhere that he didn't want to be. Now she is leaving for 30 days on Wednesday so we are hopefully going to see her and extend it before she leaves. She is so close to fully accepting this gospel but is going to need Brian's support in order to fully commit. I truly believe that she stayed in town for this time to gain a stronger testimony of this gospel and now that she is leaving, it gives us a chance to strengthen Brian and help him as well. We are going to continue working with them and would appreciate any prayers for them :)
We had a bunch of miles left for this months so we did a bunch of driving on Friday looking for less actives. We also found a new investigator who just happened to be in a town that we felt we needed to be in, even though we couldn't find the apartment complex that we were supposed to tract. We had a birthday party for a sweet member in our ward as well which was super fun!
On Saturday, we were able to find two new investigators. Then, yesterday, we had such a miracle happen to us. We had a goal to find two more new investigators to help reach our goal for the week. We prayed about it and strived to find those two people that Heavenly Father has prepared for this message, but to no avail. We were on our way to our last appt with Trish, sad about not being able to hit our goal, when Trish called and cancelled on us. All of a sudden, we had a whole hour left to proselyte. So, we prayed and asked Heavenly Father to put us in the path of those two people and began trying potentials. Before we even knocked on the first door, we saw some people on a porch across the street so we decided to talk to them. We had a great discussion with them and they decided to meet with us again! We were so excited!! We got in the car, so grateful to Heavenly Father for helping us reach our goal. Then, we felt like we should visit one more potential. We stopped in and she told us that she had already read some of the Book of Mormon, prayed about it, and felt good about it. We extended a baptismal date to her right there and while she was a little nervous at first, she accepted! So, not only did we hit our goal, we also set up a baptismal date. Heavenly Father truly does bless us in our lives as we pray as if everything depends on Him and then work as if everything depends on us.
I know that is church is the capture church of God on the Earth today. I know that Heavenly Father leads and guides his missionaries and members to those who he has prepared for this message. The Spirit is real and grows stronger as we follow Him and strive to live faithful to Him. What a glorious blessing it is to have this true and the chance to share it with others. Our Savior lives. He loves us and wants to help us home. What a miracle that is :)
Have a great week everyone! I love y'all :) keep smiling and eat lots of otter pops!
Love,
Sister Dorian
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