Hello hello! Another week has gone by! My goodness, when they say time
flies, they are right! How is everyone?? Any fun news? I hope everyone
is enjoying school. Don't work too hard! A little bit of fun goes a
long way. In fact, that is kind of the theme for my letter this week
:)
This week was a week full of amazing miracles (as every week is). I am
in awe at the power of faith and how having faith allows our Heavenly
Father to work wonders in our lives. He loves us all so much!
On Monday, me and Sister I decided to mix things up for PDay. So, we
headed over to the church, met the assistants and the other elders in
our Ward there and sang songs for Facebook proselyting. So much fun! I
love being able to spread the gospel with song because the Spirit is
so strong. After that we went to dinner with the young women's
president (Annie) and her friend Alexia! She is the one that I met on
the bus randomly a couple of weeks ago and it ended up being very much
guided by the Lord because Annie had been wanting to reach out for a
while. We ate the yummiest pesto pizza and ended the night teaching
about the Book of Mormon. We watched a Mormon message called The Book
of Mormon story and committed her to read and pray about its
truthfulness. She agreed and said that she really felt the Spirit as
we watched the video. We are hoping to continue teaching her when she
gets some time in her busy schedule but it was such a solid lesson :)
Tuesday was such a fun day! When I was talking about how a little fun
goes a long way earlier, this is what I was talking about. The AP's,
downtown elders, and us all do service for a park in the city on
Tuesday mornings and it is something we all look forward to. On this
particular Tuesday, no one showed up! We decided to play basketball
for a sec in the parking lot to see if anyone would show up/figure out
a battle plan if no one showed up. We found the number for the park
and found out hey had switched the time to the afternoon. So, we went
and picked up trash along the creek inside the park instead! While me
and Sister Israelsen were talking to a family in the park, the elders
managed to find crawfish in the creek. We ended up taking a mini
service break and fishing for them along with some other small fish
(which the assistants even ate!! Bleh!). It might seem kinda lame but
it's all about finding joy in the little things :)
Wednesday was Zone Conference. Oh my goodness it was so good!! As we
continue to work on our goal to baptize in October (and every month
after that), we need to exercise our faith! So, that is what president
trained us on. He taught that if we desire to believe, give place for
our seed of faith to grow in our hearts and then don't cast it out
with fear or doubt, the Lord is able to perform miracles and
strengthen that faith. In other words, our job is to act in faith and
His job is to use His power to do His work through us. After this
training, Sister I and I decided to act in faith and pray mightily for
His work to go forth as we strive for humility and work hard.
On Thursday, our prayers were answered! We went to go teach Kymbal who
is an investigator who was meeting with missionaries a few months ago
and dropped them and then randomly wanted to meet with us again. We
have been teaching her for about a week now and have been really
struggling to commit her to a baptismal date because that was what
made her feel pushed the last time she met with missionaries. We have
been praying and praying to find out how we could help her and we had
a lesson plan set up to help her prepare to be baptized. When we got
there, she had a friend over. Her name is Rina and she is super nice.
We were pretty worried though because we felt awkward doing our gospel
of Jesus Christ/baptismal date lesson with her friend there. But, we
decided to teach the lesson anyway and follow the Spirit to make it
applicable to both of their needs. Afterwards, Sister I committed Rina
to be baptized and after resolving some concerns she said yes! Then
she left and Kymbal spoke up and said we would like to set the same
day for her baptism as well. What a miracle!! All Kymbal needed was a
support system to help her feel more comfortable so Heavenly Father
provided a way for her prepared friend to be there. I know that as we
have faith and pray for the things that we need with an intent to act
on the answers we receive, Heavenly Father will answer us! He loves
each and every one of us and knows exactly what we need when we need
it. I love being able to see the Lords hand so often as a missionary
but I truly believe that it happens so much more than we think. His
tender mercies are all around us! We just have to look for them
sometimes in order to see them for what they are :) speaking of tender
mercies, we also got free ice cream from McDonalds after! So many good
things!!
On Friday, we had a lesson with Abdul (the nice Indian man who came to
church on Sunday last week!). He told us that he was a different
religion and he believes everything we believe except for Jesus Christ
being the Son of God. We taught him about the plan of salvation and
committed him to read the Book of Mormon. We tried to commit him to
baptism as well but he is unsure because of his background. He is
super sweet and reminds me of my Grandpa Dorian! Hopefully we can
continue to make progress with him :) we also got to go get pizza with
some random investigators that we met at the store and we had a lesson
with a referral from Nigeria! His wife said she is going to make me
Nigerian food sometime so I am pretty excited :)
Saturday was the tailgate party at the church for the U of L vs.
Florida State game. We had Abdul, Sam and Corine (awesome investigator
couple that had us over for dinner a few weeks ago), and Jim (our
friend that we see walking like 3 times a week) there! Such a happy
missionary time for us. Abdul's son even came in to eat some food and
meet people later on. Mom and Dad! He is moving to San Diego in a
month or two and he wants to know the address to the church
building/time so he can go to church there. He is going to tell
everyone he was sent by me :) hahaha
Yesterday was a great day. We were late getting out the door and had
to catch a bus to get to church. Since the buses are unforgiving here
in Louisville (they will leave you most of the time), we started
running, skirts and all. The Lord blesses his missionaries because in
the midst of our dead sprint to the stoplight, a member drove up and
picked us up. They told us that that didn't even go that way usually
but they decided to try a different way and when they saw us, they
knew that's why they had come. We were able to make it to church and
had an amazing meeting. Like I said, tender mercies are all around us.
I love you all and I love this gospel!! I know that my Savior lives.
As I have continued to study the Atonement this week, I have been
amazed at just how infinite, eternal, and awe inspiring the Atonement
really is. I am learning so much! Our Savior understands us perfectly
and He is ready and willing to come to our aid. Trust in Him and learn
more about His divinity as our Savior and you will grow closer to Him.
I know that He lives and loves each of us. I know that He directs this
work. That because of Him, this work is possible. I feel it to be such
a sacred privilege to wear His name at all times and be a
representative of Him. Although things may not go as planned,
everything is for our benefit. Life is glorious! Do all you can to
stay on the straight and narrow and then help others walk with you. We
can find joy and peace in this life and it is in on the path of
discipleship find our true potential.
Thank you for all of the support and prayers. Y'all mean more to me
than you know. Keep smiling and remember, if you find crawdads in a
river, go catch one! It's very cheap therapy and it comes with lots of
laughter which is good for the soul ;) have an amazing week!!
Love always,
Sister Dorian
"He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of
His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His
way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life
in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His
divine Son." -The Living Christ
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