This week flew by and somehow was very slow at the same time...
The first half of this week it poured rain.... like so much rain!! And the second half it was just so cold! And when I say cold I mean -10 degrees. But the humidity makes it feel so much colder. Like my limbs just ached it felt so cold. Indeed, bussing was a lovely time and a half this week.
The last couple weeks have been a lesson on patience. In my personal study I spent 10 minutes every day studying this attribute and updating what the definition of patience as it pertains to me. The final definition I landed on is as follows...
Patience: the ability to endure all things, keeping the covenants I have made with God, trusting that He remembers them as well, and nourishing my faith by utilizing the atonement to submit to the Lord's will and timing for me and His children, while allowing others to use their agency.
Things are slow right now. Finding is slow, lessons fall through, the people we do find are hard to get ahold of to meet again. So I remind myself that every interaction is a seed planted or nourished. I can hand out all the Book of Mormons I can fit in a bag, get as much contact information to fill a phone book, knock on as many doors as there are houses, but ultimately it's not up to me. I can't control who will choose to learn more, to read, or to listen. It's up to them to heed to the spirit they feel. The Lord has a plan for each of His children, he knows what they need and when they're ready for it. The Lord is preparing those who are ready now, and he is using me to prepare His children for missionaries down the road. So in the mean time we keep finding! We keep inviting! We keep helping! Because there are beautiful souls who need to be found!
That being said there are always miracles!
Sister Hoy and I had a dinner appointment with a returning member in our ward, Menchie. The only reason she isn't coming to church right now is because she works 2 jobs. But she knows where all her blessings and successes come from and thanks Heavenly Father for them often. We went over the first vision with Menchie. For the first of what I'm sure will be many I recited the first vision and as I did so, the spirit that entered the room was so palpable. Menchie shared that this was the story that made her realize she needed to be baptized because like Joseph Smith, she received a witness of the spirit and could not deny it. Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. He saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They called him by name. And through him the Gospel of Jesus Christ was Restored. I know this to be true. The spirit testified this to me stronger than it ever has before to my recollection. My Father in Heaven and Brother Jesus Christ know me by name! I know it! God knows it! And because of that, like Joseph Smith, I cannot deny it!
Lastly for this week... GRATITIUDE!!! Oh my lanta we gotta take 7 seconds to tall about gratitude!!!
On Saturday evening I got a message from my mama bear letting me know that my Grandpa had a stroke and is in the hospital. (He is in stable and improving condition.)
Oh my heart. It turns out grandparents aren't invincible! Not being home to get updates first hand or just be there is hard!
There's nothing to do but the Lord's work and that's a blessing in and of itself. But the worry, the scary, the uncertainty, and the longing to be home is still there.
On a week that was already slow and challenging in its own ways, this sudden news is even harder to hear.
BUT it is on days like this when things seem scary, and uncertain, that we are provided with the beautiful opportunity to fall on the Lord.
So as I knelt down in prayer Saturday night before bed, I gave myself to my Heavenly Father in gratitude for all my blessings, faith, and family. I gave all the worry away. All the uncertainty, all the hard and crazy from the day and week, and replaced it with so so much gratitude.
And as I poured my heart out to my loving Father with tears of gratitude, I felt all the love a caring parent could ever have for His child.
His will, His timing, His gospel and His children. All of it leads to, and is done in love.
So although the worry is still there, the scary still eminent, it's all ok. Because of love. And because of gratitude.
Truly there is a plan for each of us that all miraculously fit into the biggest jigsaw puzzle of all time. That puzzle brings everything and everyone back together and makes everything make sense. And it is glued together because He loves each and every one of us, His children, me and you.
Alrighty yall have a blessed week! Go give em Heaven!! Love ya all many bunches!
Love,
Sister Court
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