10-15-12
I realized that this title also applies to my
mission. haha
Another hard, but AWESOME week on the mission! I have never felt-in my ENTIRE life- Satan´s influence (right word?) so strong as I have this week. He is just working on us and this area to the max. The beginning of the week was suave. We taught Paulo everyday- getting him ready for baptism. Everything was going smooth- he was so happy, every lesson was a Spiritual high amazingness and he was filled with the desire to repent and change his life through the Atonement. Then came Friday- the day for his interview with the elders- and he simplesmente disappeared. He is normally always in his house and he wasn´t and his family said he didnt come home that night until 11. We thought he might have found some work, but then Saturday he wasn´t there and sunday he was gone too. It was heartbreaking. We have no idea what happened. Definately opposition. So Friday I was so sad and then Satan creeped in and I let him take me down and I was just feeling awful about myself- about the work that I am doing, etc. and I almost had a nervous/depressed breakdown. Then Saturday morning Heavenly Father loving showed me that I was being silly and to snap out of it and be happy and positive! I felt a lot of peace and comfort and joy. And my mind set totally switched and I became so happy and positive and I was able to help my companion- who the same thing that happened to me Friday, happened to her Saturday. We just need to trust in the Lord and do our part. We need to keep fighting and enduring to the end happily- because this work IS happiness. It is pure happiness. There are just sad choices that we or others make along the way that puts us down, but we always have hope through Jesus Christ. Something I was taught here on the mission is to always start off a prayer with thanks and repentance. to ALWAYS repent. We as missionaries need to do everything possible we can to help others except the gospel. If we are just a little disobedient, we won´t receive the blessings that we and others need,. We need to be repenting consistently consistently consistently. To always be worthy. So then came the question in my mind of well when I am really positive, sometimes I don´t push myself the way I need to to demand excellence of myself- so where do you find that balance? In personal study today I read in Alma 32- the first part of that chapter is about humility, the second part is about faith. The secret to this question is sufficient humility. We need to be humble all the time instead of being compelled to be humble. To be humble we must believe in the word of God, and not be stubborn to do His will, and to realize that we are nothing, but that we are special because we are real sons and daughters of Him. If we are humble all the time, we will not have to be compelled to be humble- that doesn’t mean that we wont have trials- but that in our trials we will be happy because we are already humble and we trust in the Lord´s will. So we can demand excellence out of ourselves with humility and be positive and happy all the time. I don’t know if I am explaining this to understanding, but hopefully you can get something out of it. :)
We taught a FAMILY this week! A real family! They really really need the gospel in their lives! They are very humble but think that we are here on the earth to suffer. Nem Quase! (not even close!) I am so excited to see this gospel bless and change their lives forever! One of our investigators named Patricia is SO cute and so fun and we LOVE talking to her so much! She made us dinner the other day and we taught the first lesson and she had already read a lot about Joseph Smith on the internet and said a lot of people write really bad things about it but she knows they are wrong and she knows he was right. And she already knows the church is true because she felt different in church- a feeling she never felt in any other church! YEA!!!!! WOOHOOO!!! AND another miracle- one of our investigators(from the other sisters before) named Nuno is really hard to get a hold of and we had an appointment marked with him that night, but he said he wouldn´t be able to make it, but we asked if we could talk with him for a couple of minutes right there and we taught him a little about the Plan of Salvation and invited him to be baptized and he said that is what he really wants. I LOVE THIS WORK!!! We taught him the first lesson a couple of days later with his mom and he accepted everything. The work is moving forward.
Theme of this week: Be happy and humble! Have faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement and repent SEMPRE!!! (ALWAYS!!!!) I sure love you all a ton and can´t thank you enough for all that you have done for me. The more time I have on the mission, the more I realize how imperfect I am, but the more I repent and change and come unto Christ. I am so grateful to be here. I am so grateful to bring this knowledge unto others. Every challenge is worth it. I wouldn´t trade this for anything. I know that this is the true and only church of our Lord Jesus Christ. I testify that He lives. I know that He suffered every little and big thing that we suffer. I love Him with my whole heart and am so grateful. I know the Book of Mormon is true. Hurrah for Israel!!!
Welcome home Isaac! And welcome home Amy Brown on Wednesday!!! write me some letters in Portuguese! :)
com muito amor,
Irmã Tingey
Another hard, but AWESOME week on the mission! I have never felt-in my ENTIRE life- Satan´s influence (right word?) so strong as I have this week. He is just working on us and this area to the max. The beginning of the week was suave. We taught Paulo everyday- getting him ready for baptism. Everything was going smooth- he was so happy, every lesson was a Spiritual high amazingness and he was filled with the desire to repent and change his life through the Atonement. Then came Friday- the day for his interview with the elders- and he simplesmente disappeared. He is normally always in his house and he wasn´t and his family said he didnt come home that night until 11. We thought he might have found some work, but then Saturday he wasn´t there and sunday he was gone too. It was heartbreaking. We have no idea what happened. Definately opposition. So Friday I was so sad and then Satan creeped in and I let him take me down and I was just feeling awful about myself- about the work that I am doing, etc. and I almost had a nervous/depressed breakdown. Then Saturday morning Heavenly Father loving showed me that I was being silly and to snap out of it and be happy and positive! I felt a lot of peace and comfort and joy. And my mind set totally switched and I became so happy and positive and I was able to help my companion- who the same thing that happened to me Friday, happened to her Saturday. We just need to trust in the Lord and do our part. We need to keep fighting and enduring to the end happily- because this work IS happiness. It is pure happiness. There are just sad choices that we or others make along the way that puts us down, but we always have hope through Jesus Christ. Something I was taught here on the mission is to always start off a prayer with thanks and repentance. to ALWAYS repent. We as missionaries need to do everything possible we can to help others except the gospel. If we are just a little disobedient, we won´t receive the blessings that we and others need,. We need to be repenting consistently consistently consistently. To always be worthy. So then came the question in my mind of well when I am really positive, sometimes I don´t push myself the way I need to to demand excellence of myself- so where do you find that balance? In personal study today I read in Alma 32- the first part of that chapter is about humility, the second part is about faith. The secret to this question is sufficient humility. We need to be humble all the time instead of being compelled to be humble. To be humble we must believe in the word of God, and not be stubborn to do His will, and to realize that we are nothing, but that we are special because we are real sons and daughters of Him. If we are humble all the time, we will not have to be compelled to be humble- that doesn’t mean that we wont have trials- but that in our trials we will be happy because we are already humble and we trust in the Lord´s will. So we can demand excellence out of ourselves with humility and be positive and happy all the time. I don’t know if I am explaining this to understanding, but hopefully you can get something out of it. :)
We taught a FAMILY this week! A real family! They really really need the gospel in their lives! They are very humble but think that we are here on the earth to suffer. Nem Quase! (not even close!) I am so excited to see this gospel bless and change their lives forever! One of our investigators named Patricia is SO cute and so fun and we LOVE talking to her so much! She made us dinner the other day and we taught the first lesson and she had already read a lot about Joseph Smith on the internet and said a lot of people write really bad things about it but she knows they are wrong and she knows he was right. And she already knows the church is true because she felt different in church- a feeling she never felt in any other church! YEA!!!!! WOOHOOO!!! AND another miracle- one of our investigators(from the other sisters before) named Nuno is really hard to get a hold of and we had an appointment marked with him that night, but he said he wouldn´t be able to make it, but we asked if we could talk with him for a couple of minutes right there and we taught him a little about the Plan of Salvation and invited him to be baptized and he said that is what he really wants. I LOVE THIS WORK!!! We taught him the first lesson a couple of days later with his mom and he accepted everything. The work is moving forward.
Theme of this week: Be happy and humble! Have faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement and repent SEMPRE!!! (ALWAYS!!!!) I sure love you all a ton and can´t thank you enough for all that you have done for me. The more time I have on the mission, the more I realize how imperfect I am, but the more I repent and change and come unto Christ. I am so grateful to be here. I am so grateful to bring this knowledge unto others. Every challenge is worth it. I wouldn´t trade this for anything. I know that this is the true and only church of our Lord Jesus Christ. I testify that He lives. I know that He suffered every little and big thing that we suffer. I love Him with my whole heart and am so grateful. I know the Book of Mormon is true. Hurrah for Israel!!!
Welcome home Isaac! And welcome home Amy Brown on Wednesday!!! write me some letters in Portuguese! :)
com muito amor,
Irmã Tingey
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