Monday, June 7, 2010

Only In Kansas.....


Do people make small talk about the newborn cows


Can you see the lightening through your eyelids and hear the thunder through your earplugs

Is it socially acceptable to swat at your face during a conversation

Do the mosquitoes like you more than the people you are finding and trying to teach

Do the sunsets get prettier everyday

Is it 94 degrees at 10:00 in the morning on the 1st of June





This list will get longer and longer I am sure. Its amazing how i fall more and more in love with this place the more I am here. But boy its getting hot. Sister Power and I don't know how to deal. We are just two girls, one from Utah and one from California, who aren't used to the heat PLUS the humidity. Sheesh! its intense.





This past week we had two incredible miracles. The first was where Heavenly Father blessed me with a witness after my faith had been tried. On Friday, we were going to go over to Zoe and Colleen's, two twins that were recently baptized within a less active family. It was their birthday and I had asked my mom to send two CTR rings for them. I was thinking they'd come in the mail by Friday, but as the mail came on that day there were no rings. I was depressed. I really had wanted them to come by then. were in the middle of our weekly planning which takes a while at home and it was our lunch break. My companion had gone downstairs to rest and I was upstairs. I remembered a story that I had read while exercising that morning about a man who was doing family history work a little after the Salt Lake Temple had been finished and dedicated. He needed some additional dates and information to be able to do the work but did not have it. His children were playing outside and two men walked by them and handed them a newspaper, asking them to give it to their dad. When they brought it In, it contained the information he needed. The newspaper came from England to Salt Lake City, especially back then, it truly was a miracle. Seeing the opportunity, I knelt down and offered a prayer. I told Heavenly Father that i knew it didn't matter and that the girls could receive their rings another time but that i know it's possible and he had the power to make mail come a little bit sooner. I asked him, with all the faith that I had, to make the package arrive that day. Wouldn't you know that when I finished the prayer the doorbell rang. Sister Powell, not knowing the reason for my extreme excitement, questioned my sanity as I ripped open the beautiful package, and out fell two CTR rings. I was so happy! I told sister Power about this experience and even though it may seem like nothing, It was something to me. And those little girls were so excited to receive these rings and slipped them on immediately.





The second miracle was through a referral we had received. Her name is Amy and she works at a dry cleaners. We walked into the dry cleaners and started talking to her. She had this light and glow about her. I asked her what makes her so happy and she said doing the work of the Lord. She said she is a missionary for her church. She wasn't living the lifestyle she wanted to she prayed and the Lord told her to come to Kansas and live with a family who houses missionaries serving in this area. She said she just felt like she needed to come down. I asked her, when she meets with people, how she invited them to change. She said she asks them to reach beyond the natural man. I whipped open to Mosiah 3:19 so fast after she said that. I read it to her. "For the natural man is an enemy to God and has been from the fall of Adam and will be forever and ever unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit..." and talked about how she had just described that. She was is shock. She said she wanted to read more of that book. We left a Book of Mormon with her. Hopefully, she will read it and gain a testimony of it and see what she is truly missing in her life.



My spiritual thought for the week comes from the talk , Return With Honor, by Elder Robert D. Hales and an analogy that fits in with it. In the talk, Elder Hales talks about how we can return with honor by doing those things that will keep us spiritually strong. At the end of the talk, he says that as a father, he used to put his arms around each of his boys as they left to serve their missions and whispered in their ears, "Return with Honor." He said he can picture our Heavenly Father doing the same when we left our pre-earth life and started this journey. "Return with honor." This life is a test. Our Heavenly Father is the teacher. We need to do everything we can to pass the test. Sometimes, however, it may seem too hard or we may get the wrong answers. And a lot of the time, we have our classmates try to cheat off our tests or influence us to choose another answer. But we have the easiest and kindest grader. He has taken the test before and has all the answers. If we strive to do our best and take advantage of the beautiful atonement when we mess up, we will find true happiness. the atonement is real. Its strong. Its powerful. Its eternal and everlasting. this gospel is true. Love you all!

Sister Love

sisters



Sunsets in Kansas


Thursday, June 3, 2010

Sister Love's latest letter!

(Sent June 1st, 2010)

Well another week has gone by here and i can't believe it's already June! Time is flying. Kansas is experiencing summertime with wheat fields turning golden and sunflowers. Its so pretty.

We see some crazy things out here that I never thought I would see. We were tracting and a guy came out onto the doorstep and started yelling "Praise Jesus! Praise Jesus! lord bless these sisters!" and he went on in a sermon/prayer for us. Then when he was done, he turned around and walked back inside his house and slammed the door.....cool. At least he kind of knows that we're out doing. We have a member of our ward who we have been able to bring back to church. It's so amazing to see her family change and come back to church. She has 6 daughters and they werer all sealed in the in the okahoma Temple but sadly, they have fallen away. Since we've been teaching them, they have ordered new garments and are preparing to go again. I'm so happy for them. She sends us scriptures via text message every morning and its amazing how closely they relate to what we need throughout the day. She is so in tune to the spirit.

As I was having personal study one morning, I thought of how we can teach people that the lamanites are the principal ancestors of the American Indians. And how, through that the truth, can they know that the book of mormon is true? I asked my companion and she said that there isn't any proof and that the only way to know the book of mormon is true, is to pray and ask. i think the lord knew we would need to know this, because ina lesson later that night, we found out that our invesigator, Dave, is native American. He is really inot the thought of how the book of mormom is related to his ancestors. he asked me "How do you know that is true?" and I told him by prayer and comformation of the Holy Ghost. He then said he can see why it's important that he finds out for himself that the book of mormon is ture. I was so happy he realized that. We are continuing to teach him and hope he contines to progress towards baptism.

Our investigator, Judy, is still having problems with smoking but we continue to teach her and commit her to the things that will help. This past visit, I told her that Sister Power's birthday is on June 19th. Sister Power said the BEST birthday present she could ever receive would be to see her get baptized on that date. Judy started laughing and said she would try. We may have been a bit sneaky but she is so ready for this. She just needs that set date in her mind.

We were reading from the talk, Seek Learning by Faith by Elder Bednar and in it, he talks about how Joshua's leadership, the children of Israel came to the river Jordan and were promised the waters would part and they would be able to cross over on dry ground. But the waters didn't immediately part. In fact, they had to get the soles of their feet wet before it would even part. They had to walk into the water BEFORE it even parted. I think that is so true about life. Some things require us to take that first step into the dark before we can see the light. WE receive no witness until after the trial of our faith. So whatever is hard for you or difficult, remember that the Lord will always keep his promises if we are faithful. The church is true! I love you all!

Sister Love

P.S. Our companion and I though matching Toy Story shirts would help our companion unity :)