July 16
Hello All,
I hope you all have had a wonderful week. This week has been crazy busy and I am sorry, but I have not gotten any letters out this week. I will have some hopefully written out for you all this next week. I am so glad to hear that you are all safe from the fires that are happening in Utah right now. I pray for you all everyday and for your safety.
This past week has been so busy. We have had a lot of success and have met lots of new people. We are doing a lot with some of the former investigators that we have come into contact with again. Remember the Gracia family? Well we have been visiting with them still. We haven't been able to teach them a lesson yet, but we are showing our kindness to them. The other night we went by to visit and the father was playing with his band. We got to listen to them a little bit and my companion Sister Fleming was able to play the guitar with them and to sing. It was a really neat thing to just talk to them and to listen to their music. We are sharing that we care about them so hopefully we can get in and teach them about the gospel.
We are working with another family in the family ward. I don't know if I have mentioned them before, but they are the Alvarez's. They lost their mother about a year and a half ago. It was been really tough on their family and they have stopped going to church because they have been mad at God for taking their mother away. We taught them the Plan of Salvation on Saturday and I think they all are finally realizing that they will be able to see their mother again and that they are a family forever. They are growing so much since we have been teaching them. They have been coming to church every week too. Sunday we had the whole family at church with us. It was so amazing to see them all dressed up and with smiles on their faces. The youngest two boys are going to be baptized in Aug. They are the only two ones left and because they are over the age of eight they are investigators. They are super excited to be baptized. When I asked them I think they were a little scared, but I made sure that they knew this was the right thing and that their mother is so proud of them for making this decision to be baptized and coming back to church. The father of the family is coming along as well and will be able to baptized his two boys. Isn't that so exciting. I cannot wait. Helping families get closer together is so amazing and I love watching them be happy and I love helping them to realize how much their Heavenly Father loves them.
Well Miranda is getting baptized this coming up Sunday! She is getting so excited. We are going to be meeting with her and her mother a lot this week to make sure that she is ready. Diane is really happy now that she has come back to church and that her daughter is choosing to get baptized. Diane says that since she has been reading the scriptures, praying, and coming to church that she is a lot happier and that she is able to see the hand of the Lord in her life more and that she has strength to get through the days. I also believe this and have not only seen this happening to her, but also happening to myself. When I truly am serving the Lord and keeping the commandments and obeying the mission rules, the Lord is always at my side helping me up when I have fallen. He is my strength and I would not be able to do the things that I am doing here if it was not for Him. This family has progressed so much and I am so proud of them.
So this past Friday we had an amazing mission conference. Everyone from the whole mission got together and heard from our President and his wife and some others and a convert who searched and found the missionaries. It was an amazing day and I learned lots from it. The first talk was on trusting the Lord. I have learned this a lot while being out here and have really depending on trust and having faith. We need to rely on the Lord a 100%. The Lord has a plan for us and we need to trust him and have faith that He knows what he is doing. He puts bumps in our ways so that we can learn and grow from them. We need to always remember to pray to him in our time of need and to trust in him that he is looking out for us and all of you back at home. When we put our trust in the Lord He blesses us with peace that we need to be comforted. When we have trust in the Lord we can accomplish many great things. I have seen this to be true in my life here in the mission field. We have been so successful this past week and have accomplished great things with our investigators and I truly believe that it is because we have put our full trust in the Lord and he has strengthened us to do these great things.
Another thing that was talked about was that because I am here on a mission that I am preparing for my future family and just my future in general. This is so true. You learn so much from being out here and really have to grow up and learn to rely on the Lord. I have seen so many blessings already for being out here and serving a mission. The Lord has been with me and has been my guide this whole time. The work isn't about me, it is about my fellow brothers and sisters and because I am helping them and helping them come closer to Heavenly Father I can see them being blessed along with myself as well. The Lord does bless us. We just need to take the time to look at our lives and see where the Lord has blessed us with.
Our President and Wife talked about how to exercise our faith. We need to be doing things that will help us keep our faith. I always ask myself, "What am I doing everyday to please the Lord?" We should all keep this question in mind. God will help us through anything if you have faith in him and have the confidence that we can do all things. We can always do more and try harder to make our Heavenly Father proud of us. He is happy with what each and one of you are doing with your lives. Keep up the good work you are all doing.
This week past week has been amazing and I am excited to have another great week. I love you all and miss you all tons. I hope that you are all getting along and remembering to be reading and praying each day. I promise if you do then the Lord will really bless you with happiness and strength to get through all things. Have a wonderful week and remember to always SMILE. You never know who is needing that perfect smile of yours.
Hugs and Kisses
Sister Ackley
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