September 24
Hello Everyone,
What a great surprise to get all the emails that I got. I love opening the emails and seeing who has written to me. It makes my day and makes me smile. I Hope you all had a great week. It sounds like you all have.
Mom, Thanks so much. I actually got a letter from Gage Easton the other day. It made me smile. It was so cute. I am excited to give out the Books of Mormon to people and to read the letters. It sounds like that activity went really well.
This past week has been another great week. It was a little bit harder, but I kept going strong and never gave up. I think Heavenly Father wanted to make sure that Sister Davidson and I were still being humble and showing him that we are still going to work our hardest since He blessed us so much last week with many miracles. I have learned so much to rely on the Lord for everything and how important it is to not be discouraged because when I get discouraged I am not focused on the work and it is very hard for the spirit to direct me where to go. I have been tested and tried so much this week and I am happy to say that I was able to feel of the strength of the Lord every time I prayed for help. The Lord does many great things and I am so grateful for all of the many blessings that I have received because I am staying on task, obeying the rules, and staying in tune to the spirit.
We were able to build a relationship with a Less Active family as well this week. We went to visit a family who has nine kids. When we went by the parents weren't home and so we couldn't go inside. Sister Davidson felt like bringing some side walk chalk and we ended up drawing pictures on their drive way. This was such a great experience to see the kids warm up to us so quickly. They really enjoyed this and wanted us to come back. We were able to go back yesterday and was able to meet the parents and to play a little activity with them. I hope by doing this we have had a chance to leave an example to them and so that they know how important it is to keep the savior to close to them. It makes me feel very sad to see them with out the gospel in their lives right now. We have talked to the kids and some of them are very sad that they don't come anymore. I hope as we keep sharing them our testimonies that they will have that desire to come back. I pray for them and have faith that they will once again return.
There have been many times this week where we would feel impressed to go somewhere and didn't know why. When this happened I always felt that the Lord is just checking up on me and seeing if I am still listening to the promptings that I get. When I listen to these promptings I often find myself finding someone who is in need and talking with them about the gospel. On Saturday Sister Davidson and I felt prompted to go to a park. Before we got out, we said a prayer. After the prayer we got out and talked with some teenage girls and asked them some questions about what they think the purpose of their lives were. They weren't really sure how to answer that question so we bore our testimonies on what we believe our purpose of life is. One of the girls Miranda seemed really interested and was really paying attention to us and we ended up giving her a Book of Mormon. We also invited her to a sports night that we are doing to find investigators. We are having members bring their friends to come play with us. We felt good talking with the girls. They were very nice. After we saw a lady who was watching her two nephews and as we started walking by I just started talking with her. I was caught off guard because I am normally really nervous to talk to people, but then I noticed how smoothly the conversation was going and I right then knew that it the Holy Ghost talking through me. This was an amazing experienced for me. We got talking about raising kids and how now days it is getting scary because of all the bad things that are happening. I had a thought come into my head as she was talking to us about that and I felt like I needed to give her a Strength of Youth booklet. Well what is funny is that Sister Davidson felt that same prompting and and starting pulling one that she had as well. As well both pulled them out, we looked at each other and laughed. We gave the booklet to the lady whose name is Stephanie and she was so excited to get that. I explained that a lot of non members like this book because it has great standards for the children and she told us that she was going to read that to her nephews and to teach them some of the things in it. When I heard this it made me so happy. She is grateful for people like us missionaries who are trying to make the world happy she says. She also talked about how she has liked the Mormon.org on her facebook and when she needs a uplifting moment she always watches one of the videos on there and it makes her day so much better. Oh boy has she been prepared. We told her a little bit more about our church and offered a church tour. She seemed really interested and she gave us her number so that we can call and set up a time when we can meet. For the twenty mins that we were talking with her a saw a vision for her and know that someday she is going to be a great member of the church. I have grown a love for her just as Heavenly Father has for her. What an amazing experience and the spirit was the one talking to her the whole time. I wish you could have been there to see this happen.
After this experience I began to feel even more confident in myself. I know that I am out here for a reason and that there are people being prepared for me and that I need to go out and find them with the help from the Holy Ghost. When I am in tune with the spirit and when I am 100% in the work and have seen a great difference in myself. I am so much happier and I am able to be guided and directed to where I am needed. I am so grateful for prayer. Prayer is one of the most powerful things. I have never felt so close to my Father in Heaven. I love the scriptures and the answers that I get when I read them. I am so grateful for Joesph Smith and for the thought to go into the Sacred Grove to pray to know which church he should join. Because of him I know that this is the only true church here on the earth. I couldn't be happier then I am right now. I am glad to say that I am proud member of this church!!
Thank you all so much for the love and support that you show and for the letters each week. I love you all and miss you all. I hope that this week is a great one for you. Remember to always smile.
Love, Sister Ackley
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