Christmas Week!

This week has been a weird week. It felt so weird talking to my family on the phone but it was great. I loved it but I understand why we only do it twice a year. I am so grateful to be a missionary and be able to focus on what matters the most during this season. I got to see so many Christmas miracles. On Monday a member of the ward gave us a jar full on coins and asked us to find someone who needs it. We gave it to a struggling single mother and she and her children were so speechless and so moved.

Christmas we had dinner at the Emord’s home; the family that we had Thanksgiving dinner with, and then we went over to the Knutti’s and played some games. It was so much fun.

On Wednesday we had the opportunity to do an endowment session at the temple and it was so wonderful. The Spirit is so strong there. There is no other place I’d rather be.

On Thursday we had two lessons and they were great. Erica is such a wonderful person but she struggles with allowing herself to forgive others. A member was able to come to the lesson and share some personal and tender experiences that she has had. It was great for Erica. Peter drank coffee and so he cannot get baptized this week. He is still having a difficult time with keeping commitments. It is really hard for him but a member who came to that lesson was also able to him.

On Friday we visited Mary Rose at the hospital, due to an aneurism. She is having speech and mobility problems as a result. We were able to talk to her and help her. We visited another person in a rehabilitation center on our way back home. He is a neighbor of a family in our ward. He has staph infection. We were able to offer some reassuring words to him. The next day we went over and met his wife and she thanked us and asked us if we could come over again to meet with her and talk to her.

On Sunday two of our investigators dropped us, one of which being Erica. Erica said that she prayed and that she felt that she needed to stay Catholic with her siblings and mother who died. It was so sad but we encouraged her to at least let us continue to teach her more. She said yes but she is not coming to church nor will she be baptized. I know that she will continue to recognize the Spirit as she continues to meet with us.

During my personal study some of the things that I have studied are:

1.       Luke 18:22:

·         Am I willing to give up everything and follow Christ?

·         The First Great Commandment by Elder Holland: “It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Peter, for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally until the day in which they will do to you exactly what they did to me…Did you, like they, think that this work could be killed simply by killing me? Did you, like they, think the cross and the nails and the tomb were the end of it all and each could blissfully go back to being whatever you were before? Children, did not my life and my love touch your hearts more deeply than this?”

·         Mosiah 4:26- the only way to eternal life, forgiveness, is service.

·         Mark 12:41-44- Am I willing to cast Him all that I have?

·         Am I willing to follow Him even when following Him is not the norm?

2.       Christ’s premortal performance:

·         He was willing to step up and say “send me.”

·         He knew that He would be the Savior- meaning that He would die.

·         He had knowledge of the importance of free agency.

I have been trying to be better and giving Him everything. I am still learning to trust Him. It is not the “norm” for me to have to rely on other people, especially when I cannot recognize that He is there. It is really tough for me because I am use to carrying everything on my own shoulders. So I forget that I don’t have too. I can allow myself to let Him take over. It is specifically humbling and so I have to allow myself to be humble and say: “okay, I have tried and I have failed and I have tried and I have failed, I need you.” I know that’s what He is here for, to help me, to build me, and allow me to progress. I just have trouble recognizing it. I am learning to recognize how he speaks to and help me in my life. My ears, eyes, and heart are not quite use to listening or looking for Him in my life.

Sincerely,

Sister Diamond Evans

Moroni 8:26