This was quite the week. I don't even know where the time is going anymore. I hit three months tomorrow. What. Anyway, first tender mercy of the week: awesome new district (we had cambios last Tuesday). The new members of our district are Elder Caballero (he's companions with Elder Boden who is now District Leader) and Elder Calhoun (he's from Texas and is companions with Elder Broadhead --yes, I thought of the Best Two Years haha). I love them so much. Elder Caballero was my compañera's first district leader so I've heard a lot about him, he goes home in December. Elder Calhoun I think has been out as long as my compañera. They are awesome. I love that we are all really hard workers but want to have fun too. They can go together :)
Wednesday we had our first district meeting together and I had the opportunity of being the investigator for Elder Boden and Elder Caballero's lightning round on the gospel of Christ. Holy cow that was amazing. It was so good, it blew my mind. By far, it was the best one I have ever seen. That was a huge tender mercy for me, the opportunity to feel the Spirit and learn from them how to better teach. It was great.
We also ate with a ward family that night. They are an amazing family, crazy strong members, but we found out my first week here that they hadn't been sealed. We talked with them about it and challenged them (we don't invite members, we challenge them haha) to pick a date that was special for them and work towards that goal. They picked the 21 of this month. We hadn't seen them much, but that night they told us they were meeting with the stake president Sunday for their interviews!! That was amazing. We almost started crying. We are going to be able to see that family be sealed together and sealed to their daughter who's passed on. Church is so cool.
It was seven o'clock on Thursday night when our appointment fell through, and in pondering our backups decided we should visit the super cute old couple who always gives the missionaries food. Found out the husband doesn't really have a testimony, nor does he hold the priesthood --thus, they've never been sealed. We had a great Spirit guided lesson with hardly any preparation and he committed to pray to know if the church was true and actually read the scriptures for an answer. Hopefully he will act on the small desire he has to find these things for himself, and he'll get that answer!
This Saturday was interviews with President. That was good. It was about ten minutes, I followed my compañera, and then we had a quick workshop by the assistants. It was really good. You can't deny the love President and Sister Reynolds have for us. They care about us so much, and if you talk with them for just five minutes you can see that. I'm really thankful for my mission president.
(Wow, I try to make this short and look at the novel that comes out haha! Lo siento)
Sunday was full of tender mercies. The biggest of all is the fact that our investigator who dropped us is back!! Goodness gracious that lesson was amazing. The Spirit was so strong, they were both tearing up and I could see how much the Spirit had softened his heart. It was an amazing lesson. I remember having the thoughts/questions just come into my mind as I prayed for my compañera and them to feel and follow the Spirit. It was among the best experiences I have had thus far.
Anyway, this is getting rather lengthy, and my "get ready time" is about up (as I sit here in my pajamas) so we will conclude with my spiritual thought of the week :) Básicamente, this is the concluding paragraph of the first talk I found Saturday. Tender mercies, they're amazing.
"Sometimes, in spite of all we do to 'make weak things become strong,' the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, does not take away our weakness...[example of Paul]...Three times Paul asked the Lord to take away his weakness, and three times the Lord declined to do so. The Lord then explained that His grace was sufficient for Paul and that, in fact, His strength was actually 'made perfect in weakness.' Then Paul wrote, 'Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong' (2 Cor. 12:9–10). Surely nothing is quite as humbling as having a weakness that we cannot overcome but must continue to struggle with throughout our life. Such a weakness teaches us, in a very personal way, that after all we can do we must rely on the grace of Christ to make up the difference. As we humbly submit our will to the Lord’s, we find that our weaknesses can indeed become sources of strength if we put our trust in Him."
Missionary work is amazing. God is too good to us. Tender mercies are everywhere. Probably the best week so far, and I'm excited for more to come! I love you and pray for you.
Tanto amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley
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