TERE!!
I hope you all have had a wonderful summer week :) I have a quick request - please pray that missionaries in our mission (4 countries) will find, teach, and baptize 15 people in these next 6 weeks! Your prayers of faith would be much appreciated! I love you all!
The work:
- God was very good to us this week. Last Monday, we went to our investigator’s house (our investigator that has a baptismal date). We went to give her a talk about the Book of Mormon, my favorite book of all time. (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/the-power-of-the-book-of-mormon?lang=eng). When she opened the door, she said, "Don’t want right now," then shut the door in our faces. We were silent for a good while, just standing there, then we walked home. Obviously, we were all bummed and our spirits were low. When we got home, however, 2 PEOPLE texted us asking to meet up with us! We knew God sent those 2 people our way to boost our spirits and to remind us there are people here to teach.
- We had a lesson set up with a woman, and she didn’t show up. It’s OK. It happens. Anyway, we got on the bus to visit some less active members. When we got off the bus, we began talking to a woman who started to walk away from us pretty quickly...well guess what happened? It started POURING RAIN at that very second. Literally, when we stepped off the bus it was sunny, and then within 10 steps, it was pouring rain. Because it was raining, we three and this woman huddled under a nearby tree to wait out the rain. We were all laughing at how drenched we were getting. We talked with her about the gospel and about her life. And guess what? As soon as she gave us her number so we could call and set up an appointment with her, THE RAIN STOPPED, and we parted ways. It was a tender mercy, and we three walked away dancing and laughing because of how miraculous it all was!
The culture:
- Root beer is not in Estonia. Elder Rau made some to give to Estonian friends, and fun fact...they both said it tasted like tooth paste! So think about that next time you drink root beer :)
- Estonians love picking berries! We went blueberry picking with a member in the forest, and we sang, "Peace in Christ (Rahu Kristus Toob)" with her in the peaceful forest...so beautiful. I have become such a nature lover while living here! We all felt like Snow White...singing and berry picking in the forest haha.
The funnies:
We were in an animal shelter in Tallinn in a room full of cats. (Fun fact - I didn’t realize I had a fear of cats until I was surrounded by them..anyway...) Elder Römer was petting one of the cats, and it bit him. He jumped because it scared him! Then when Elder Römer jumped - I KID YOU NOT FRIENDS - every cat in that room (30-40 cats) jumped at the same time just like they do in the cartoons, backs arched and everything. ALL of them! We all jumped too of course, so we were all dying laughing...
Spiritual thought:
I was thinking about why some people feel like they see God in their lives and some people don’t. Being surrounded by atheists 24/7 really gets you thinking about that...
As I thought about this, I started wondering what it means to "see" God. Well, when I am stuck on what a word means, I go to the dictionary! You might be fascinated by what I discovered regarding what "seeing" really means! As I list these definitions out, please think about how these definitions can apply to ways “to see" (God):
- to have the power of sight
- to be aware of by means of the eye
- to look at
- to have a picture in mind
- to understand
- to investigate
- to accompany
- to meet
I will leave the interpretations up to you, but I hope you can see why I have come to realize that there are many different ways to "see" God in our lives. We have to be looking for him!
As a companionship, we’ve decided to start a miracle wall!
picture
We write down miracles that we have seen and put them on our miracle wall. It is one way we are all trying to "see" God more in our day-to-day lives. We have only had that wall up for a few days, and already we have all been noticing more miracles!
Also, for you journalers out there - for almost 2 years now, at the beginning of each journal entry, I write a "Lord’s hand" moment, a moment when I saw the Lord in my day. I have learned that by writing that at the end of each day, I now realize more in the moment when I "see" God. Then I think, "Oh! I can write that as my ‘Lord’s hand’ moment for today!" Doing that has completely changed my perspective on seeing God in my life. I hope it helps any of you out there :)
I invite anyone who wants to see God more in their life to look at this list of definitions and ponder about how you can choose to "see" God more in your life. I testify He is there.
Trust in the Lord. Choose joy. Find peace.
Alma 37:47: “...look to God and live.” (Taken from a story about a young man from Ghana who looked for God in his life even when he knew very little about God: https://www.lds.org/liahona/2018/08/young-adults/how-eric-learned-to-trust-god?lang=eng&_r=1&cid=HP_TU-7-8-2018_dPTH_fLHNA_xLIDyM_)
P.S. If you’re feeling pushed away from God because of all the sin and distraction surrounding you, if you repent, there is someone who CAN protect you - Jesus Christ. He can and will lead you all the way to your "tailor-made promised land." This video illustrates that. When I watched it, it touched me, so I invite any and all to watch it! Short and powerful. - https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2017-01-003-spiritual-whirlwinds?lang=eng
No comments:
Post a Comment