Hey y'all (:
Life is oh so good! I get rrreally stressed thinking about the joyful responsibility we bear, but the Lord is teaching me a lot. I am a big fan of the book they gave us to help with stress, it's called Adjusting to Missionary Life. I read yesterday Elder Uchtdorf's talk about being grateful in our circumstances, and that is going to be my main focus this week. We deal with crazy people sometimes, but the elect are out there, and finding them is just so much sweeter after dealing with disappointment. I read in the bible dictionary the other day that discipline and patience are born of disappointment, so that's my little insight into Heavenly Father's plan for me (:
President Bernhisel sent us this quote from President Eyring on what he did as a missionary to have the Holy Ghost working in his life:“I find that it only comes after prayer, searching the scriptures and the words of the prophets, exact obedience, loving others, humbly listening for the Spirit and after long and painful labor.” In other words, it isn’t easy, but it is sure worth it.
Sometimes I feel like I must be doing terribly when the Spirit isn't with me super strong, but it is reassuring to know that an apostle of the Lord also must commit to "long and painful labor" in order to have the Spirit with him. Our level of commitment to the Lord determines the level of spiritual sensitivity we have.
We have been working hard this week to overcome our weaknesses. I was touched in my heart to realize that serving the Lord "with all your heart, might, mind and strength" means being more disciplined in healthy eating and cardio exercise. We can't just let ourselves go, in other words...;)
I recommitted this week to do those things, and have been seeing miracles from it! We found 4 new investigators!!! What a merciful God we have. We are teaching Soyoung and Brad again! We got to go out teaching with Sister Bernhisel this week, and it was so neat! She has such a high level of the Spirit with her. It was incredible to watch her listen, observe, ask questions, and discern the needs of our investigators. Although Brad's washer exploded yesterday, they are planning on coming back to church, so we credit that miracle completely to the Spirit working through Sister Bernhisel. She is our inspiration (:
In addition to that experience, we had an interesting encounter with a referral who was so frightened by our uncanny ability to locate him even after he gave us totally wrong instructions, that he lied barefaced to us. I have never had someone lie to me like that before. It was interesting. I guess I have to admit that there are some people in the world who are intentionally mean to others. This came as quite a shock. Anyway, we called him out, and he sheepishly went inside and had his girlfriend come out and apologize for him... very interesting/ helpful experience in learning about how to discern the truth from people. We had two or three other experiences like that, and then they were complimented by several experiences where the Spirit helped us recognize prepared people as well. In short, the Spirit of discernment is powerful in helping us not be confounded before men. D&C 52:14
One of our new investigators came from offering to serve, and using the Book of Mormon. We contacted her while she was watering her garden, and shared the pictures from the front of the Book of Mormon to explain what it was. She agreed to let us help her garden next Tuesday, so we came back on Tuesday in our service clothes. She was so surprised to see us actually wearing sweats and T-shirts, she invited us in, and asked us to share our message with her. Word. We felt inspired to read from 3 Nephi 11 about baptism and the priesthood, and the spirit bore witness to her of the truth of the Book of Mormon. She re-read the part where Jesus talks about the atonement 3 or 4 times out loud, and then looked up and said "I really want to read this book!" It was so exciting to hear that!
Sister Olive has been asking EVERYONE for referrals. This has never been my strong suit, so I am extremely motivated by the competition. Similar to a "Costco with Caroline" experience ;) She constantly motivates me to humble myself, and be more exactly obedient, and also to not be so hard on myself. I have been memorizing my patriarchal blessing, and find great strength to not beat myself up as I recite passages of it to myself. It is a great shield against negative thinking and self-criticism, which we all need, so I definitely recommend it!
When I find myself wondering why I am stressing so much, or why our friends are facing such great opposition, or making poor choices, I am reminded that the Lord's ways are higher than our ways. He knows what it takes to bring souls unto Him. He requires everything we've got, and I don't want to hold anything back.
1 Corinthians 9:22-24
Still running.
Love, Sister Boucher
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