Hello everyone!
This week has been pretty great!
Monday: I LOVE P-DAYS!!! I live for them!!! Well, not really, but I love them :) We get to go shopping and I'm buying stuff for my future house...sorry mom. Last monday we went running for 2 miles, and I really hurt my feet because apparently my shoes are bad! I've been limping all week, but I got a blessing, so I should be okay soon :) I ate something called "pickled eggs" and THEY WERE NASTY!! They're eggs soaked in beet juice. I tried half of it, and then hid the rest of it amongst my strawberries hehe :)
Tuesday: We visited a part-member family, and the father doesn't usually like missionaries, but he is SO nice to us. He always invites us in and feeds us lunch :) The Lord is softening his heart! I'm so grateful the Lord has His hands in everything. We also taught our investigators Elsie and Rod! They are SO awesome. They have a sincere desire to follow Jesus Christ. They are having spiritual experiences as they read the Book of Mormon. I'm so grateful for the role the Spirit plays in conversion. No one can just take our word for it...they have to read and pray to know for themselves! It's by the Holy Ghost we can know the truthfulness of HIS church.
Wednesday: We visited Kerry who has been going through hard things. We were able to help her know Heavenly Father has a plan for her. He has a plan for each of us! He allows us to go through difficult things because those experiences help us put on the divine nature we need to become people worthy to live with Him again! I know we have the Priesthood power on earth to seal families for life on earth and in the eternities. I am seriously so grateful to have been sealed to my family--family is the most important unit. I'm grateful to know I can be married in the temple someday and be sealed to my family for eternity! How great is that!?
Thursday: We were able to talk to some people of different faiths today! It was a really cool experience! What I have observed is many people don't necessarily understand all that we believe as Latter-Day Saints. We were able to help someone understand we believe in the Bible--it is the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. We also believe that Jesus Christ is the MOST important gift Heavenly Father has given us. It is through Him and only Him can we be cleansed and live with Heavenly Father again with our families. We believe Heavenly Father has reached out in love and given us more directin--He continues to speak. It is through prophets he reveals His Gospel! The original truths Christ taught were brought back to the earth through Joseph Smith...not BY Jospeh Smith but THROUGH Joseph Smith. The Lord works through His prophets to reveal His will. Is this making sense? Prophets are called of God, but we don't worship our prophets. It is through the power and authority they hold that we can receive guidance from a loving Heavenly Father who wants us to know truth in an ever changing world.
Friday: We shredded papers for a member today. It was seriously so relaxing. Shredding papers is now my favorite thing to do. I overheated her shredder because I kept going and going hahaha...oops! ALL of our appointments cancelled today (even our dinner), but Sister Kittell took us to dinner, so that was sweet!! We went to this Italian restaurant and I ate a HUGE plate of spaghetti and a freakin' loaf of bread by myself. Mom, please don't sell the treadmill until I get back!
Saturday: We had our ward service day today! We picked up trash along a railtrail in Chambersburg, but there wasn't much trash. It was still fun :) I made my trashbag into a kite. Every single appointment fell through today. Our dinner appointment cancelled too, so we went to Pizza Hut. We saw a family in our ward at Pizza Hut as well, and they payed for our dinner :) Don't worry, Mom. I'm being taken care of! We were able to visit Sister Gonzalez tonight--she is going through REALLY difficult trials, so we were able to support her and assure her that the Lord always provides us with enough light to step into the fog and KEEP WALKING!
Sunday: Elsie and Rod came to church!!! I'm so glad they came! Going to church and partaking of the Sacrament are things we are commanded to do because we are able to renew our baptismal covenants in a place where we are surrounded by people who have the same goal in mind! Elsie and Rod aren't baptized yet, but taking the Sacrament can be a way of showing Heavenly Father they are working toward making those special promises with Him! I'm so grateful for the covenants I've made with Heavenly Father. These sacred covenants help us obey the commandments, love and trust Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, be forgiven, and feel the Holy Ghost more abundantly! We taught Danny, our investigator, tonight too! We taught the Word of Wisdom. Our bodies are special, and Heavenly Father wants us to keep them healthy. He always promises us blessings for obeying His commandments. Danny had never heard the Word of Wisdom before, but it was evident the Lord was helping him feel this was a commandment from God and that he could accomplish anything with God's help! Danny committed to start living the Word of Wisdom by lowering his intake of coffee so he could eventually quit! He's also committed to work on quittting smoking! He said, "Ya know, this is so funny. I ALWAYS make a pot of coffee in the morning, and I didn't even think about making a pot today." I know this was the work of the Lord. He prepared Danny to hear the message we had to offer him. Danny's faith in Christ is increasing, and it was so amazing to see the changes we can make in our lives because of Jesus Christ!
This obviously isn't all we did on each day, but just a few highlights :) I want to share my testimony that I know Christ lives! He loves us! He came into the world and accomplished all He was sent to do, and He did it alone. He was ridiculed and mocked and spit upon--He was entirely and utterly alone, but He suffered for us so we wouldn't have to be alone. I am SO grateful for this Gospel. Through the principles of this Gospel and through Jesus Christ, I have been able to change. I don't know where I would be without the Atonement of Christ--I wouldn't be the same person! We are all offered the opportunity to come unto Christ and be cleansed, healed, forgiven, strengthened, and so much more! We can change BECAUSE OF HIM! Let's all choose today to be followers of Christ. GOSH I'm so happy, and I just want everyone to know of the joy this Gospel brings! Well, now that I've ranted, I hope you all have a great week! :)
Love, Sister Sparks
I'm reluctant to post this picture, but Olivia is a silly character so I'm sure she's cool with it. She won't know until she gets home anyway :)
and some normal(ish) ones
Not everyone finds shredding documents relaxing, so I'm quite pleased to find someone who also enjoys doing it! Your friend must have a lot of papers to dispose of. This is one activity most people take for granted, but they should really be doing it, especially with paperwork that you don't need that contains sensitive information. It's nice for your friend to recognize this, and nice to you too to help!
ReplyDeleteRuby Badcoe @ Williams Data Management