Week 72

Hello everyone!!

This week was literally AMAZING!!!! Seriously it might have been the best week of my mission so far. 

Monday we went to Kennywood which was seriously soooo fun!! We rode a whole bunch of rides, and we even got to share the Gospel!! We rode something called the Sky Coaster. Sister Ewell, Sister Duncan, and I were in a harness, and they hooked us all up to this big cord and raised us super super high up into the air. Of course they picked me to be the one who pulled the lever, so when we got up as high as it would go, someone spoke through a microphone and said, "3, 2, 1, Fly!" I pulled the lever and we totally just dropped hundreds of feet and flew in the air hahahaha. Sister Ewell was crying, but it was so fun!!

Wednesday we went to Girls camp for the day. We taught a little workshop on "sharing our light." I love a quote by President Monson who said, "If you want to be a light to others, you have to glow yourself." In Matthew 5:16, it says, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Christ indeed teaches us that we need to share our light. 

Well, in 3 Nephi 18, Christ has appeared to the Nephites in ancient America, and he teaches them about light as well. I love what he says in verse 24. 

"Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up--that which ye have seen me do." Christ defines light as HIMSELF. Yes, we need to shine our light, but first we must develop the light that comes from Christ. 

Everyone both onto this earth is born with the light of Christ in them. The light of Christ is, according to Moroni in Moroni 7:16, the ability to know good from evil. 

"For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God." 

SO we're all born with this light, but we can grow and develop this light as we follow Christ. I don't know about you, but when I'm consistently trying to do what's right, it's easier for me to feel what is good and what's bad. If I'm reading my scriptures every morning, it's so much more easy to make good choices throughout the day. 

Going back to the scripture in 3 Nephi, we need to share our light, and that light is CHRIST. How can we develop our light further? I can think of four things off the top of my head that are MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR contributors-- prayer, scripture study, church attendance, and obedience to God's commandments. I know when we do those things, we grow in our light. The only reason I know this is because I've consistently done them for a while now, and I have seen how they have blessed my life--they have brought me closer to Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. 

^^sorry, I'm just so excited about the lesson we were able to share, and I know these things to be true 

Thursday we went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders, but we blitzed our area which just means both sets were in our area doing work, so we were able to see double the amount of people we're usually able to. This was honestly one of the very first days we had completely open. Recently we've had a lot of different trainings to go to and we were spending hours updating and transferring records onto our iPads, so it felt so good to get outside. Each set went to different cities and went finding those the Lord had prepared, and BOY DID WE EVER! 

Sister Palmer and I stopped by an investigator's house, but she wasn't home. Instead of getting in the car and driving to the next place, we walked down the street and saw a lady working in her yard. She took very good care of her yard, so we complimented her on it. We kept talking to her and found out she was having a pretty hard time in life. We were able to share with her principles of the Plan of Salvation with her. We testified of an afterlife and the opportunity to see our families again. 

A few minutes later, we talked to a guy sitting on his porch. He knew about the Book of Mormon already, so we testified it was from God and set up a time to come back. 

A FEW MINUTES LATER we met a lady by total miracle who had taken the lessons in Ohio anut a year ago and just moved here. She recognized the Lord sent us to her, so we talked about how this Gospel changes lives and transforms families and set up a time to meet 

I'll just mention one more miracle that happened this week. Two nights ago, I lost the phone. We searched EVERYWHERE around the house and in the car and outside. It was about 10 o'clock PM, and we couldn't find it anywhere. We sad a couple of prayers and still couldn't find it. The thought came to ask a neighbor to call our phone. We knocked on the only house with lights turned on. This guy answered the door and invited us in. We talked with him and his wife, and they were just the sweetest people ever! They just returned from seeing Donny Osmond, so that was a cool gateway into talking about the gospel. Anyway, they walked up to our house and called the phone, and within 2 minutes, we found it in the couch cushions WHERE WE HAD LOOKED MANY TIMES BEFORE. I truly believe God wanted us to find this couple. It was a miracle 

This week was full of miracles! Oh, and we get to go to the temple tomorrow  I'm so excited!!

Okay have a god week!!

Sister Sparks