Hello everyone!
This morning we got up early and went over to the temple to help clean it. We spent three hours just cleaning lockers. When we got there the lady said we were redoing the work that some previous missionaries were supposed to have done, but did a bad job. I was pretty confused because they looked clean to me. But then some of the cleaning tools they gave us in addition to rags and soap included toothpicks and q-tips. I'm not kidding. By the time we were done the lockers were immaculate. It kind of reminded me of this scripture as we were doing it:
Isaiah 55:8-9
Sister Stratton is leaving on Monday with all the other Polskis and we are so sad! I'm going to miss her so much but we're of course going to write each other. Sister Lefler apparently is a sky-diving fan and asked me and Sister Stratton to join her post-mission, so we said we would.
They seriously are the best companions ever. The other night we were sitting in our residence and I started telling them how apprehensive I was about serving in Macedonia where there were so few members (2, + 6 missionaries will be 8 once I'm there), where the gospel is so new to everyone, where so much is expected of me and my companion, who won't know the language very well. (Since she's in Serbia she's speaking Serbian, which is only similar to Bulgarian.) Sister Stratton said to me, "It speaks so much to the truth of this gospel that there are over 80,000 teenagers out there right now, giving up their lives for this." I'm not sure if it was then, because Sister Lefler had been telling us she'd been stressing about her language a lot during her lessons, but we committed to each other that for each of our next lessons, we would focus on following the Spirit rather than worrying about our grammar or anything. Sister Stratton later said, "They tell us that the most righteous were saved for the last days, and not to be prideful, but that it us. And when we chose sides, we weren't the ones like, 'Hmm, I don't know, I think God's plan is a better bargain for me,' we were the ones like, 'Yes, God is who I'm going to follow. Please come with us, please be on our side.' We have been fighting the war of good and evil for millenia, and look at us, we are still fighting." My next lesson(s) were during TRCs again and I took their advice, prayed, and it was the best lesson of mine so far. And this time a bunch of volunteers came so I was able to be on my own again. The first group I taught was three return missionaries who had gone to Bulgaria, including the one who'd originally told me that I was probably going to Macedonia. How cool is that? Nate Garrett is his name. I was really nervous when I went in because I had been expecting to teach the guy I always had previously. They all advised me to speak as much of the language as possible, and to "forget about English, forget that you speak it." The real Bulgarian guy that I taught said to me, "That's what I had to do when I was learning English. And I just asked all my companions to correct me a lot, because when I served in Chicago I thought I knew English, and then found out that I didn't." They were like, "You just have to put your foot down and always speak your language, and you will grow so much, so quickly." I told the people I taught and I'm telling you that God is helping me with the language. At the MTC they tell us to pray for the gift of tongues, and that if we work our hardest at the language that God will help the missionaries and investigators understand each other. One of my teachers, Brother Hammond, said it would probably manifest itself in ways we weren't expecting. I know that God answers our prayers, and that when we do work hard and try to follow Him, He will bless us so much. He wants us to have success and be happy in this life. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. I really enjoyed sharing my testimony with them as well. This is a very purposeful, good, and satisfying work. Oh yeah, guess what? I memorized the missionary purpose in Bulgarian this week. I know this is repetitive, but the Lord is the driving force behind this work. He wants so badly for His children to come back to Him. As we express thanks and are grateful to Him, He blesses us even more. He loves us. I was working on memorizing the purpose in English, and when I said it out loud the first time I felt the Spirit pang in my heart. I think He wants us to understand how sacred and important what we're doing is. I even feel a little weird sharing that emotion with you, because it was such a tender emotion. I think God is really just boosting my confidence, in my abilities, and in Him, in His power, in the truthfulness of His church. I am so happy here. I hope you are happy.
D&C 6:32
Verily, verily, I say unto you, as I said unto my disciples, where two or three are gathered together in my name, asatouching bone thing, behold, there will I be in the cmidst of them—even so am I in the dmidst of you.
til later
сестра ридъл
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.