Wasn't General Conference just wonderful?!?!?!?! Don't worry mom, I talked about your doughnuts to many missionaries and they were ALL envious and decided that they would just have to come to my house for Conference someday so they could enjoy that deliciousness. I especially loved basically all of the Saturday sessions (can you guess why?). Most of the talks were about member missionary work!!! As a missionary, I definitely know that it is much easier for ALL parties when the members and the missionaries come and work together in the missionary effort! We as full-time missionaries are not on our missions to find those who are ready to hear the gospel. We are here to teach. We are here to help the members learn how to do their missionary work and then teach those that the members are working with. The members are supposed to find those who are ready to hear the message of the restored gospel. Coming here, I realized that I had sorely failed at this before my mission because I used the excuse of "I'm from Utah, almost everyone's Mormon and those who aren't don't want to be." That's SO not true! Being from Utah doesn't mean anything. There are still people we come in contact with all the time who aren't members and we should be fearless in sharing our testimonies with them and inviting them to repent and come closer to Jesus Christ. Not only are there people who aren't members, but what about the less-active members or the members who are struggling in staying worthy to hold a temple recommend? They need missionary work as well! A lot of the work that we do as full-time missionaries is work with the less-actives and serve those members who need a little extra help. Shouldn't the members be helping with that as well? What's great, is that if you don't know what to do for missionary work, you can always ask you Bishop, Stake President, or the full-time missionaries for opportunities that they may know of for you to serve. That, or they will help you develop and refine the skills that you already have in sharing the gospel to those in your daily life. There is always more that we can do than just being a good example. It is time for the members and the missionaries to be bold but loving at the same time (Alma 38:12). But always remember to follow the promptings of the Spirit.
We only have one investigator, but man she is so ready and excited to be baptized! Oddly enough, she was referred to us by a member and they have been working very closely with us to help her progress. She is so excited! She is a very intelligent woman and she's going to a Seminary right now and is very knowledgeable in the Bible. It's amazing to see how throughout her studies, she's been feeling more and more like she was missing something big, and she has now found that through the message of the restored gospel. It's so contagious to experience her excitement. My favorite comment that she made was when she was holding my Quad combination and she said "This feels whole! This feels so right." At our next lesson after she had accepted a baptismal date, she asked where she could buy a quad combination and the member told her that he'd buy her a nice leather set with her name on it. She jumped up in the air and yelled with joy. How incredible it was to see her excitement over a set of scriptures! I realized in that moment that we should ALL be that excited! We have truth in that quad combination that nobody else has! Shouldn't we be jumping for joy at having the fullness of the truth right there in our hands?
Mom, to answer your question, yes I have to remind myself everyday that I need to let the Lord take charge. It's hard to have that same desire that He has sometimes though. Oh my goodness, but that's why a mission is so wonderful because the Lord is so good at humbling us to a point where we simply know that we can't do it any other way. But I guess that it's a lesson that I still haven't learned because He has to remind me constantly that this isn't my way, it's HIS way!
I got Kenna's email this time from you! No pictures, but that's OK. I am glad to hear that she is doing so well along with everyone else. I missed ya'll while watching Conference, but I hope that you had questions and prayers answered along with revelation received while watching it. I know that I certainly did and I am excited to get my hands on the upcoming Ensign to re-read the talks and learn even more from those.
I love you all! I hope that you strive to be member missionaries! You've been called to build the kingdom of the Lord, are you ready to accept that call? I would love to hear what you plan on doing in order to be missionaries and serve the Lord. Love and miss you!
With love,
Sister Ward
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