Tuesday, April 26, 2016

HI EVERYONE! 

It's been another amazing week here in Kirkland! Miracles continue to abound as we share the message of the restored gospel. It's been so cool because this week I've realized how much the Lord is working with us as His missionaries. We had an amazing experience as we went to visit a less active member, named Nile. We drove to her house, and as we rang her apartment, it became clear she wasn't home, but knowing we were in the area for a reason, we went walking around and started contacting people on the street, telling them about the gospel and about the Book of Mormon. We were walking for probably about an hour and then we turned a corner and we saw Nile walking right there! We were pretty far from her house and we were about as surprised to see her as she was to see us. We then just started talking to her on the street and had a beautiful lesson about how God can rebuild us and make us stronger. We invited her to reread President Uchtdorf's talk from conference, I'll add the link in here: (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/he-will-place-you-on-his-shoulders-and-carry-you-home?lang=eng). The spirit was there so strong as we testified of how much God really does love His children. 

This week me and my companion have also been working a lot to give away Book of Mormon's to the people around us. We've been approaching people in there homes, on the street, in stores, and have been introducing them to this amazing book. Sister Hoffmann and I affectionately call it "Book of Mormon on Legs" where we testify of the Book of Mormon and the power and peace it can bring into people's lives if they read it and prayerfully seek to know if the book is true. There is an AMAZING video about the Book of Mormon on the Church's website and I invite all of you to watch it! Here's the link: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-11-018-a-book-of-mormon-story?lang=eng 


WATCH it and understand how valuable the Book of Mormon is and how essential it is in our conversions. 

 
Sis Hoffmann and I at the MONTREAL TEMPLE. It's so cute :) 
 
One thing I've also learned this week is how absolutely necessary prayer is. First, let me explain how much missionaries pray, we pray ALL the time. We haven't counted  yet but I'm guessing Sister Hoffmann and I pray about 30 times together a day. We are ALWAYS asking for divine guidance in our lives, so we know where we need to go and what we need to be doing with this short amount of time we have to be the Lord's missionaries. And let me testify of how amazing that is. When we pray to have the Holy Ghost with us,  helping us to know what to say when we are talking with people, and helping us to know who we need to visit, true miracles can happen. 

For example, a few weeks ago we were in a neighborhood and decided to knock on a certain door, a really nice lady opened and we started talking with her. She said she was busy unpacking from a trip and that she couldn't talk for long, but she let us say a prayer with her, right there on her front porch. And Sister Hoffmann gave this beautiful prayer asking Heavenly Father to help this woman, who we had only known for a few minutes, and after she finished the prayer we looked up and saw that the women, her name is Johanne, was crying. She was so touched by the way we talked with our Father in Heaven and said that it was just what she needed. Since then we have planned to visit with her and I'm excited to see how we might help add to this amazing woman's faith. 

There's a beautiful quote about prayer I found this last week from Howard W. Hunter, "If prayer is only a spasmodic cry at the time of crisis, then it is utterly selfish, and we come to think of God as a repairman or a service agency to help us only in our emergencies. We should remember the Most High day and night—always—not only at times when all other assistance has failed and we desperately need help. If there is any element in human life on which we have a record of miraculous success and inestimable worth to the human soul, it is prayerful, reverential, devout communication with our Heavenly Father." (Here's the whole talk: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1977/10/hallowed-be-thy-name?lang=eng)
 
Remember who we are talking to when we pray. Remember that God is first our Father, and He wants to communicate with us and He wants us to communicate with Him. 

Remember that God has given us the Book of Mormon as another testament of His Son, Jesus Christ. The Introduction of the Book of Mormon says, "Concerning this record [the Book of Mormon] the Prophet Joseph Smith said: 'I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.'"

I know those words to be true. I know that we can all become closer to God and to His Son as we read the Book of Mormon. It's a beautiful, miracle-working book that I love with my whole heart. 

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week,
Sister Thomas
 
 Super cute chocolate/ice cream store. Man I love Montreal :)

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