SISTER MARTINA THOMAS: An Anchor For The Souls of Men

HELLO MY FELLOW AMERICANS,

I hope everyone is having a beautiful and safe 4th of July!

Here's a picture of me celebrating Canada while it was pouring rain. wooohooo Canada.

This week has just been too good, we had a goal this week to contact 16 people who might be interested in learning more about the gospel. Now normally, that number would seem super hard in Kirkland, because everyone who speaks English is either, Jewish or Atheist. But we knew that if we trusted in the Lord it was possible. So guess what happened...

WE FOUND 20 PEOPLE. Sister Zobrist and I died. At the end of the week were were both so happy and we reflected on how the Lord had guided us, and how He truly made miracles happen for us. Miracles like how in one day we found 10 potential investigators. It was NUTS, and it was nothing short of a miracle. We found 4 new investigators, they are sweet. They are in their 20s and are super golden.

Went on a district hike in a small town called Rigaud.

It was the closest thing to a mountain we could find,

but we found a giant cross at the top. The view was soooooo pretty.

Miracles kept coming as we visited one of our less active members. We'd seen her a few times but every time we went we either helped her clean her house, or she just talked to us about her work the whole time, but this time, it was different. We still talked a lot about her work and her life, but she really opened up to us about how she just felt really lost in life. She said she felt like she was just "floating" and had nothing to hold on to. We then told her that the gospel would give her everything and more of something to hold on to. Something that would give her hope and peace in this life. Something that had already embraced before. She was baptized in the early 2000's but went in-active two years later because she felt it was too hard to be single in the church. For her, at the time, being in the world and distancing herself from the church just seemed easier. But now, she's at a point where she realizes she needs the stability the church once gave her. She openly admitted that the happiest she's been was while she was in the church, even though she's had plenty of fun and "happy" things happen since she'd left it, she knew that the happiness she had while she was going to church was a different kind of happiness. A lasting and beautiful kind of happiness.

We then talked to her about coming back to church. She said it'd be really hard. That it would cause to her to change COMPLETELY. To rearrange her whole life again, basically. She said sometimes it just seemed too hard. I then promised her that it would be hard, that it would be difficult, because that's sometimes what change is. Difficult. But I told her that it would be worth it. That her life could, and would, change for the better, that there was a happy and bright light at the end of the tunnel. And I promised her that Christ would be there right by her side through the whole thing. We all were really emotional as she just shook her head and said, "I know, I know."

That's one thing I've learned on my mission, that hearts can change. That the gospel of Jesus Christ and change and heal a wounded heart. That it truly is a place where people can find rest from their afflictions. And I'm so grateful for that knowledge, and I'm so grateful that I get to share that knowledge with the people around me. Being on a mission has been a priceless gift to my life. I am, and forever will be, grateful for it.

Awhhhh me and Sis Zobrist hit 5 months in the mission TOGETHER.

I love her soooooooooo much. Forever grateful that she's my companion <3

5 months ago, I entered the MTC and started my whole missionary work adventure. And it's beautiful to see how much I've changed in these short 5 months, and I'm optimistic and excited to see how I'll continue to change in the next 13 months I have ahead of me. Man, life is the best.

I love you all so much, have a beautiful week, and know that someone in Canada (AKA me) is praying for you,