Good Things to Come

27th February 2017

Hi everyone!

This week has been good. I'm sitting here reflecting and I'm always amazed about how fast it goes and all that happens in that one week. This week we have been contacting a lot of families in the ward, less active, and active, we have been finding a lot and knocking and street contacting and it has been fruitful. We are literally building our teaching pool and we are looking for ways to do it effectively, such as by really communicating with the members and finding through the resources we have been given. It has been going well. Everyone, I hope you know how much I love being a missionary. I really love it. It has become my life, it has become a part of me, the love of this work runs so deep and I feel my boldness and courage growing. I know that Heavenly Father has been there for us this week, we've contacted a lot of people and we still have so much work to do, but I know that He provides us with miracles.

There was a miracle just last night, we were out contacting and we went to place we had previously knocked to follow up with some people we had met. But, we were running really low on gas (like really low, I was a little concerned, and we didn't want to fill up because it was the Sabbath, but we had faith that Heavenly Father would help us make it) so we couldn't move from that place until we had decided to go home, so we decided to stay a little longer, to just walk around and try to find some people. But, on the streets there was no one, it was cold, dark, and windy and there was not a soul. So we started knocking a few doors on our way back to the car. And after knocking 3 or 4 we knocked into Selena and her son Lucas. Selena and her family are from Trinidad, but she is more Quebecois than anything, BUT she's an Anglophone (score!) and she is amazing. She is very open minded and actually had a few friends who were Mormon growing up. She has had a very interesting life, with a PhD in Anthropology and now working as a Yoga instructor, she is so open. And Lucas is only 3, and we talked about families, after a prompting from the Spirit, and she said that was something that she loved and was very important to her, and she voiced that she was very happy we talked about it and its importance. Then we talked about choices with her, and our ability to choose (after introducing our pre-earth life) and then she said, "I love that word, choose. I actually have that tattooed on my foot!" again, our conversation was completely guided by the Spirit because those things aren't usually the first things to come out of our mouth. Then we taught her a little bit more about that, about how that was a God-given gift to us, that we have that freedom, and she loved it. And then we had to lead to get home on time, so we left her with the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and with a firm appointment to meet again on Tuesday. We were so happy. Heavenly Father literally provided us with a miracle because we chose to stay where we were and to continue working. I'm happy that we have the ability to choose and act for ourselves, that God loves us enough to let us do that. It's such a sacred concept. I'm so grateful for it.

And that is just one miracle for this week there have been so many more. I'm so grateful for the Spirit and how it guides us, I'm grateful for Heavenly Father and His plan for us, I know He loves me and is working with me here.

Another thing I think I learned this week is the truthfulness of the principle - you never know how much good you do, something taught to us by President Hinckley (the former President of the church, from 1995 - 2008) . That is true. Two weeks ago at a meeting with some other missionaries, the Elders in another area were talking about their investigators, they mentioned one named Shatick, and my eyes got wide and my mouth dropped, I knew that name. Then I asked but how? I had forgotten. But then it all came back. Months and months ago, Sister Torres and I met Shatick on the metro and started teaching him, gave him a pamphlet, exchanged information and then sent off the contact to the missionaries who lived closer to him. I had completely forgotten about him. But the Elders started meeting with him, and he's come to church and now he has a baptismal date(!!!). The same story happened with the other Sisters in the area, but this time I hadn't forgotten about him at all, his name is Keith, who we had met just as he was taking out his trash last one Sunday night, and the Sisters started teaching him and now he has a baptismal date and now both are attending church. How amazing is that? Can you imagine how touched I felt to know that these people were being taught, that they were making and keeping commitments, that these people who I just happened to talk to had started progressing? There are not words. I almost started crying after I found out about Shatick. I was so happy. I had tasted of the fruit. I had done something good, and other missionaries were benefitting from it too, and best of all souls were coming back to the Savior. Oh, that was a sweet moment. And I'm so grateful for them. You really never know how much good you do.

So don't forget those principles, even though I'm explaining them in a missionary context, they are still true principles. That God is a God of miracles, and our good works never go unrewarded. Those are true and eternal principles all coming from our Perfect God, who is the source of all truth and knowledge. I love Him and I believe in Him. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week, and know that I will as well, even though every moment might not be happy, that the weather every day might not be the best, and there will be people who don't care about a thing we say, but know that I will have a wonderful week because I'm in the service of the Lord.

Didn't take any pictures this week, so here's a picture I just took of Sister Bascom. She's so cute. :)

 

With great amounts of love,

Sister Thomas