Hope Is A Happy Thing

 6th March 2017

Hi everyone!

Me and Sister Barnes are brought together again! 

We were able to go on exchanges and she made me pancakes for my 13 month mark. 

(Her's is technically the day after mine because she entered the MTC Feb 4th 2016, 

but we love her anyway). Sooo sweet!

Hope all is well and that your March has kicked off splendidly! Montréal is Montréal. Cold and cute. And we've had a great week. So much as happened as we've tried to find people and strengthen our connections with the members who live in this beautiful area. 

We've visited a few members this week who have been struggling in a little in their faith and just needed a little re-boost. Specifically Jill, who had been a little overwhelmed with the difficulties of life both physically and spiritually. When we visited her we decided to talk about hope and to help her set some goals for the coming weeks and months to help her and her testimony. We shared the scripture in Romans 15: 4 which says, "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." We added emphasis of the importance of reading our scriptures when we want to grow and cling to our hope. And we read what we should hope for in the Book of Mormon when the Prophet Mormon said, "And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise." (Moroni 7:41 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/moro/7) So, we are to hope for the joys of eternal life, gifts given to us by our Savior. But how are we to understand and be able to rejoice in those things? That joy is given through diligent and consistent studying of the word of God, known to us as the scriptures. Thus, hope comes as we understand God's plan for us and as we are uplifted by His Spirit, who teaches and helps us understand the His words. So with Jill, we set some goals for her to read the scriptures, specifically the Book of Mormon, and she was so excited! She expressed how she's been feeling that her fire was gone, that she felt empty and sad; but this goal excited her, it gave her something to do and by the time we were leaving she was walking on air. She had a purpose, she had something to work toward, she knew where she was going. Goals are for sure a powerful vehicle that can bring us increased motivation and increased hope. 

To follow up from last week, we saw Selena again, she is amazing. We really love her. We talked to her more about the Plan of Salvation, but then we talked more about the Book of Mormon, something she was already a little familiar with and heard about from friends in her past. But as we actually explained what it was, she realized she had been completely wrong. She had thought the book was just a book about Joseph Smith and what happened to him, but once she understood that it was actually an ancient record of a people who prophesied of and knew Christ, man, you should have seen her eyes. They were alive. They were excited, they were vibrant. She was ready to know more. We then then shared with her Moroni 10:3-5 which reads, 

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. 

She loved it. She "dog-earred" that page real quick and she expressed how much those verses meant.  We shared another scripture with her, which, of course, she dog-earred. We left her with the resolve to read and to ponder. It was a very successful lesson and we are excited to see her tomorrow. People are definitely prepared to hear about this message. 

Things are going great here. We love it and we know the Lord works with us. He works with you as well, His hand is always there. 

Me and Sister Barnes again! She is still the Sister Training Leader in the English speaking area (she's been there since before I left Kirkland, aka a long time) but  exchanges were so fun! 

Man if I could be half the missionary she is, I'd be set. Love her so much.

Have a great week!

Sister Thomas