Dear Friends and Family (and anyone
else reading this),
I cannot believe that just this last
Tuesday I was literally sitting at the feet of an Apostle of the Lord. 5 pews
away, middle section, slightly to the right to be exact. It was an amazing
experience, but it has been a loooong week.
It might have been the heat, or the
several appointments that fell through, or the fact that we lost a lot of sleep
waking up at 4 am to get seats for Elder Holland´s talk...but I don´t think I
have ever experienced a week that literally felt like a month until now.
Elder Viñas, of the area presidency,
summed it up when he said that the mission is ´learning how to suffer with
joy´. I wanted to turn all Baptist/Evangelical ish and stand up waving my arms
saying ´AMEN¨, but I just smiled and wrote it in my journal instead.
Elder Holland gave us some GREAT
counsel regarding the Book of Mormon, and it made me feel really stupid. It was
the simplest counsel I have ever heard, taken from 1 Nephi chapter 1: 11-12.
First of all, like, HOW MANY TIMES have I read 1 Nephi 1? Probably a bajillion.
More times than I have read any other part of the Book of Mormon. In 1 Nephi 1,
there is the KEY to conversion. An angel, in a vision, gives Lehi a book. Well,
what does Lehi do with this book? He reads it. What happens when he reads it?
He is filled with the spirit. BOOM. This = Conversion. The promise of The Book
of Mormon is that the spirit will testify to us.
We have shared this with members
this week, and have testified to them that if we, as members, gain a strong
testimony of The Book of Mormon, all else will fall into place. As members, we
need to become fully converted. We can do this by testing the promise given in
the introduction of The Book of Mormon. The promise says that we will gain a
FOR SURE testimony of 3 thing.
1. That Jesus Christ is the Savior
of the World.
2. That Joseph Smith is his
revelator and prophet in these last days.
3. That THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST
OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS is THE Lord´s Kingdom once again established on the earth,
preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah (Jesus Christ).
Well, I dont know about you, but
that sounds like a mighty fine testimony to me.
The Book of Mormon was given to US,
in OUR day, as OUR evidence that God has restored his ONE true church. This
book has the power to change lives. As we study and read and apply the stories,
our lives are better. Simple as that. They are better, they are happier, they
are full of guidance from our Heavenly Father.
I am so proud of my little brother,
Eli, for sharing the Book of Mormon with his friend this last week. I know it
can be scary to put our beliefs out there, and sometimes people don´t want to
put us to the test. Well, no harm done. We won´t be held accountable for them
choosing to not listen, but we WILL be held accountable for not opening our
mouths and sharing God´s evidence to us, his children, that he has indeed
called a Prophet to guide his church, and that he always, in every time of the
world, tries to communicate with his children.
Another thing that Elder Holland
told us: We need to ASTONISH people. The tragedy in missionary work is that we
get a lot of first lessons, but not very many second lessons. I took this to
heart this week. I decided that with every first encounter, I was going to do
all within my power to make sure it was not my last encounter.
So, a story.
I was in divisions in my sector with
Hermana Orton, who only has one transfer more than me. We were looking for the
house of a reference we had received. We knocked a door, well, we screamed at a
door (don’t worry, totally normal thing to do here), and a man answered. We
asked if Stefano lived there. He said no. He didn’t seem to be interested in
us, so we turned to leave. His wife happened to be walking up the street, and
she heard us asking for Stefano. She thought we were saying ¨Stefani¨, who
happens to be her daughter. So, we clarified that. But, once we had gotten her
talking, we kept talking. We had a long conversation, and in my mind I was
thinking of all we could say to ASTONISH her socks off. She thought our message
was nice, but nothing we had said caught her attention. Then, she told us that
her 18 year old daughter was struggling to live a good life. We jumped at that
chance. We told her we would love to be friends with her daughter and share
with her what makes US so happy in our lives. There. That was it. The mom was
astonished at our persistence and willingness to share. We went from her not
wanting us to pass by, to her telling us she would receive us in her house any
time that she was home.
Nothing huge, but it built my
testimony. I know that if we do our BEST in EVERY situation, to share the
gospel, Heavenly Father will provide a way. This message is for everyone.
SOMETHING in the gospel will catch the attention of every person we talk to.
Alright, lots of spiritual stuff. I
promise I am not boring, I am just a missionary. So, to prove that, I would
like to share my funny moments of the week:
1. The trees now have leaves and
their branches are longer. They hang over the sidewalks. My companion and I
take turns accidently smacking each other in the face when we hold the branch
for only ourselves and then let go. Its Ouchy.
2. There was a stupid dog who kept
following us as we walked about a mile and a half to our church. It kept
brushing up against my skirt and I swear it was trying to trip me. I said, out
loud, that I hope it got hit by a car. (Yeah, I am terrible; call animal rights
activists on me). About 3 seconds later a car hit it.
Don’t worry, it didn’t die. In fact,
it continued to limp right alongside us the rest of the way. I don’t know what
you can take from this story. It was just great timing.
3. My companion learned how to draw
snowflakes. They are all over her planner. I’m proud of her, developing talents
and stuffs.
Ok, so maybe I am a little boring. I
blame the heat.
Hope you all have a great week! I
will talk to you...next week...at this time...
such a predictable life. :)
Love,
Hermana Van Cott
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