On October 20, Hermana VanWie shared her great experiences:
Querida Familia y amigos -
I loved this week!! I feel so spiritually fed! This week I have been learning a lot about obedience both in Conferences and Trainings and also in personal and companionship study.
Querida Familia y amigos -
I loved this week!! I feel so spiritually fed! This week I have been learning a lot about obedience both in Conferences and Trainings and also in personal and companionship study.
As Sister Jimenez and I talked about what we learned as we prepared for our
training this week, we realized that we are obedient to keep the Spirit with us
and as we are obedient we develop more faith. I know that we must have the
Spirit to be with us if we are to teach. Only the Holy Ghost can change hearts.
And the only way we can have a hope to change hearts and lives and bring people
closer to Christ is if we have the Spirit with us. And the only way to have the
Spirit with us enough to experience this miracle of a changed heart is through
being exactly obedient. From trainings from Elder Nielson I also learned that
it's not about what is in the white handbook, but it is about discipleship. I
loved that he emphasized that obedience keeps us safe and free and that
"Obedience is the key to the enabling power."
I loved the trainings that we received from President
and Sister Clark, the Assistants, and Elder and Sister Nielson! I loved
the training we received in Leadership Training about Divine Centered
Leadership and serving with the motive of love and getting to know each heart,
serving others so they may act, modeling the Way, the Truth, and the Life,
challenging unrighteousness, and sharing an inspired vision. The thing that
stood out to me that most was getting rid of the disconnect between what we
believe and how we behave. As we internalize the principles we teach and are
being taught there will truly be a shift from knowing it in our heads to
knowing it in our hearts and letting this knowledge govern the way we act. I
loved the focus about the Atonement and using the enabling power of the
Atonement as a missionary and as a member of the church. As we have faith in
Jesus Christ and strive to be sanctified "through a life filled of service
to the Lord," the Grace of Jesus Christ (or His divine help) is sufficient
for us to be sanctified and to do hard things and do the Lord's will.
I loved the thoughts on Hastening the Work as well. There are only 286
missionaries here in the valley but there are 40,000 members here. Truly
hastening the work is much more about the members than it is the missionaries.
He showed a wonderful video called "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go"
that shows how sharing the gospel can be part of our everyday life.
This week I went on an exchange with Sister Reina in Madera. She is a
wonderful missionary! She is a solid teacher. She knows how to teach by the
Spirit. She is exactly obedient! She is doing great work in Madera and is
helping Sister Henderson to understand the importance of being exactly
obedient.
We have been working more closely with the ward recently. Last week we
were asked by the Elders' Quorum President to go and see a less active and his
wife who just had a baby. This week we were able to find them at home and we
had a wonderful lesson with her. She is so excited to learn more! She explained
to us that she has had a Book of Mormon for quite some time but has never had a
desire to read it. Now, after teaching the Restoration to her, she has a thirst
to read the Book of Mormon and to learn more about the message of the Restored
Gospel. The ward is really working more with less actives as well and because
of that we had many less actives and investigators at the Relief Society
Activity on Thursday night. It was wonderful!
We experienced several miracles this week! One of the most amazing was on
Sunday. My testimony of receiving revelation through Church attendance grew. We
have been working with an investigator named J for quite a while now. His wife
would always read the Book of Mormon and pray, but for some reason, he never
seemed to have a desire to read the Book of Mormon. We taught several lessons
about it, but for some reason the importance of the Book of Mormon just did not
seem to sink in. Sunday in Sacrament Meeting a member gave a talk about the
history of the Book of Mormon. Although it did not spark my interest to read
the Book of Mormon nor did it teach doctrine from the Book of Mormon, it was
exactly what J needed. As soon as the meeting ended, he practically ran back to
us and asked if he could have his own Book of Mormon (before he had insisted that
the family only needed one and would not accept more than one). He was so
excited to have it in his hands and throughout the next class he held unto his
Book of Mormon tightly. He expressed so much excitement to read it! Because of
his excitement, the lesson we had with him and his family later was wonderful.
We reviewed the Restoration and began teaching his children as well. All of the
family committed to read the Book of Mormon and to pray to know if it is true.
I know that because they now have a desire to know if it is true, they will
receive an answer!
It is such a privilege to be a
missionary! I love this work! I know that this is the Lord's work and that the
Book of Mormon is the word of God! I know it! I can feel the Spirit testify of
that to me as I read and study its pages and apply it to my life. I love the
Lord! I love all of you! Que tengan una semana maravillosa! Los quiero!
Con amor,
Hermana VanWie
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