I'M SO GRATEFUL FOR MY SAVIOR!

Welp! Here we are, another week gone!  goodness, where does the time go! 

So I forgot to tell ya more about Sister Dee. She's from Clinton! Same age, same school situation... aaaannd, that's it. Haha. Sorry. I'm terrible.. 

Anyway, as for the work this week it has been pretty good. We have been trying to work hard and find new people! We did have miracles happen! 

So first.. we felt prompted to visit this "random" former lady! She ended up not living there anymore. But that's when we met Karen. Here's what went down with her. ️

It was super cool! We went to visit a former investigator and Karen told us she doesn't live there anymore. So we talked to her and asked if she had heard much about the church. She said most of her best friends growing up were/are LDS. So she knows a little bit. We shared Because of Him. She said she really liked it. She loves those kind of messages. She just got done with Chemo and has some other health problems but she says that whenever she prays she knows He is there, she isn't too solid on who/what "He" is, but she believes there's a God of some kind. She tries to stay spiritual because she has found it to help her a lot throughout her trials. Faith has always been kind of a shaky thing for her and she isn't too sure about it. We told her that's what we do as missionaries, help people strengthen their faith and their relationship with Jesus Christ. She was super into that. Set a time to come back. Gave her our number. Super cool! 

The highlight of our week was this...  drum roll please...........

NORMAN IS ON DATE!!! 

If you didn't fall out of your chair or trip or flop to the floor, you obviously do not understand the monumental progress he has made!! This is HUGE! Let me put this into prospective for you... he has been meeting with missionaries for almost 2 years. He is SO analytical and dissects everything about everything. He asks ALL of the questions. He is slowly having a change of heart and he can see this happening. He admitted that he is a fence sitter. So this is AMAZING!!! It was cool because during studies, I felt impressed to try again to put him on date.. we were a little hesitant because they had recently tried to, but he declined... but the spirit kept bringing it up. It was a very inspired lesson and guided route to inviting him. I dunno how to explain it but it was different. Super cool! 

Here's how our lesson with Norman the non-Mormon. 

It was awesome today! We talked about where he's at with everything. He basically bore his testimony about how he believes that Joseph Smith was sincere and the things he saw were incredible so it makes sense that he might've seemed a little "off his rocker". He said he believes 100% that there is truth in the Book of Mormon. We helped him realize that he is receiving answers to his prayers. We showed him Spirit of Revelation by E. Bednar. He really liked it and it kind of clicked for him when it showed the dawn. He said he is in the foggy one though. He just isn't quite sure where to go. We talked about taking steps into the darkness trusting the God will guide you. We talked about setting a date and how that's showing Heavenly Father that he is willing to do His will and really serious about it all. We told him that we had prayed about it and felt inspired to set a date with him. He accepted Sept 23rd. He was still hesitant because he doesn't have confidence in his testimony yet. So he wants to keep studying and reading to gain that confidence that he needs before baptism. It was cool!! 

So PLEASE keep him in your prayers.. oh man. This is huge and we want to make sure we can keep him there and help him move forward! 

We also had a lesson with Katie! That went well! She is going they really hard times though... keep her in your prayers, Anyway, here's what happened there. ️ 

We had a good lesson about temples and family History, we asked her what she knew about temples, she mentioned that she didn't know a lot. We shared the Mormon beliefs about temples. We asked her why temples are important. She was still a little confused but we explained the temples are we make sacred promises and how it's not secret but sacred. We explained what it meant to be worthy and how in the temples all of the ordinances to return to Heavenly Father are done with the Priesthood Authority . and with that authority families can be together forever and not till death do you part. She thought that concept was pretty interesting. We then got into the conversation about Baptism and coming to church are ways that we can worthy to be able to enter the temple.  We encourage her to continue to keep on praying and reading her scriptures to find out answers to her questions and we also asked her to continually pray about baptism.

She's kind of just there... so we're trying to help her. I think a lot of it has to do with what's going on. Her boy friend's son (he's around 4ish) is in the hospital because he had a stroke or something. Then her best friend was also in the hospital. She also texted us yesterday morning that her friend just passed away in an accident.... she's being put thru the ringer. Poor thing... we invited her to keep praying and reading because that brings TONS of comfort. 

We also had interviews with President Ward! He is so great. I really enjoy my time with him. He has helped me a lot, even just in the past couple interviews we have had. I appreciate his insights and advice. It's always an edifying and uplifting time. ️

So that was that! Highlights of the week. ️ 

As for the spiritual thought, I feel like sharing something that really hit me this week. On Sunday, a member of the stake presidency, Bro. Jensen spoke to us. He talked about how we never earn God's love. He loves us because we are His. That hit me like a brick.. sometimes I feel like just because I'm not perfect I'm not as loved as I could be... well, thankfully, I have come to realize that that is the adversary getting in my head. He knows that if he can corrupt my view on how Heavenly Father feels about me, he can make me fall and trip up. It's so important to always keep in remembrance that we are all sons and daughters of an Almighty King! His love is perfect and unchanging. He cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance, but He does not look upon us as sinners that way. He always looks at us with the most perfect, unchanging love imaginable. That will never change. 

Along those lines he said that He blesses us because we are His. Have you ever wondered what did I ever do to deserve this kind of blessing?  I know I have. I feel unworthy a lot of the time because of the incredible miracles I'm so privileged to be a part of on a daily basis... it's incredible. His love is so great that He just desires to shower upon us the blessings of joy, prosperity and light. I am sooo thankful for my Heavenly Father in every aspect of my life... He and my Savior make it possible for me to breathe.. I don't know what would do in this world without Them. I would be utterly and completely lost and hopeless.. 

I feel prompted to write one more thing. This was super powerful as well. So in Moroni 7:46 it takes about charity. But if you replace charity with Christ this is how it reads.  

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not [Christ], ye are nothing, for [Christ] never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto [Christ], which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail--"

That has never rang more true in my entire life than it has this week. Ah! I'm so grateful for my Savior! Cleave unto Him because He never fails, we are nothing with out Him and He is the greatest of all! I love my Savior with every fiber of my being. I know He lives. 

Thanks for everything fam! You guys are amazing! I love ya! Have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Hood

Let Him shine through you!