Hello everyone and Happy Thanksgiving!
My heart melted when I saw the Thanksgiving pictures Mom! Thank you for sending them to me! I am so grateful that my family is happy, and that I am happy serving the Lord on a mission! Oh my goodness McCauley family, your new puppy Finn is adorable! I can't wait to meet him!
So this week was amazing! On Monday we had dinner with the Trejo's and they are amazing missionaries! They referred us to go see some less active members in the ward, so that was definitely helpful!
On Wednesday we helped at the Food Bank, and I felt so good to serve those individuals! Every 20th car that came in to get food got a turkey. So that was awesome! We also had a lesson with Teresa and Mina. We taught them the Law of Chastity. We weren't sure about where to go with it, mainly because Mina is 10. But it worked out, and a member came with us that was able to help Mina understand the principle more simply. We emphasized a lot about keeping our thoughts, words and actions clean. It was a good lesson.
On Thursday we had a really busy day which was good! We actually had district meeting on Thanksgiving which was really fun. Our district leader Elder Hansen, talked about the Christmas initiative, and we were able to have a discussion on how we can help our members to know about it and share it! Oh my goodness if you haven't done it already, please watch the Light the World video! It is on lds.org and I absolutely LOVE it! I love light, and I love sharing my light so please share your light by serving others!!
For Thanksgiving we made cookies and cards for our investigators and less actives and we went and visited them! We had a Thanksgiving meal at 2, and the mashed potatoes and gravy that they provided tasted just like yours mother! A piece of heaven in my Thanksgiving meal! I definitely missed your crescent rolls and making stuffing with you!!! :) We had another Thanksgiving meal at 3:30, so the Lord definitely expanded our stomachs! Sister Beach and I shared this huge piece of cheesecake, and we thought we weren't going to make it! But we were able to finish it! :D We also visited a less active member in the Patton ward who was caregiving for another less active member, so we shared a message with her and brought her cookies. It was such a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving! It was a blessing to be able to be a missionary on that day!
On Friday we taught 2 kids named Bailey and Jasper who are taking the missionary lessons. We read the Book of Mormon with them because they haven't been consistent in their prayers and scripture study. We read 1st Nephi 4, and showed them the pictures so they could understand the story. We also visited Brother Fenn. Sister Spann came with us again, and it was so good to have her there. We talked about baptism and confirmation, and the importance of the ordinances. We had a really good discussion about it, and invited him to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon in preparation for the next lesson. His stories are amazing, and he always talks about his dad and how he was the first missionary from Pomerene, Arizona to go and serve the Lord.
On Saturday, we had another lesson with Teresa and Mina. We went over the baptismal interview questions just to make sure everything was ok. In our lessons lately Mina has had a hard time expressing her thoughts and feelings. Every time we ask her a question she will say, "I don't know!" So it has been really hard to help her open up to us! But Teresa helps a lot, and the Bishop from Patton ward came with us, so he definitely helped Mina also. After Teresa and Mina's lesson we went and saw a less active family in Patton ward. They are amazing despite the fact that they won't come to church! The husband literally said to us, "I am spiritually lazy!" The wife just likes where she is at. She has a lot of questions, and sometimes they turn into doubts. She is afraid that if she reads the Book of Mormon that she will become doubtful. She also has a lot of health problems, so that makes it tough. But they do have faith! And a seed of faith is enough to get moving!! Faith always leads us to act! As long as we choose to act!
On Sunday, Sister Beach and I had a wonderful day! In the morning, I went to Pomerene ward sacrament, and Sister Beach went to Patton ward council. Oh my goondess the sacrament meeting in Pomerene was amazing! Bishop Thomas' son Lofton gave his farewell talk. He is leaving for his mission to Mexico City. How awesome is that!! Bishop Thomas is a very blunt and serious person. But he cried the whole time during Lofton's talk. Lofton talked about what makes a good leader, and he explained the whole story of Ammon. Then he said that a good leader is someone who reaches out to the lost sheep and brings them back. He told us a story of a church leader who would call the individual and his parents, if he didn't show up to church. The leader would specifically plan activities especially for that less active, and invite him. Then he said something that was pretty blunt and amazing! He said, "Teachers and Leaders, quit slacking. The kids that you teach can tell when you have skimmed through the lesson on Sunday morning. Be an example to those you teach." Wow, I definitely felt a wave of spiritual chastening. The chapel was pretty silent when he stated that! I just wanted to jump up and say "Amen!" It was amazing!
Also, a miracle happened later on Sunday night. We met again with Teresa and Mina. Teresa is adopting Mina who has had a very rough upbringing. So when we met with them, Mina participated so much!! Oh my goodness! She answered our questions, and asked questions! We were so surprised!!! And then after the lesson, Teresa hugged her daughter, and Mina said, "I know I haven't told you this, but I love you." It was such a sweet and tender moment! Teresa started crying, and we almost started crying, it was great! The Spirit has truly softened them. Earlier in the day, we were stressing out because we thought that Mina wasn't ready for baptism because she didn't respond a lot in lessons. But now we have a better understanding of how the Spirit can change others hearts! What a blessing! I love you all and I am so grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary!
Sincerely,
Sister Dunn
No comments:
Post a Comment