Las Vegas #5

This week has been AWESOME!! (I think I say that about every week...but it’s true!) 

This week started out really rough, I was just having a hard time, I have been feeling sick again and the stress had just started to get to me. But my favorite quote....I don’t know who said it....but they said something along the lines of "When you want to give up and you are sick and tired but you choose to push forward and do the Lords work, THATS when you will see the greatest miracles come to pass" That thought has been running though my head all week. Because it’s true! It’s in our hardest of times that we need to look to the Lord most, those are the times where we are going through the "refiners fire" (that’s an amazing Mormon message, go watch it right now!!). Sister Harrison and I were asked to give talks this Sunday in Church, and our topic was why we have adversity! So all week I have been reading talks about adversity and how we are meant to go through trials because it is Heavenly Fathers plan for us. In my talk I related it to a tree that grows up in a windy environment. When a tree has pressure from all around it, it is forces to grow its roots deeper into the soil it has been planted in, and the tree itself is forced to create cell structures that physically make the trunk of the tree stronger and the branches more flexible. So that when storms may rage it will be able to stand firm and bend in the wind without breaking. And the tree will be stronger because it faced those winds compared to a tree that grew up in a greenhouse with walls protecting it the whole time. We are the same way; we are given trials and harsh "winds" to make us need to grow our roots (our faith) deeper in the soil (the gospel) so that we can stand strong when storms come. This earth life is a time to prepare to meet God, and we can’t do it in the state we are in now, we must go through the refiner’s fire and become the greatest we can be! Our greatness is not measured by what happens to us, but by how we respond to the situations at hand. It’s our everyday choices that make the most difference! It’s the "small and simple things" Alma 37:6-7.

This week started out hard, but I was really humbled by the things I learned about trials as I prepared for my talk. So the week ended great! We had exchanges on Wednesday and I TOOK OVER THE AREA FOR THE FIRST TIME! It went really well, I was super nervous at first, but it all went smoothly! We saw some amazing miracles!  We finally got ahold of Jen Kidd, she is a young mom whose husband just died at the age of 30 and she was left with her two kids. He was a member but she is not. She has been out of town for the past moth staying with her family. But we were able to visit with her, and talk about eternal families and the meaning of the Temple. We were all in tears as she shared with us her dream when her husband came to her and told her that they would be together again, and he is sorry that he had to leave her but he knows everything will be okay! It was amazing!! She is having such a hard time, but she is so strong! 

Both David Jackson and Antionett came to church this Sunday!!!! They could only stay for the first hour but they had a great experience! And Lanee and Malu! We were soooooo happy!! 

We met with David after church, and our new ward missionaries came with us, they are a young couple! A return Missionary and a convert! So they are perfect! We had such an amazing spiritual experience! David had been praying about baptism but he says he isn’t getting an answer one way or the other, but he knows that it’s not a bad thing. Sister Roach explained that before she got baptized she felt the same way and she eventually just had to choose to start working like she was going to get baptized, and as she started to live the gospel principles, THAT’S when she got her answer. And that really touched him!! The spirit was so strong! We were all in tears!! I just love the gospel!!!

On Friday was another amazing day for Sister Harrison and I! We talked to a lot of people on the street, and as we did so we had a ton of "golden contacts" which means they are ready to hear the gospel! We were on the side walk talking to a guy who was two stories up on his balcony, and he invited us to come back and teach him! There was also a guy getting in his car that we stopped to talk to and he had never met missionaries before, so he told us "I want to keep talking to you but I have to leave so here in my information and you have to come back on Thursday and you can tell me more" .  ahhhhhh!!! amazing!! 

I have a strong testimony that when you don’t feel like working, or praying, or reading your scriptures, THATS when you need it the most. So just DO IT! Do it anyways! It will only help you!

I love you all! 

Sister Loveless

 

We went on a hike for morning sports, we got up at 5am to go hiking with our District, it was so fun! It was really weird though, the ground was all rocks...no dirt, just rocks. We would slip and slide all around. But the view from the top was  amazing!And the other picture was our tender mercy this week. We had a crazy stressful week and we had been praying for encouragement and then on Saturday as we were walking around an apartment complex we saw this pot of flowers with sunflowers and daisies, my favorite flower and sister Harrison's.

And we saw it and instantly we both knew it was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father, to tell us that He knows us, loves us and is watching out for us! It was amazing!