Dear Family,
It was great seeing you on Skype! Thanks for singing to me, I really loved that.
This week I saw a coyote walking alongside the road. Being closer to the mountains, we see a lot of deer, but first time to see a coyote here.
For Christmas, We had 2 breakfasts, a lunch, and a dinner. We spent the day with members, but we took time to always share a message, invite them to pray to share the gospel and invite others to meet with us. Looking at this ward's past, the only converts have been through members, and its been over a year since they had any. So with that said, some new year's goals Sister Olsen and I have are to just work hard and live the rest of our mission with happiness and satisfaction. I want to enjoy it and see miracles. We want to start off the Alamo 1st ward's new year by having baptisms and reactivations. This quote from President Uchtdorf's Talk, "Your Potential, Your Privilege" sums up a goal of mine for the whole year of not letting a day go by without acting on the Spirit.:
"The words written in the scriptures and spoken in general conference are for us to “liken them unto [ourselves],”7 not for reading or hearing only.8 Too often we attend meetings and nod our heads; we might even smile knowingly and agree. We jot down some action points, and we may say to ourselves, “That is something I will do.” But somewhere between the hearing, the writing of a reminder on our smartphone, and the actual doing, our “do it” switch gets rotated to the “later” position. ...let’s make sure to set our “do it” switch always to the “now” position!
As you read the scriptures and listen to the words of the prophets with all your heart and mind, the Lord will tell you how to live up to your...privileges. Don’t let a day go by without doing something to act on the promptings of the Spirit...If we are not seeking to use this channel of revelation, we are living beneath our ...privileges... Let us earnestly seek the light of personal inspiration. Let us plead with the Lord to endow our mind and soul with the spark of faith that will enable us to receive and recognize the divine ministering of the Holy Spirit for our specific life situations and for our challenges and ...duties."
I had a day this week, where I did a lot of work of tracking down people, knocking on doors and trying to talk to many. However, by the end of the day it was not very fruitful. This made me ponder what went wrong. I realized I hadn't really asked the Lord where He wanted me to go, instead I focused on checking off what was in the planner. While this is good, it could have been better, because He knows where His prepared children are. I read a story about some missionaries who prayed at every single street and house until they both confirmed for sure that a particular house was the one that was prepared. They knocked, said they were representatives of Jesus Christ and they had a message for them, and they let them right in!
"The words written in the scriptures and spoken in general conference are for us to “liken them unto [ourselves],”7 not for reading or hearing only.8 Too often we attend meetings and nod our heads; we might even smile knowingly and agree. We jot down some action points, and we may say to ourselves, “That is something I will do.” But somewhere between the hearing, the writing of a reminder on our smartphone, and the actual doing, our “do it” switch gets rotated to the “later” position. ...let’s make sure to set our “do it” switch always to the “now” position!
As you read the scriptures and listen to the words of the prophets with all your heart and mind, the Lord will tell you how to live up to your...privileges. Don’t let a day go by without doing something to act on the promptings of the Spirit...If we are not seeking to use this channel of revelation, we are living beneath our ...privileges... Let us earnestly seek the light of personal inspiration. Let us plead with the Lord to endow our mind and soul with the spark of faith that will enable us to receive and recognize the divine ministering of the Holy Spirit for our specific life situations and for our challenges and ...duties."
I had a day this week, where I did a lot of work of tracking down people, knocking on doors and trying to talk to many. However, by the end of the day it was not very fruitful. This made me ponder what went wrong. I realized I hadn't really asked the Lord where He wanted me to go, instead I focused on checking off what was in the planner. While this is good, it could have been better, because He knows where His prepared children are. I read a story about some missionaries who prayed at every single street and house until they both confirmed for sure that a particular house was the one that was prepared. They knocked, said they were representatives of Jesus Christ and they had a message for them, and they let them right in!
Then on Sunday we had a general authority randomly come to our sacrament. It was Bishop Davies from the presiding bishopric. It was an amazing meeting, the Spirit was so strong. He apparently used to go to our ward, but he hasn't been in our chapel in 21 years. He said he remembers when he was here last time, one of the being-released bishopric members didn't get a chance to share his testimony, and so at the pulpit on the spot he called up this brother. So after 21 years, he was able to give his departing testimony haha. I think about how general authorities always have to rely on inspiration and act on it with how many people they visit. Sister Olsen and I also got to talk to Sister Davies his wife. She was so amazing! She talked to us about their time as mission presidents, and she talked to our members asking them if they were finding for us.
Anyways, so summary of the week, I have been setting goals to rely and act on the Spirit even more, and I know that the Spirit acting through the members and missionaries, will do the Lord's work, and do it right.
Much Love,
Sister Martin
Sister Martin
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