Greetings!
Mission tour was so good! I don't even know where to begin! There was
just so much goodness packed into a four hour meeting!! I was
expecting to be called to repentance, and called to repentance I was.
I went in with a question and came out with so much more! I wanted to
learn how I can increase my faith. As we talked about 2 Nephi 31:13 I
received a subtle prompting from the Spirit telling me that I need to
continue following the Savior with full purpose of heart. Essentially,
I need to keep doing what I'm doing and over time I will see my faith
grow. It was reassuring to know that Heavenly Father approves of the
path that I'm on.
I loved learning about repentance. It's crazy because deep down I
already knew how important it is and that we are called to teach and
help others repent, but I felt that part of me wake up and fully
realize this. I know that I'm helping people not just reach baptism
but the Celestial kingdom and the only way they can do that is to
repent and change themselves to prepare to enter the presence of
Heavenly Father. I had actually studied repentance that morning and I
felt so confident that I could repent and change anything.
Then I was called to repentance. I forgot that when it happens it
isn't necessarily a pleasant experience. I guess... it's harder when
you realize you need to change your nature and not just your behavior.
Heavenly Father told me He needs me to learn to truly love. I thought
I felt love before but I didn't really at the same time. I wasn't
having unconditional love. I was holding back because of my pride. I
was letting the past hold me back from unleashing a flood of love to
the world. For the next.... actually my entire life, I'll be working
on developing the kind of love the Savior possessed. I recently
finished the Book of Mormon and this time around I'm looking for and
highlighting examples of love through words and actions. I've only
read two chapters and there's a lot of pink showing up.... I just want
love to come from my heart and not be forced. I don't want to think
that people have to earn my love. I want it to be a free gift to help
bless the lives of others. I want my love to help them as they repent
and come closer to the Savior. President Monson's talk from General
Conference is helping me as well and I'm going to work on applying
what he teaches. I know that the love that I'm trying to achieve is
something that I am not capable of having on my own. I need charity. I
need to repent and have a pure heart. I need the Savior to show me
how to love. I want to really become a missionary by loving
unconditionally.
I learned a lot more than this, but this basically sums up the biggest
and life changing moments for me. :) Elder Schwitzer did pronounce a
blessing on all of the missionaries there... It was a really cool
blessing. I've never experienced anything like that before....
Things here in the ward are going really well. The work is moving....
like a tortoise, but nevertheless it is moving! We had a lot of good
lessons with our members! We are super busy and it feels so good!
We went to Las Sendas's youth conference this weekend! I know weird.
It's not during the summer and it's in the middle of school. But! It
was still fantastic! The theme was "conversion" and we're getting
t-shirts! The youth here are really amazing and this conference helped
each youth become more converted. We went to the testimony meeting and
a nonmember bore her testimony! It was sooooo cool!
Ed is starting to understand why he's investigating the church! He
called us earlier in the week telling us he was almost going to take a
break from investigating, but then he got off track and asked us for
service instead. We went over and helping him clean his house for a
meeting the next day. As we served with him we began to talk about the
Book of Mormon. He knows he needs to be reading it, but he also
doesn't see the point of reading if he doesn't give his entire heart
into reading and in the end not understanding what he's reading. I had
no idea how to help him, but I've been praying to be guided by the
Spirit to say things that will help him see. As we were talking he
asked me to remind him of my background in the church. I thought this
was weird but I started to tell how I became active and started on the
path of conversion when I was 17. He was baffled that there were
mormons in Utah that didn't read the Book of Mormon; he didn't
understand how that was even possible. I told him it was (we all have
agency). I was able to help him see that everything that he is doing is
in turn blessing his little girls. I could see the Spirit help him,
soften his heart, and see that this church, this gospel, is here to
bless and unite families. He finally understands now and I'm grateful
that I have had experiences that helped me relate to him. Everything
that I've learned in my life is helping to teach this man and help him
and his daughters to return back "home." Oh! And he's starting to get
real friends! There's a convert in the ward who went through the exact
same thing he is and they're already beginning to develop a great
friendship. This member is even getting the entire elder's quorum
together to do service for him. Good stuff is going on!!
-Sister Dunn
Youth Conference!! One of the activities was cupcake wars!! They each
had to pick a scripture and design a cupcake around it. The two at the
bottom got a scripture about baptism and created a font with the 12
oxen around it.
Mission tour was so good! I don't even know where to begin! There was
just so much goodness packed into a four hour meeting!! I was
expecting to be called to repentance, and called to repentance I was.
I went in with a question and came out with so much more! I wanted to
learn how I can increase my faith. As we talked about 2 Nephi 31:13 I
received a subtle prompting from the Spirit telling me that I need to
continue following the Savior with full purpose of heart. Essentially,
I need to keep doing what I'm doing and over time I will see my faith
grow. It was reassuring to know that Heavenly Father approves of the
path that I'm on.
I loved learning about repentance. It's crazy because deep down I
already knew how important it is and that we are called to teach and
help others repent, but I felt that part of me wake up and fully
realize this. I know that I'm helping people not just reach baptism
but the Celestial kingdom and the only way they can do that is to
repent and change themselves to prepare to enter the presence of
Heavenly Father. I had actually studied repentance that morning and I
felt so confident that I could repent and change anything.
Then I was called to repentance. I forgot that when it happens it
isn't necessarily a pleasant experience. I guess... it's harder when
you realize you need to change your nature and not just your behavior.
Heavenly Father told me He needs me to learn to truly love. I thought
I felt love before but I didn't really at the same time. I wasn't
having unconditional love. I was holding back because of my pride. I
was letting the past hold me back from unleashing a flood of love to
the world. For the next.... actually my entire life, I'll be working
on developing the kind of love the Savior possessed. I recently
finished the Book of Mormon and this time around I'm looking for and
highlighting examples of love through words and actions. I've only
read two chapters and there's a lot of pink showing up.... I just want
love to come from my heart and not be forced. I don't want to think
that people have to earn my love. I want it to be a free gift to help
bless the lives of others. I want my love to help them as they repent
and come closer to the Savior. President Monson's talk from General
Conference is helping me as well and I'm going to work on applying
what he teaches. I know that the love that I'm trying to achieve is
something that I am not capable of having on my own. I need charity. I
need to repent and have a pure heart. I need the Savior to show me
how to love. I want to really become a missionary by loving
unconditionally.
I learned a lot more than this, but this basically sums up the biggest
and life changing moments for me. :) Elder Schwitzer did pronounce a
blessing on all of the missionaries there... It was a really cool
blessing. I've never experienced anything like that before....
Things here in the ward are going really well. The work is moving....
like a tortoise, but nevertheless it is moving! We had a lot of good
lessons with our members! We are super busy and it feels so good!
We went to Las Sendas's youth conference this weekend! I know weird.
It's not during the summer and it's in the middle of school. But! It
was still fantastic! The theme was "conversion" and we're getting
t-shirts! The youth here are really amazing and this conference helped
each youth become more converted. We went to the testimony meeting and
a nonmember bore her testimony! It was sooooo cool!
Ed is starting to understand why he's investigating the church! He
called us earlier in the week telling us he was almost going to take a
break from investigating, but then he got off track and asked us for
service instead. We went over and helping him clean his house for a
meeting the next day. As we served with him we began to talk about the
Book of Mormon. He knows he needs to be reading it, but he also
doesn't see the point of reading if he doesn't give his entire heart
into reading and in the end not understanding what he's reading. I had
no idea how to help him, but I've been praying to be guided by the
Spirit to say things that will help him see. As we were talking he
asked me to remind him of my background in the church. I thought this
was weird but I started to tell how I became active and started on the
path of conversion when I was 17. He was baffled that there were
mormons in Utah that didn't read the Book of Mormon; he didn't
understand how that was even possible. I told him it was (we all have
agency). I was able to help him see that everything that he is doing is
in turn blessing his little girls. I could see the Spirit help him,
soften his heart, and see that this church, this gospel, is here to
bless and unite families. He finally understands now and I'm grateful
that I have had experiences that helped me relate to him. Everything
that I've learned in my life is helping to teach this man and help him
and his daughters to return back "home." Oh! And he's starting to get
real friends! There's a convert in the ward who went through the exact
same thing he is and they're already beginning to develop a great
friendship. This member is even getting the entire elder's quorum
together to do service for him. Good stuff is going on!!
-Sister Dunn
Youth Conference!! One of the activities was cupcake wars!! They each
had to pick a scripture and design a cupcake around it. The two at the
bottom got a scripture about baptism and created a font with the 12
oxen around it.
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