Monday, September 22, 2014

9.22.2014 - hello my dearest family

Hello my dearest family!

This week started off great. I got my nails done for the first time! :) Hahaha. After emailing y'all last week, we went down to Classy Nails and Spa and I got a pedicure! Woot woot. Also, they had my favorite color, Cajun Shrimp! So I got a cute little pedi. How fun. And awkward to have people touching my feet. But that's okay.
Tuesday was a wonderful day! We did some service at the community center here in Allen. We got to put address labels on a mailer and then I got to help a lady organize her office for the food pantry. Can I just say that I LOVE organizing people's stuff and doing office-y type work? I think it's fun. Probably not for the rest of my life or whatevs, but I enjoyed it.

Then we got to see Tr* again. She's doing great. She's really just trying to figure out how to get her family more involved and interested in the gospel. Sister Christiansen was with us and was just talking about having family prayer and blessing the food. Tr* lit up and just said, "Bless the food? My family can totally do that." We figured out with her that that would be a good way to start introducing and inviting the spirit into their home and making spirituality a part of their lives. It was AMAZING to see Tr* get so excited about it and have a direction to help take her family to help them see the benefits of being spiritual and religious.

Tues. night was a relief society activity. "Rolling in the Dough." It was cute. They talked about making bread and budgeting. So fun. De*, one of the ladies we've been working with but haven't seen in a while was able to be there. 

Wednesday: the YW here get to do something AWESOME called mini missions. Every other month YW do a personal progress night. The girls who are done with pp get to go on a mini mission. They go in groups of 3 with a leader and a missionary to either an investigator, less-active, or active member and teach a little lesson. The youth are amazing! It was so great to see them teach. I went with a group to see H*, one of our investigators. Ra*, the girl who prepared the lesson portion, was truly inspired. She taught H* the EXACT lesson that she needed to hear, so I was grateful for that.

Thursday we had a specialized training in McKinney with half the mission! It was so great to be uplifted and inspired. We got some super cool rings that say PRO on them. It stands for Pray, Read, Obey. On the inside of the ring it says "I will pray, read, obey everyday." It is just a great commitment and reminder to do those essential things everyday. After the training, Sister Aumua and I split up and went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. I got to stay in Allen this time and be with Sister Erickson. We had SO much fun! We got to visit a couple less actives, a couple struggling members, and some investigators. We also found one new investigator! We also found a girl who was moving into Sis. Erickson's area so she was able to get her contact information to be able to teach her. Super awesome! Then Sis. Erickson and I were chatting about life and stuff. Then we were swapping stories about our eye and teeth problems. FINALLY someone understands the struggle that I have with my eyeballs and my teeth. :) Haha.

The other night, Sister Aumua took her hair out of a braid and it was just full of volume and awesome. She wasn't too fond of it though so she said, "I look like Mahana right now!" It was so funny and we were dying about the Legend of Johnny Lingo reference.

Cool story: Wednesday we were out tracting before we went to the mini-missions. I walked up to a man and was chatting with him. Turns out he is from Bombay, India. I gave him a card and said goodbye. A member from our ward happened to be driving up in her car right as he was walking away. She later told me that he looked at the card, smiled, put it in the pocket in his shirt and just patted it. I thought that was the sweetest thing.

We ran into a man the other night who we've seen a couple times already. He told us that we were his miracles. We were a little confused at that, but he went on to explain. The 2 times that we saw him, he said he wasn't even sure if he wanted to be alive. But he said that we talked to him and smiled at him and it made him realize that life is good. That story just gives me the chills every time I think about it.

I don't remember if I've written about this hymn before, but I seriously just love it. It's one of those hymns that nobody knows, but I like it. I particularly like the 1st and 3rd verses so I will share them.

1. Come, let us anew our journey pursue,
Roll round with the year,
And never stand still till the Master appear.
His adorable will let us gladly fulfill,
And our talents improve
By the patience of hope and the labor of love,
By the patience of hope and the labor of love.

3. Oh, that each in the day of His coming may say,
"I have fought my way thru;
I have finished the work thou didst give me to do."
Oh, that each from his Lord may receive the glad word:
"Well and faithfully done;
Enter into my joy and sit down on my throne;
Enter into my joy and sit down on my throne."

In Doctrine and Covenants 4, it says, "If ye have desires to serve God, ye are called to the work." Then it goes on to say, "And faith, hope, charity, and love with an eye single to the glory of God qualify him for the work."

If we desire to serve, to teach, to share then we are called to do so. BUT, in order to do so effectively and in a way that will touch hearts we MUST have faith, hope, charity, and LOVE. We must love those we serve and teach. That is how the work will happen.

Our mission president said, "We are in the business of hearts changing and hearts turning." I love that. He was talking about conversion and family history work. I loved that. He also taught us that our MIGHTS are all different. When I serve with all my might, it will be different that when anyone else serves with all their might.

The last thing I want to share is something that is very obvious. I even said, DUH after I heard it the first time. But it's stuck with me.

God is more powerful than Satan. Obviously. But in Moses 4:21 God promises that through the Atonement, we can all overcome Satan. "And I will put enmity between thee [Satan] and the woman, between thy seed and her seed; and he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Remember that because that is powerful.

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Have an amazing week.

I love the new baby, Baby Z. :) Hahah.


Much love,
Sister Gretchen Gilbert

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