Hello hello!
The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things...... like a new area, new companion, and new adventures to follow!
This week has been a bit of a blur, but that's why we keep a journal, right?
So, I am now in the Garland 1st and Lake Highlands wards. Our area is just a little north east of Dallas. We can see the Dallas skyline as we drive down of the main roads. It's a neat area. Lots of diversity and lots of variety in lifestyle and stuff. It's pretty cool to see the contrast. My companion is Sister Durrant from Tuscon, Arizona. Cool story: we actually started our missions at the same time. She was one of the first people I met at the MTC over 13 months ago. I'm so grateful that I get to be her companion. She's very sweet, very hardworking, and loves to have a good time. We have the opportunity to serve as sister training leaders, so that will be a really good learning experience. :)
The people that I've meet so far have been amazing. I'll just do a basic run-down of our week.
We had a lesson with a recent convert, ME, about missionary work. ME's husband is a returning member, and they have 4 adorable kids. We had a great time playing with them and teaching about sharing the gospel.
I got to meet another recent convert/less active named RA. She was actually taught and baptized over in the Fort Worth mission, but she just moved over here. One of the sisters who taught her actually contacted the missionaries here to reconnect with RA. She's a really sweet girl.
District meeting was great. Half our district is spanish missionaries and the other half is english. I haven't ever served around Hermanas before, so this is kind of fun to be with them. We actually cover the same area that they do, just doing the english work.
So Thursday afternoon we got a text from a 19 year old in one of our wards. She said, "Would y'all be available to teach my boyfriend the lessons? Maybe starting tomorrow?" haha. That was awesome. We told her yes, and it actually went really well. The only sad thing is that the kid lives up in Frisco, but we shall see how that turns out.
Friday we had a good miracle. There is an investigator named KR. She's been meeting with the missionaries for probably 1.5 years and hasn't ever really progressed. She has two adorable kids that are super rambunctious therefore making it difficult to teach lessons. But the miracle was that the kids actually went into the other room with their dad, and we were able to have a really spiritual lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about how we can feel the Spirit and how each of us get inspiration and revelation differently. KR has been reading the Book of Mormon and remembering, so that's a really good improvement.
Saturday day we had some really good lessons also. We taught KA, an eleven year old who isn't baptized, and his returning less-active father about the gospel of Jesus Christ. The lesson went great. My favorite part, however, was at the end. Because KA hasn't ever really attended Primary, he doesn't know any of the songs. So at the end of the lesson, I sat down at the piano and we all sang "Teach Me to Walk in the Light." I am so grateful for music and the strong Spirit that can come as we listen to uplifting tunes. Later that day we met with another returning less-active - ST. We chatted for a minute, then she said, "I had a dream last night. It was me and Sister Durrant, and then the new missionary. She was tall, blonde, and had glasses." So that was pretty cool. ST had a dream about me serving in her area.
I've had really cool experiences like that all week where the people that we're teaching just have a 'familiar' ring to them. It's definitely just been a testimony to me that I'm in the right place doing the things that Heavenly Father wants me to be doing.
Church was wonderful yesterday, also. I got to bear a brief testimony in both wards just for the wards to be able to start to get to know me. The only problem is that I've had a nasty head-cold all week, so needless to say, it was a very stuffy testimony. Ha. It's all good though.
I am so grateful to be here. I've already learned so much from Sister Durrant about charity and serving. It's just amazing to me how much I get to learn from the people that I am blessed enough to serve around.
Here's a quote and a little insight from President Eyring this week. "When we offer succor to anyone, the Savior feels it as if we reached out to succor Him." The Savior took upon Him the pains, sins, sadness, sickness, etc. of all the individuals of the world. When we help to relieve someone of those burdens, it relieves that load on Him because He understands what it feels like. What a great motivation and opportunity to serve our fellow people, but also our Savior.
I truly stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers. How grateful I am to get to serve and bear witness of His Atonement every day.
I love you all!
Love,
Sister Gretchen Gilbert
No comments:
Post a Comment