Oh hello!
It's been a lovely week! I'll just do a rundown of miracles and adventures!
Monday we tie-dyed. That was fun!
We had a wonderful lesson with ST about keeping the 10 commandments. We ended up just tying in Keep the Sabbath Day Holy and the Law of Chastity. The flow of the lesson was amazing! We had such a great discussion, all speaking our mind on different things. The Spirit was definitely present being the teacher to all of us. I love hearing what other people do to keep the Sabbath day holy. ST is doing very well! We need to transition him up to the missionaries in Frisco considering that's where he lives, but it's been tricky with his schedule and with his girlfriend's also. But it will all work out. I'm excited to see the great future that is ahead of him.
We were able to go to the temple with ME and get to see her do baptisms for the dead. That was a special opportunity. The Spirit in the temple is so strong, and it felt so refreshing to be there. The temple President came out and spoke to ME about the service that we get to perform in the temple how it is like none else. It was such a peaceful way to start our Wednesday.
On Thursday it was "cold." Aka like 75 degrees. Holy cow it felt so good! A nice little reprieve from all this toasty weather that we've been having. We wore sweatshirts while we were planning and life was grand. But don't worry, it didn't last long.
Okay so Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon we were on exchanges. I got to be with the lovely Sister Klinkowski from Spanish Fork. We had a "BOOYAH" day full of adventures and miracles. We dropped by a less-active family when our appointment fell through, and we had a really great discussion about Daily Bread and how we can get that spiritual sustenance that we all need - through prayer, scripture study, and church attendance. The next morning we worked at the food pantry where we bagged rice and had a lovely conversation about our talents and likes and hobbies and how they play into our missionary service.
I am a firm believer that the Lord calls us because of who we are and who we have the potential to become. The Lord takes us as we are and refines us into the missionaries (or person) He needs us to be. We do not become a robot, a cookie cut-out, or anything else for that matter. We DO become a polished, cleaned-up version of ourselves who has grown and BECOME many things - a disciple of our Savior, a person prepared for the future, and someone who knows how to open their mouth and share the gospel. Our rough edges can be smoothed, and our identity, purpose, and destiny can shine bright. It is truly by the power of the Holy Ghost that this can happen. Sister Dalton in April 2010 conference said, "We have been taught that “the gift of the Holy Ghost …quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases,enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections. … It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness,tenderness, gentleness and charity. It develops beauty of person, form and features.”' I agree with Sister Dalton 100%. President Taylor told us that the greatest asset in our lives will be the Spirit - no matter what field, activity, etc. we are participating in.
Anyways, after that we went to go to a lesson with a 9 year old recent convert - AN. His mom had just hurt her back really bad and was unable to join in the lesson due to the fact that she was confined to her bed. So we read the Book of Mormon with AN and had a good discussion about it. We were getting ready to go, but then the thought crossed my mind that this would be a perfect opportunity to do some secret service while she was in bed. Sister O doesn't ever let us do service for her, so I wanted to snatch this chance. We simply did her dishes and then left. She texted us later saying that no one has ever done something so nice for her. That just touched my heart. Once again, Heavenly Father allowed me to take part in a miracle.
I have felt the Spirit so strongly during several of our lessons this week - with ST as we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ discussing our covenants that we make and how we each feel and recognize the Spirit; with the Petersons (our Ward Mission Leader who asked us to give him and his family the lessons) as we again taught and testified of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and finally with KR. We talked about the Plan of Salvation with her. Prior to the lesson, I had felt very flustered and overwhelmed with stuff happening, so I went into the lesson a little uneasy. But I prayed hard that the Spirit would be able to work through us and help KR understand that she truly is a daughter of a loving Heavenly Father who loves her so much that He gave his Son to die to her and that she can someday return to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The Spirit was there. I felt it testifying to my heart that the things that I was sharing with her are true. The Spirit is wonderful.
Our lesson with ST was good too (as previously mentioned). We taught it at a park - the weather was perfect, the sun was just lingering over the lake before it went for the evening, and the cicadas were chirping. After our wonderful discussion about the gospel, we played a fun traditional Texan game called corn hole. It's basically a bean-bag toss game and way harder than it looks. I'll have to teach you about it some day.
After we saw ST, we had an appointment with IS. We drove over there and talked to his dad who was standing on the drive way. His dad said that IS was gone, so we were kind of bummed out. We got into the car and were about to drive away, but then Sister Durrant said, "Let's call him." So we called him, and turns out that he was inside! Just a english/spanish communication breakdown. So we were able to read the Book of Mormon with IS just, 1 Nephi 1. I love how the Spirit testifies of truth. The Spirit was there as we sat on IS's porch and read the Book of Mormon just using a little flashlight because the sun had gone down. It was a good deal.
I also just want to testify that as we have weaknesses and things that we want to work on, if we pray and ask for help, the Lord will give us the opportunities and the strength to develop these things.
Also, from Mormon 5:11, I know that as we return to the Lord and repent, we can be clasped in the arms of Jesus, and be sanctified from our sins.
How grateful I am for this gospel. How grateful I am that we have Jesus Christ as our example. We are so blessed to be able to follow Him.
I love each of you!
Love,
Sister Gilbert
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