How is life? It sounds like everyone is all over the place...Oregon, France, Utah... haha I'm glad to hear that everyone is keeping busy and enjoying the summer!! I'm sorry to hear about the car situation... that's rough. Youth conference sounds like it was an awesome experience! How cool that you got to be a part of it all!
SO let me tell you about my week. It has been HOT! I need to invest in a sweat rag because I am sweating buckets! It is really quite gross. We are trying to stay hydrated and drink plenty of water. So we got a referral for 2 sisters. One of the sisters had been sexually assaulted and the other sister who had previously investigated the church asked us to come over to help her sister and to give her spiritual guidance. We were a little unsure of what we could do to help. We prayed about it and I remembered the talk that President Uchtdorf gave of the Hope of God's light. And how even in our darkest times when we feel caught and trapped in darkness that we can find the hope of God's light in our lives. We got there and she ended up having lots of questions about death and where do we go when we die and about heaven and hell so we taught her the plan of salvation. The lesson was kinda all over the place but we were able to answer all of her questions. We left her with President Uchtdorf's talk for her to read on her own. Her sister who had previously investigated the church wasn't too interested in learning more, she said she only called us so we could help her sister. She said that she is very comfortable with what she believes. But she did want her 3 boys to have a chance to be exposed to our religion and to learn more of our teachings. So, we will be teaching her 3 boys now as well as her sister. All 5 of them came to church this week. We prepared a gospel principles class on how God is our loving Father in Heaven and it went really well. The spirit was so strong and the members we invited in shared their testimony and personal conversion story... It was so great! The sister who is more receptive ( and who was sexually assaulted) thanked us for the "literature" we gave her. I explained that the talk was given by a modern day prophet and that his words are like modern day scripture and that God continues to reveal truths to us through prophets today as he did in ancient times. It was a really great sunday and I have high hopes for this Young lady. Even if she is not converted and baptized, I hope at least we can bring some peace to her heart and show her love and kindness and help her through this difficult time she is going through.
We had a fabulous lesson with Mary. Sister Awerkamp helped Mary to be baptized. But she only came to church 2 or 3 times since being baptized. She is a really fun lady with a happy personality but she's been so hard to meet with. But this week we had a really great lesson. I felt of the Spirit so strongly in the room as we taught her again about the restoration. The coolest part was when I asked her "what does the restoration mean to you? Why is this event so significant to you personally?" She said "Well I don't know, tell me why it's so significant to you?" I responded something like this: "To me the gospel is like a lighthouse. Christ is often referred to as the light of the world. We can always look to him to know which way to go. While we go through life we are kind of like a boat trying to find it's way back home--back to the shore. The journey can be rough, the waves crash against us. We will face trials and difficulties that will rock and sway our boat. But if we can see the light house in the distance, we can know where to go. The fullness of the gospel is our lighthouse in life. We know exactly how we can return to live with our Father in Heaven again. Could you imagine what it would be like without that lighthouse? You would be lost and confused. You would be hopeless. You would think there is no way you can get through the storm alive. But we Mary will never ever have to go in the darkness! Because of Joseph Smith's sincere prayer to know truth, we know have the restored gospel on the earth again! We have Modern day prophets who shine as a light and lead and guide us and show us the way to go. The priesthood power and authority to act in the name of God for the Salvation on men is on the earth again. And we are a part of it Mary! We are members of Christ's church once again restored to the earth! And that is why the story of Joseph Smith is so significant to me Mary. Because without his Prayer, I wouldn't have that light in my life." It was such a powerful lesson and my testimony was strengthened so much. As I shared my testimony with Mary, the spirit bore witness to my heart that what I was saying was true. It really was such a great experience. She felt so good! She kept smiling and she was just soaking it all up.I asked her if she wanted to feel like this all the time. She said of course. I asked how she thought she could feel that way. She told us by reading her Book of Mormon more. So she committed to reading it more often. I can't explain all that happened in the lesson but she was being taught by the spirit and instructed on what she personally needed to do to feel closer to God. It was a lesson I will not forget. Afterward she brought us to a store to buy us some soup. She said she was on a diet where she replaced a dinner with a soup. We get to the store and she buys us essentially like top Ramen. It only had 1440 mg of sodium in 1 serving! haha oh man... It was so sweet of her although eating hot soup on a 100 degree day didn't exactly hit the spot.
We have made some good progress with a few of our less actives. We have a few we are working with who have started coming fairly regularly including the Jada Family, Jessica and Angela. We are so excited to see their progress and we hope to continue meeting with them and strengthening them. I think I want to add my letter to President again this week. It sums up how I've been feeling :)
Hello President!
Well it's been another good week! We had 5 investigators at church and got to teach a gospel principles class. I think it went really well! And things are going well with our less actives as well. They tell you that there is no greater joy then missionary work and helping others come closer to Christ. And I have personally come to see that is true. Sometimes I feel so happy and full of joy that I could just burst! I love helping people pray for the first time and to teach them how to communicate with their Father in Heaven. I love helping less actives come back to church and watching them as the partake of the sacrament for the first time in years. I love that I could help them to renew that covenant and to be made clean! I love teaching about the importance of the Book of Mormon and helping others to apply the scriptures to their lives personally. There really is no other feeling like it. I have grown so much as a person on the mission thus far. I feel like the mission has taught me how to really apply the gospel of Jesus Christ in my own life.
Well it's been another good week! We had 5 investigators at church and got to teach a gospel principles class. I think it went really well! And things are going well with our less actives as well. They tell you that there is no greater joy then missionary work and helping others come closer to Christ. And I have personally come to see that is true. Sometimes I feel so happy and full of joy that I could just burst! I love helping people pray for the first time and to teach them how to communicate with their Father in Heaven. I love helping less actives come back to church and watching them as the partake of the sacrament for the first time in years. I love that I could help them to renew that covenant and to be made clean! I love teaching about the importance of the Book of Mormon and helping others to apply the scriptures to their lives personally. There really is no other feeling like it. I have grown so much as a person on the mission thus far. I feel like the mission has taught me how to really apply the gospel of Jesus Christ in my own life.
Things are going great here. I love this gospel so much. I know that it is true! I can see it changing the lives around me and most importantly, I see it changing my own. I love you all so much! I hope you are having so much fun this summer. Don't forget to make and set aside time to keep your spirits well fed and nourished by the word of God. You'll be so much happier!
Love Sister Lounsbury
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