Monday, March 17, 2014

Grace & Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Found It! Well... Kind of.

We found Kristin's birth certificate! After about a month of her telling us that she has been trying to find it, we finally just went over and searched through boxes with her. In the last box, last stack of papers we found it! Now we hope this will motivate her to get a job and get closer to being more independent so she can progress towards baptism. 

We were able to read Family: A Proclamation to the World with her and set goals for her future and the divine qualities she wants to develop and the ones she is looking for in a future spouse. It was great to be able to show her the future and potential she has!

She was also able to attend Jessica Lopez's baptism, an investigator and now member of the Sam Houston 1st YSA- my last area. The spirit was so strong there and afterwards we were able to talk to her about purity and the importance of keeping our bodies clean. 

... And guess what? Afterwards she told us that the birth certificate we found was the wrong one. :( So we will be searching through more boxes this week...

Satanist or Latter-Day Saint?

So after we found Kristin's birth certificate we invited all of her roommates to come to church on Sunday. We even invited her roommate, Phil who we heard was a Satanist. He replies, "Oh ya I'll go. I mean I've beeen to a Mormon church before. My abuela was Mormon. Actually I got baptized... when I was 8? Do they still have those scratchy walls in the church buildings?" 

What???? Phil is a member! Soooo crazy! Unfortunately he didn't come this week but we hope to see him next week with Kristin's boyfriend! 

Baptism of Jessica and My buddy Frank

Saturday Jessica got baptized. She is the girlfriend of a member Limhi. They are the cutest and I love them so much. Her baptism was wonderful and the spirit was so strong. She has such a bright future ahead of her and a lot of her non member friends came to support her. 

Frank was also at the baptism and so I was able to talk to him for a bit! I was so excited to talk to him. He has a baptismal date set for the 3rd of May! He was telling me that he is getting impatient for May 3rd. I told him, "Well you can get baptized sooner if you'd like. Even right now!" He laughed but wants to wait for his friend, Erin, to get back from BYU.

He is getting fellowshipped into the ward so well and everyone loves him. Apparently a couple of testimony meetings ago, everyone bore their testimony about Frank. It will be a wonderful day when Frank get's baptized. He is even bringing his little sister Daisy to church now and she loves it. He is becoming quite the little missionary now to his family! 

Grace

This week I have been studying about Grace If you haven't read Brad Wilcox talk, "His Grace is Sufficient" I suggest that you read it this week. It is AMAZING! I seriously want to laminate it and stick it in the back of my scriptures, that's how much I absolutely love it.

 ... And everyone here in Texas loves grace of course! But as Latter-Day Saints we view grace in a different way. We definitely believe we have been saved by grace. Absolutely. But Brad Wilcox says, "Have you been CHANGED by grace?"

There are too many quotes to write down, so I thought I would just include a few of my favorites:

"As dark as night may come, we can always count on the sun coming up. As dark as our trials, sins and mistakes may appear, we can always have confidence in the grace of Jesus Christ."

"There should never be just two options: perfection or giving up. Growth and development take time. Learning takes time. When we understand grace we understand that God is long-suffering, that change is a process, and that repentance is a pattern in our lives. We do not discover that Christ requires nothing of us. Rather we discover the reason He requires so much and the strength to do all He asks."

"The great Mediator asks for our repentance not because we must 'repay' him in exchange for his paying our debt to justice, but because repentance initiates a developmental process, that with the Savior's help, leads us along the path to a saintly character."

I am so thankful to my Savior and the mercy and grace that he has provided me through his Atonement. I know that I wouldn't be able to be out here on a mission without his strength, comfort, and help. I love my Heavenly Father so much and know that I can talk to him through prayer. He is waiting for me to talk to him and waiting to help me, to bless me. I am thankful to have the gift of the Holy Ghost so that I can receive answers and guidance. 

Love y'all so much! 


Sister Loo

Tracting and came across this lovely door...
... we didnt knock on the door of course
With Phil's really ugly dog
The fake birth certificate 
Sister Walker and I trying to eat healthy...
...but then a member gave us cake and we couldn't resist.
I am actually missing golf!... So I had to take a picture at the CC. 
Jessica's baptism

No comments:

Post a Comment