Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Memorial Day

We couldn't email on Monday because the library was closed. And we couldn't email yesterday because we had zone conference an hour away so we didn't have any time to attempt to email.

Well, I can hardly remember the week previous, but we taught a ton of lessons and we made our goals, that felt really good! 

We had zone conference yesterday and it was really amazing. Sister Wolfert gave an incredible training and I felt the Spirit so strongly. She read this poem that a missionary in Houston, Texas wrote. The poem conveys many of the feelings missionaries have. Or at least, many of the feelings that I have had, thus I was touched by the power and simplicity of the poem. I can't remember the name of the poem, but it's really good. Sorry!

President also wants us to become consecrated. He wants us to fully dedicate ourselves and turn away from anything that could be holding us back from being more powerful.. It's nice to get that motivation because Sister Jones is really good at being obedient and it makes our job a lot easier! There's definitely a Spirit being a missionary, but there's a really strong Spirit when your an obedient missionary. Of that I can testify. I was so pumped up from Zone Conference it made me want to just get out and teach some people hahaha. 

It was also really nice to see some more missionaries, since we're out in the boonies we hardly see anyone. Whenever I see other missionaries I get so excited for the work because there's a unity. We're all doing this together and we're all teaching God's children the restored gospel. It's an awesome experience. I wore the dress mom got me and I got a lot of compliments. A lot of sisters asked where it was from and I just said, "My mom." So thank you! 

Oh, last week we had a really powerful lesson with a lady named Darlene. She's a lonely lady whose husband died somewhat recently. She has a terrible addiction to smoking and drinking. She'll smoke a pack and a half a day (not even kidding! That's a LOT!) and about 8 beers every day. Okay, even if you're not a member of the church, that's SO BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH! For reals people! It's so sad to see how binding addictions can be. They really don't have any self control, it's all been lost. It's sad. And I'm not writing any of this to be judgmental, I'm writing this to be honest because the effects of addictions are tragic. Honestly, strongest testimony of just not starting down on that road. Thankfully, there are people who can come out of it, through the Atonement, proffesional help, stopping before any addiction occurs, etc. but to step into the homes and lives of people who started off so innocently when they were young, and see the nasty lifestyle and conditions that they live in now, only solidifies my testimony on the benefits of treating our bodies like they actually matter. 

Anyway. Learning a lot about addiction recovery and it's fascinating. Hopefully the Atonement, coupled with her will, will help her overcome it in order for her to become a free agent of her own.

Love this gospel. Love this work. Love being a missionary.

Until next week,
Sister Smith

No comments:

Post a Comment