Tuesday, June 3, 2014

It's always darkest before the dawn (2/6 email)

This week has been up and down like no-ones business! Seriously! Had some of the lowest and highest moments on my mission so far... But I am coming to realise that trials are actually a blessing, and Heavenly Father has got everything all figured out, we just need to trust him.

Let's start with a massive miracle... On Wednesday, we had the address of a lady who was a member of our church but hadn't been to church in over 15 years. We'd knocked on her door a few times with no answer, but this time she answered and let us in. We started chatting, and she goes on to tell us about the dream she had the night before. She told us she dreamt that she went back to church to get a priesthood blessing. She got emotional, and said that it wasn't a coincidence that we knocked on her door. She knew that it was God telling her she needs to come back to church. She told us about how hard her life has been since she's stopped coming, and how the 2 years she did attend church were the best of he life. As we testified to her she felt the spirit, and told us how much she had missed that feeling. What a miracle! I am so excited to work with her and help her come back to church. God cares about every single one of his children.

Friday started off as the worst day ever! It was so rough. Sister Campbell and I woke up both feeling pretty down which isn't a good way to start... but I think that's one of the reasons we have study in the morning cos it always makes you feel better. So we leave the flat at 10 and the first person I say hi to is this little old lady... she smiles until she sees my badge and then verbally abuses the heck outta me! She was so nasty! I tried to speak but she wasn't having any of it. I almost burst out in tears (I know, how pathetic lol but it just wasn't a good day) so because of that lovely lady I just did not want to do missionary work that day. My desire was gone. The day continued with cancelled appointments and everything that could go wrong did. I was just praying so hard that I could learn the lesson that God wanted me to learn cos I knew there had to be one otherwise it just didn't make any sense. But then, as he always does, God gave us a miracle at the end of the day to remind us how much he loves us. We went round to teach our investigator Dawn, and talked about our purpose as missionaries. We were bold and invited her to be baptised. She replied with "Oh I'm already baptised..." and talked about how she was christened as a baby. This has always been a bit of a tricky situation for me, I never really quite know what to say... so what came out of my mouth definitely wasn't from me... I said something like "Well, that was your parents' decision for you to be baptised wasn't it? Don't you want to be able to choose to be baptised for yourself?" and she was like yeah! yeah I do! So she totally wants to be baptised again!! It was such a miracle! You couldn't wipe the smile off our faces. What a tender mercy.

I learnt a lot about the way God works this week. Life is not meant to be easy. If it was easy we would never learn and grow. If God took away our problems every single time we prayed for help, we wouldn't learnt how to do things for ourselves. God doesn't want us to suffer through this life, but He does allow us to go through hard times to teach us lessons, and to help us appreciate the good times and acknowledge him in every aspect of our lives. He is amazing.

Here's a good quote from Conference to finish.
"As you consistently focus your life on the most basic principles, you will gain an understanding of what you are to do and you will provide more fruit for the Lord and more happiness for yourself." - Richard G. Scott

Love you all so much
xoxo Sister Riley

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