Monday, April 11, 2016

An Unwavering Faith of Joseph Smith

Hello everyone! Wow, often I reflect back as I am writing up my emails
and amazed how much can take place in just one week. Sister Fromgren
and I found ourselves running to and fro from place to place and
seemed to be finishing this week with running what seemed to be a
marathon. One of our district leaders recently said, "It's better to
be busy than to be bored." It's true. Missionary work can keep us so
busy but it's exhilarating and exciting to see what we can accomplish.
Our previous week started with the two of us going to MLC. It was
Sister Fromgren's first time going and it was great to be in the
environment with other missionaries from different areas. Together
with President Gubler and Sister Gubler, we counciled on how we could
continue to do to strengthen the conversion of the missionaries in our
area and how we could continue to better teach repentance and baptize
converts. It was great and while sometimes we seemed to be going in
circles, It is great to be able to be spiritually directed to find out
the will of the Lord. Being in the mission leadership councils has
helped me to see and wonder what it must be like for the Prophet and
the 12 apostles when they all get together and council. We not only
got to council at MLC but we also got to be taught from President
Gubler and Sister Gubler. Something that President Gubler said that
really stood out to me was, "Every missionary's goal and desire should
be to land on the rock of our Saviour Jesus Christ and to never leave
it. When we are built upon the rock of our Saviour Jesus Christ, not
even the devil's mighty winds and his shafts in the whirlwind nor hail
nor mighty storms shall beat us down. Why does Satan work so hard?
Satan works hard because he will never be like us. He will never be
able to hold a new born baby. He will never come home after a long day
of work and have his children run up to him. Satan will never have
that proud moment when he sees his daughter in a dance performance. He
will never even know what it is like to eat a chocolate chip cookie.
He will never fall in love; he will never able to hold hands. He gave
up everything because of his pride. Anytime we have pride, we are
entering into that realm." I had never thought about it like this
before but it is so true. Of course there is always opposition in all
things. Satan is miserable. I'm grateful for the knowledge that my
Saviour lives so I have the opportunity of reaching my potential and
becoming the person Heavenly Father wants me to be. The day after MLC,
was DLC. We presented the things we learned to the district leaders
who would then in turn present it to their districts. It was overall a
great portion of the week. It doesn't stop just there though. Sister
Fromgren and I were heading back  to our flat after a busy day and we
received a text saying we had a self-referral. We called the person
(his name was Ali) and set up a teaching appointment with him. What a
miracle! Ali shows up and tells us that he had looked on our website
and said he was curious to learn more. When teaching the restoration,
Ali would ask us some really good questions and keep saying, "That
makes sense." It was a great lesson and we were able to give him a
Book of Mormon which he said he would read. He also accepted to be
baptized. The Lord is truly preparing his children. Ali wasn't the
only one who was a great miracle. We are currently teaching Naomi who
is YSA and is so kind. She had been taught by missionaries before and
this past week would be our second teach with her. As we got
discussing the plan of salvation and the three kingdoms of glory,
Sister Fromgren turns to Naomi and asks, "Where do you want to be
among one of these three kingdoms?" Without hesitation, Naomi pointed
to our diagram that showed the Celestial Kingdom. "There. I want to be
there." We smiled because we knew that Naomi recognised her potential.
We extended an invitation to her to be baptized and she accepted. We
were then able to go to institute with her after our teach. It has
been such an incredible week. The Lord's work is real and I know that
to be true. I know all of us can be a part of it as well. Towards the
end of the week, we were able to go to the London Temple grounds with
our investigator Ada. Ada is amazing and is really progressing in the
gospel. As the visitor centre sisters showed Ada around with us
following behind, we all felt the peace that came from the temple. Ada
was amazed at the beauty of the temple and grounds and we bore to her
our testimony that anyone can come here to feel the peace and to get
away from the world. After the tour, we headed into the visitor centre
and was able to watch the Restoration movie with Ada. The life of
Joseph Smith is so remarkable and so astonishing. It's blows me away
every time to see what he had to go through as he was called to
restore the church. I wasn't the only one blown away though. After the
movie ended, we looked over to Ada and she was just amazed. She said,
"I had no idea that this was the life of Joseph Smith." We shook our
heads in agreement and explained to her that he had to go through so
much to be able to preserve the truth that was restored  on the earth
once more. After the movie, Sister Fromgren and I and Ada all went
around the temple once more and got discussing Ada's journey in
learning the gospel. Ada expressed to us that she wanted to get
baptized and knew that she just needs a bit more time to prepare and
she will be ready. As we have worked with the wonderful people here in
the Clapham area, we have felt the love that Heavenly Father has for
them. I am grateful to be a missionary at this time and know that
those we teach don't just learn from us but we end up learning more
from them. The spirit too is the master teacher and he is the one that
guides the way to help our brothers and sisters to make it home. I
love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!
Love,
Sister Burtis



No comments:

Post a Comment