Saturday, October 22, 2016

Sharing the Love of the Saviour!

Hello family and friends! Did you rejoice like me as the countdown for General Conference happened? Each day as Conference drew nearer and nearer, I felt like a little kid waiting for Christmas to happen! This past week was filled with many opportunities to be filled with a spiritual feast. It began with Eastern Zone Conference. Sister Wang and I traveled down early morning to Crawley. There was a meeting for trainers and new missionaries so we went to that which was really good and then the actual conference began. During the trainer's meeting, I was really excited to be able to see Sister Fromgren. As she walked into the room, we both looked at each other with excitement, screamed each other's name, and embraced in a big hug. Reuniting with your past companions is the best. You've been through everything with them and you just truly come to recognise the eternal friendship that you made with them when you see them again after not having seen them for several months. I loved being able to see my old Zone, the Wandsworth Zone, and all the missionaries there. It was great to know that everyone was doing good in that area. Something that Sister Fromgren told me got me really excited. Back in Clapham, Sister Fromgren and I had been knocking a set of doors on a particular street and faced a lot of opposition that day. After many rejections, we had knocked on a door and a lady named Michelle had opened the door and actually let us in. Well later, some anti-Mormon material crossed her paths so she asked us not to come around anymore which was really sad. Sister Fromgren told me that her and her companion decided to try again just recently and she said she wanted to be taught! Apparently one of her friends started investigating so she was curious to learn more. The Lord does truly prepare! We never know to which seeds we may plant! All we can do is open our mouths and share the joy of the gospel! That's something that was really emphasised in our Zone Conference! We got to role-play many different situations and learning how to ask inspired questions, learning to listen, and, how to testify at the right moments. I learned so much and I'm grateful that I got to be a part of that Conference. That evening after Zone Conference, Sister Wang and I got to go to Young Women's because Philimenia (the lady that came to the "Meet the Mormons" movie night) wanted her daughter Ajoa to come. Ajoa came and the young women were so good to friendship her! They got to design t-shirts and it was really fun to be able to answer questions and help them. That evening, Ajoa got a lift home from a member and Philimenia texted us saying, "Thank you so much for the evening! My daughter said that she loved it!" We were so excited by this point and Ajoa plans to come this Thursday which we are excited about. 😀 This past weekend was General Conference and oh how I loved it! I had written some questions down and got many more answers than I had expected. I loved what Neil L. Anderson said about missionary work---> “I suggest that you stop feeling guilty about any insufficiency you think you have in sharing the gospel. Rather, pray… for opportunities. …Please don’t see your efforts to share the love of the Savior with another as a pass/fail test with your grade determined by how your friends respond to your feelings or invitation... With our mortal eyes, we cannot judge the effect of our efforts, nor can we establish the timetable. When you share the love of the Savior with another, your grade is always an A+.” There are many moments where I or other missionaries may have felt we aren't good enough or we can't do this work because of our weaknesses but it's true what Elder Andersen said...our purpose is to share the love of the Saviour with others! It's all my heart yearns to do. I can't wait for these next weeks to be able to share with others the love for this Gospel and what it has done for me. This General Conference is a boost to hasten the work. Members and missionaries can work together to unite and bring our brothers and sisters back home! What are you doing today to help the missionaries in your area? Most importantly, what are you doing today to help the Lord in His great work?  :) I invite all of you to pray for opportunities to seek someone who may be searching for the truth but may not know where to find it. Imagine being in their shoes, without the gospel, a world with no light, no hope, only wondering what will happen after this life. I know this work is true! Something that is crazy is that yesterday, I got an email from the mission telling me I had only 8 weeks left. I consider it the "dreaded" 8 Weeks email and all the missionaries have talked about it in the past. It was weird to get but It gives me a great hope and motivation to work my very hardest and do my very best! In all reality, I feel my mission has only begun. I know that the Lord has many things for me to learn. I'm grateful to be out here serving here in Brighton! I know the people I've met are the people I need to meet and the experiences I've had are the things I needed to experience. I love you all! I hope you have a great week! 
Love,
Sister Burtis 

No comments:

Post a Comment