First off, I just wanted to say once more how much I absolutely love being a missionary. I have never been so happy in my entire life. Honestly, my least happy days are P-days because we have to focus on and worry about ourselves ( and the fact that cleaning,grocery shopping, and doing laundry aren't my favorite). Interesting enough, at the start of my mission this was my favorite day. As I've looked back and thought about why this, I've come to a conclusion. This work isn't about me. Shocking I know. My whole life I spent thinking about what I could do to become better. Often times on the mission, we do the same thing. How can I improve my teaching skills? How can I get more investigators or more baptisms or more people at church? These things are all good, and we should be doing our best to improve ourselves, but life isn't about us..It's about others. When focus on helping others, loving others, and bringing others closer to Christ, then naturally we will come closer to Christ as well. Jesus Christ never went about His life trying to improve Himself. He went to serve and bless others, and because of that, He was the only perfect, selfless person who ever lived or will live.
Ok. Rant over. I just had to get that off my chest.
So like I was saying, being a missionary is the best.
This week, Sister Mayfield and I went on a couple exchanges with the sisters in our Zone. I love these sisters! But wow, some of them have hard times. I had a particularly interesting experience where one of the sisters got super sick..right on our members doorstep.... (luckily the member wasn't home and we had time to clean it up before anyone saw).. I'll spare you the details, but yeah, definitely something we hope to never go through again.
I went on another exchange with a brand new sister who has been out for 3 weeks! She was so excited to work hard, but still a little timid about talking with everyone, but she has an incredible testimony and a deep love for her Savior. Little did I know that she has been struggling with depression/suicidal thoughts for quite sometime now. She never knew her dad, is the only child and the only family she has is her mom and grandparents. She knew she needed to come on a mission to bless the lives of others. I have never realized how many people there are that have serious trials and hard times in their lives. 8 out of the 10 sisters we are over have had major struggles on their missions and back home, but you would never know it. My own sweet companion's parents are going through a divorce back home this very moment. My heart aches just thinking about it. The point of this email isn't to get you all depressed and sad.. the point is to help us all realize how much we need to lift each other. One of my favorite quotes from Richard G. Scott says "There are few things in life that bring as much joy as the joy that comes from assisting another improve his or her life." I know this is true.
I also know that God is still a God of miracles today and He ALWAYS answers our prayers.
Quick miracle of the week: Sister Mayfield and I went to Great Harvest Bread Co. for dinner on Wednesday and the restaurant is owned by a member of the church so we always get free food and are treated like royalty. It's amazing. Anyways, so the super cute Mormon looking cashier took our order. As we were waiting for our food, another worker came over to us and said "soo literally five minutes before you sisters walked in, my co worker had just asked me some questions about the church and is sincerely interested in learning more.." What a miracle! We were so excited. We talked to her afterwards and she was so sweet and said she would definitely call us.
Experiencing these kinds of miracles every day is one of the huge blessings of serving a mission. I have been able to see how God's hand works in our lives more then ever before.
Well I'm out of time and the elders are here to kick us off so I must be going. Have an incredible week!!
Sisterｋｒａｕｓ
ohhh. also, my dad paid me a visit this week (completely allowed by our new mission president.. fyi). It was the best. :)
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