I have had a few moments this past week of "can I do this?". However, my inspired companion has helped me overcome them by always directing me to the Spirit. I am striving to be like Nephi in 1 Nephi 7:17-18. He never asks the Lord to change his circumstances. All he does is ask the Lord to give him strength to help him overcome his trials and tribulations (and if you know Nephi, you know he has a lot of those!). I thought that was so inspiring. So I have changed my prayers from asking the Lord to remove my trials, to asking Him to help me find the strength to overcome them. I have noticed a huge difference, and I challenge each of you to do the same.
This past Wednesday was incredible! We ate dinner at a
members' home, it is a mom and two daughters who were all baptized this past
year. Such incredible people! Anyway, long story short, they ended up giving us
15 referrals throughout dinner. We were certainly busy the next day! What
incredible examples they are of member-missionary work! The day before we had
received a lot from our branch president as well, so in total, we received 24
referrals in 48 hours! Sister Nuttall said that was the most she had ever seen
on her mission. How awesome that the Lord inspires these people to tell us who
to visit! We talked about not being the judge of whether or not somebody is
ready to hear the Gospel. We cannot take away somebody's agency by not allowing
them to meet with the missionaries. We ask people to give us names of ANYBODY,
not just people they think will listen. It is up to the Lord who is ready, not
us. So I challenge each of you this week to think of just one person who you can
send the missionaries over to. Pray about it, and then contact the missionaries
in your ward and give them their information. I promise you, it is an answer to
their prayers and you will be greatly blessed for it!
It has been pretty freezing over here the past week.
Thanks mom for buying that huge jacket, because I would have died here without
it. It keeps me nice and warm! And also thanks to Carrie for the boots, they
have been perfect as well :) I am always bundled up! I feel like the boy on a
Christmas Story "I can't put my arms down!". But when we go tracting and are
outside for a few hours, I don't care how I look...I just want to be
warm!
Another miracle from this week - we were walking to a
movie store on main street (well, on the ONLY street in town), because somebody
had given us a referral of somebody who works there. So right before we get to
the store, a women who is cleaning the windows of the store next to it says
hello to us and we begin talking to her. Her name is Amber and she is probably
in her late 20s. Anyway, after getting to know her a little bit better we found
out that she used to deal drugs and be in bad groups of people, but that God
helped her turn her life around and now she has 3 jobs and is working to become
a great person again. She still smokes pot (she was smoking while she was
talking to us), but other than that it sounds like she has really turned her
life around. Long story short, she loved talking to us and invited us over to
her house this week so that we could talk to her more. I cannot wait to see her
again and teach her about the wonderful truths that can help her to continue to
change her life! I know that the Lord inspired us to go to the movie store at
that time, so that we could run into Amber. I am so grateful for the confidence
He gives us to open our mouths to everybody we see. What would have happened if
we walked right by Amber without saying hello?? Who knows
:)
So we were tracting down this random street one day and
we knock on like our 5th door. I had my first interaction with a contentious
door approach! As soon as we said who we are, he closed his door and came about
2 inches away from our faces, yelling at the top of his lungs. He was telling us
that we worship Satan and that if we do not start changing our ways to follow
the "true" Jesus Christ, that we will certainly go to Hell. I had to back up out
of fear of him hitting me or something. I am not going to lie, it was extremely
scary and unfortunately it drove the Spirit right out. But I was so grateful for
the humility that the Lord has helped me to develop here on my mission.
Normally, I would have been just as contentious back. But I was able to keep
myself under control and keep a prayer in my heart that I may be able to say the
right things. After he was finished (about 5 minutes later) we thanked him for
his time and walked away. Although it is so unfortunate to see what people
believe about our church, it was so comforting to know that I have a firm
testimony of the truthfulness of this Gospel. That man could have easily shaken
somebody who was on the edge and maybe not so sure. But I am grateful that the
Lord gives me opportunities to strengthen my testimony everyday out here, so
that when the time comes, I can hold fast to it and know that it is true. I
share this experience with you to challenge you to continually strengthen your
testimony. There will be moments in our lives where we will need to hold onto it
and nothing else, and we must be prepared for those moments with a firm
testimony of the truth. That is why many people fall away, because their
testimony did not have deep roots. So sad to see, but as we continually increase
and strengthen it, we will be blessed!
Another miracle - the first week we were here, we
decided to go through the ward list and just stop by a few members' homes so
that we could get to know them a little bit better. We prayerfully chose a few
from ths list and went to visit them. We came to Lidna's home, and she came
outside telling us that she was removing her records from the church and did not
want to be associated with it anymore. Heartbreaking! After praying for her
though, we continued our day. Then, at Ward Council this past Sunday, President
Fields told us that Linda would be at church today and that we should try
talking to her. Confused about what had happened, he told us that she called him
Wednesday and told him to hang onto her papers and not send them into the First
Presidency yet. She told him that she had had a change of heart and needed to
meet with him, and that she would be at Church Sunday. Sure enough, she was
there. Not only was she there, but she was participating in Sunday School as we
taught the lesson and asked questions. It was so great to see!! Anyway, she came
up to us after and told us that if we had not visited her that day, she might
not have been there. How great it is to know that ther Spirit directs us to know
who we need to see and when we need to see them. I have strived diligently to
follow the promptings I receive more closely! I am so excited to see Linda's
progress in the church!
Yesterday was P-Day and we had a few hours to do
whatever we wanted. So we decided to make Valentine's cookies for some of the
people we are meeting with! It was so much fun! You will see pictures on my next
SD card I send home. We ended up making 7 dozen homemade oreos and wrapping them
in super cute Valentine's bags with notes attached to them. Then we went and
delivered some of them! It was so much fun to watch people's faces as we
remembered them and thought about them. We were even able to clean up somebody's
house who had been having a rough week. We gave her the cookies and then told
her to sit while we cleaned her floors and her kitchen. If you want a way to
forget yourself, serve somebody else!!
Well, that should do it this week. I could go on
forever, but there is a time limit :) As far as letters and where to send them,
everything is up to you. But I would send letters to the Richmond mission office
address that you first had. We will get that mail the first Friday of every
month, and it is sure to get there safely and within 8 days. The mail here in
Oliver is a little messed up, so I trust Richmond better. But up to you!
Packages are always sent to Richmond though.
Well, I love you all so much. The main challenge I want
to leave with each of you this week is in regards to the Priesthood. I had a few
experiences this past week with the Priesthood and I want to challenge those
that do not hold it, to ask those who do to give you a blessing or to give them
opportunities to use it. And for those who do hold it, always live worthy of
that incredible power, and look for opportunities to serve others with it. I
love this Gospel, it is so true. I wish I could shout to the world that this
Gospel is the only way to eternal happiness. But for now, Oliver will do :) Stay
strong out there.
Love,
Sister Biggs
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