Hey, hey now.....
This is what dreams are made of :)
The members of the Newberg
1st Ward are on fire. They are anxiously
engaged in the Lords
work! It is amazing!
D--- (our
investigator) was going to be baptized this coming week but, sadly we had to
push it back because of some personal reasons. It was heartbreaking but, it was
needed. We will be teaching him on Wednesday with our Mission President....can
we say stressful!
We sang in church
yesterday and I sang part of the hymn solo....that's right insert left leg,
right leg...big girl pants are on! We sang Joseph Smiths First Prayer to the Come
Thy Fount tune, it was AWESOME! I think I did Grandma proud :) Two of our
investigators were there to see us and I could feel the spirit as the words so
sound and true came forth.
Funny moment of the
week:
We had dinner with Sister
M--- on Wednesday, she is this little bitsy tiny thing. We get there and she
has a friend there whom she introduced us to, he's so stinky cute and old and
wrinkly and has more southern twag than Aunt Cindee :) So right before dinner
we were doing some service and he comes walking outside and says to me "ma'am'
you look like the woman on the syrup bottle....anyone e'er told you dat?"
I said ummm, no I don't think I've ever heard that before. He said "Oh my,
well you are so are beautiful!" So, the night goes on and during dinner
out of the corner of my eye I see him drooling, yes drooling, I'm talking about
he is watching me eat and there is literally water running from the side of his
mouth onto the table...DROOLING! So Sister C slaps the table and yells
"Y--- Get it together ain't NO body got time for that!" She scared him
half to death and I fell slap out of my chair laughing! It was SO funny! And
apparently I'm Aunt Jemima...I really hope I'm the lite version ;)
I'm over the half way
mark and as much as I want time to hurry so I can get home to my family, I wish
it would slow down so I could catch more, see more, do more, be more in the
moment of this mission rather than pushing through. Sometimes I feel like the
work is so "upon" us that there is never enough time to just
"be." Don't get me wrong, it is glorious to see so many coming to
feast upon the word of The Lord and I am blessed to have more lessons than I
can handle and more investigators than I've ever had....yet, I know this is a
time in my life I can never recapture, a time I can never relive, a time that
will be over before I know it and already I find myself wishing of all things I
had more time!
My words of
"wisdom" this week are....find your place inside your life and live
it. Don't lose the days, weeks, years - to having, getting, making,
doing...make sure to take the small moments to smell the flowers, to walk in
the tall grass, to look up at the stars, to ponder a yearning question, to
close your eyes and take in the vastness of our Fathers love and the wondrous blessings
we have been given to be born in this dispensation. Uchtdorf may have said it
best...." Wherever you live on this earth and whatever your life’s
situation may be, I testify to you that the gospel of Jesus Christ has the
divine power to lift you to great heights from what appears at times to be an
unbearable burden or weakness. The Lord knows your circumstances and your
challenges. As members of the
Church of Jesus Christ, we may claim the blessings promised in the covenants
and the ordinances we received when we accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ.
My dear brothers and
sisters, there will be days and nights when you feel overwhelmed, when your
hearts are heavy and your heads hang down. Then, please remember, Jesus Christ,
the Redeemer, is the Head of this Church. It is His gospel. He wants you to
succeed. He gave His life for just this purpose. He is the Son of the living
God."
Find the time, to find your place inside your life and don't miss a
moment of it, it is spectacular!
Thank you for the
gifts and letters and love, I am SO excited for Daniel and I wish I could have
been there with him as he moves ever closer to beginning his mission. I love
you all and can't wait to see your faces, and sleep till noon, and go to the
pool and watch Walking Dead with daddy and drink a big fat Dr Pepper and leave
my clothes laying on the bathroom floor and to wear shorts....but, NOT YET! I
have much work left to do!
XOXO
Sister Z
