August 3, 2015

Well y'all, this week was simply crazy, and flew right by! Why must time go by so fast? But, things are going good! Its great being with Sister Stagg again, and being able to go out and work so hard! I love missionary work, its the greatest! As for this week, we were able to meet a lot of people, and start teaching a lot more people, a lot of the people we're working with aren't active in church, but being able to see people progress and grow in their faith in Christ is simply beautiful.

Tuesday we had a miracle though! So you know our investigator Maddie? The one that wants to finish reading the Book of Mormon before she gets baptized? Well, she set a date for baptism!!!! Shes going to get baptized on August 22nd!! Which means I'll still be here to see it happen!! MIRACLE!!! Shes making tons of progress in the Book of Mormon, so I know that she can make it! When we were setting a date with her, she got out her planner and wrote down in blue pen her "mormon drowning" haha! I just love her! But really, Heavenly Father blesses us so stinking much! I just love him.

Thursday was crazy busy! We met so many people that day! But it was cool, there is a family in the area that's not super active, and haven't really showed much interest in having missionaries over before, and we met with them, and then ran into them later in the week and the mom told us that her daughter wants us to come over for dinner!!! Miracle! I think yes!!

Friday was also a little bit crazy, mostly just because we were biking and had a lot of appointments that we needed to get to. That night we had a lesson with Marleen, who is one of those people that I just love! She just loves everyone and wants everyone to feel loved. In our lesson we planned on teaching her one thing, but as soon as we got to her apartment we knew that we couldn't teach her the lesson that we planned. In stead we were led by the spirit to something totally different! But it was one that we all walked away feeling Gods love for us. We mostly just taught about how God is real, and how he hears our prayers, and how much he loves us. But it was a good experience because my entire mission I had a goal to be able to know my scriptures, and to know where to turn to if someone expresses some sort of concern, and I know I'm not perfect at it, but the spirit was guiding me to all sorts of scriptures! I know I can still improve, and I can still work at it, but it was one of those tender mercies when Heavenly Father allows us to see a little bit of progress in ourselves.

Really, this week was so crazy, and I don't even know what to say! I have my planner, but writing about missionary work just doesn't do it justice. I'm so thankful for the miracles that I see everyday, and for the joy that I feel as I do the Lords work. I know I'm not perfect, in fact I know that I'm FAR from it, but there is nothing greater than seeing Heavenly Father taking your imperfections, and turning them into something he can work with. Its like play dough in a way, by itself it looks like a blob of whatever you want to call it, but as you let the sculpture mold, and form whatever he wants to make, it turns into a beautiful sculpture. It may take time, it may take bits and peaces off of you to mold it into something better, but it always turns out to be something beautiful. 

   Yes, I did just compare myself to play dough, but I know that as we trust in God, and trust in what hes doing, he will be able to mold us and form us into the perfect people that we can become. I know that we can be instruments in Gods hands, and that as we do so we can come closer to him, and we can feel joy! 

   This morning I was studying Joy, and I learned a few things, so I've always seen joy as something eternal, opposed to happiness where I see that as being momentarily,  but today I learned that the things that bring us joy, are eternal principals, the things that bring me joy in this life are things like the gospel of Jesus Christ, my family, education, things like that, and they never have to end, because joy never ends. We will always have Christ, we can have our family for eternity, and we can always continue to learn and grow.  

   I may be rambling, and I'm not sure if I make much sense. But if you take anything away from this long message, I want you to know that Jesus Christ brings me joy. Sharing the gospel brings me joy, and knowing who I am brings me joy. I know that Christ lives, and I know that he loves us and that he is constantly reaching out his hand to help us through our fears and shortcomings. I love Christ and I know he is my friend.

As for the funny moment of the week, we were at church yesterday, and we were in testimony meeting (like it sounds, where members of the congregation get to stand at the podium and bear testimony of Christ) and the meeting went way over, and we're sitting there waiting for the last person on the stand to walk up and share her testimony when the guy that was conducting the meeting stands up to close it, he didn't realize that there was one more person.. So he stands up and starts talking, when all the sudden the girl we were sitting with jumps up and yells "WAIT! What about Natalie!!!!!" In the middle of the chapel. So he sits down and Natalie shared a really good testimony. Maybe it was a you had to be there moment, but goodness gracious, I was laughing super hard.

Well y'all, I love you!!! Thanks for all you do for me, and for all the love and support y'all send me! 

Y'all are the best!!

Love,

Sister Bond