June 29, 2015

Hey there family!! I hope y'all had a great week, things are getting nice and hot in Cali! And I'm getting more and more red everyday! Sometimes I think its a tan, but then when I look closely, I realize that my skin is just red. Haha, its pretty great!

Not a whole lot of super exciting things happened this week, we did go on exchanges though! Really, every time I go on exchanges I just realize just how mindful Heavenly Father is of each of us, and in each of our lives. That there are people all over the world, different circumstances and Heavenly Father is aware of each and everyone of us, and providing miracles for each of us. 

    I learned while on exchanges that Heavenly Father sees us for who we can become, he wants us to grow, so he sees us as who we can become. Where as normal people, we tend to only see the little things, or we see who we were, but Heavenly Father sees our growth and continues to help us to reach our potential.

As for the miracles this week, the biggest one would probably be with Maddie, our investigator in the YSA. So, we texted her for our lesson this week, and she ended up texting us to see if she could bring her friend Gabby with to the lesson, we of course say yes, and get there and then Maddies boyfriend Kyle calls and asked if he could come with to the lesson too!!! So we taught all three of them! Maddies boyfriend is a member and is going on a mission, but Gabby has met with missionaries on and off for a super long time, but seems like she wants to take the lessons again. She said that she wants to get baptized within the next year, so we'll see what happens!! Either way, it was a super great miracle to start teaching Maddie and Gabby!! Life is great!

Another miracle, while we were on exchanges I was in our area with one of the Spanish sisters, and we went to see a less active in the YSA ward, and we get there and find out that this is a family that the spanish sisters have been trying to get in contact with for a long time and here we are on exchanges and they let us in! Then the sister I was with asked to share a scripture, so she did and the sister we were visiting told us that it was exactly what she needed to hear, and she started crying because of how the scripture touched her heart. The spirit in the room was so strong! 

   It was one of those moments when you realize just how aware Heavenly Father is of you.

We had a leadership meeting this week, that was good! They did it a little bit different than what they've done in the past, so I feel like I learned a lot more of what I can do to help others, so I was very thankful for that meeting! :)

There is a quote on my planner that I feel has helped me a lot on my mission and in becoming who I am today. It says "All of our feelings of inadequacy dissolve when we link arms and do the Lords work, serve him in his glory, and live as his disciples." -Rosemary M. Wixom

    I have learned so many times that I can't do things on my own, that I can't become who I need to be without the Lords help, and I know that with the Lords help I have grown so much, but I also know that I can grow so much more, and that there is no limit to our growth as humans, that like I said earlier, that Heavenly Father sees us as who we can become. I know that as we live as his disciples and act as his disciples, we will serve him, and serve him in his glory. I learned more about conversion yesterday, more of being converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and how conversion never ends, but that we always need to work on it, that its a never ending thing that we can always progress in. I know I've grown a lot on my mission, and I know that there is even more growth ahead of me. And I'm excited to grow with my Heavenly Father. 

    I know that Heavenly Father loves me, and that he is aware of me, but also everyone around me. I know that Jesus Christ is the perfect example of who to become like, and as we take steps every day, we can get closer to him.

Well, for the funny moment of the week, once upon a time my companion goes home in about 3 weeks, and we were talking about how awkward her first date is going to be. So missionaries, we do these things called role plays, where we act things out to try and become more confident in what we're doing or teaching. So I had the great idea that we should role play her first date, well, me being really awkward, and both of us being awkward missionaries, we realized that when we get home we're going to be the most awkward RM's in the history of the world. I don't even know how to explain how the role play went, but just know that it was really funny, and that I'm still an awkward missionary. Haha!

I love y'all!! Thanks for being such great support! I love y'all! Have a great week!

~Sister Bond