I'm grateful for the way repentance works. I remember being with my last companion and noticing the way she was always apologizing to the Lord for what seemed like everything. I thought it was quite unusual. I think I've had an understanding of repentance before, but I guess I never really thought about doing it every day for so many little things. But it is so amazing. Repentance really is so important for qualifying for the impressions of the Spirit, which are so vital to the work. The struggle with that right now is being patient with myself because I am always falling short, and always making mistakes. It's easy for me to be really hard on myself about it, but I'm learning.
I can't say this enough: I am so grateful for the Spirit in this work. This week my companion and I have been working so hard at our goals (one of them being "If you're going to set a goal, get it; if not, repent and sleep well"). One goal in particular is to be better with our timeliness and sticking to the schedule we've set. We've already seen the miracles from keeping that goal. We'd made a plan to do some finding at one of the many parks we have in our area. When we arrived there at the time we had scheduled, there weren't but maybe two cars parked there, where we had expected there to be a few more people. Our first thought was, "Eh, maybe we ought to go somewhere else." But then we noticed a guy sitting in his car in the corner of the parking lot. As soon as we saw him, the Spirit automatically told us to go talk to him. After fighting past my doubts, we prayed, and made our way over to talk to him. The Spirit guided us through our conversation and helped us bear witness of the importance of the Restoration and the power of the Book of Mormon. I think we came right when he needed us because when we asked him if we could teach him more, he gladly accepted, and we're meeting with him on Thursday. So many times I talk myself out of situations like that, and it was so amazing to see the reward from our faith.
Another great experience we had from the Spirit came to us yesterday, as we were TRYING to follow our schedule. As we were on our way, the Spirit prompted us to go visit Lilian, and since she lives out of our area, it's not always easy to just drive over on a whim. After we talked about it, we prayed and the Spirit came so strongly and told us to go. After we texted our district leader and got his response, we went to Lilian's house. We got there and knocked... nothing. Knocked again... nothing still. In my head, I said, "Nuh-uh. We did not get a prompting like that for no reason. We are here for something." So I had the thought to ring the doorbell, which we don't usually do, and after a little while, she came. We had a great conversation! She was really able to open up to us about her experiences, and the Spirit bore powerful testimony through us of the Savior's ability to make those impossible things possible and heal every hurt. We invited her to say the prayer, and she thanked Heavenly Father that we came and helped her. What a tender mercy. Heavenly Father is truly aware of each of his children.
I know he blesses us as we strive to be obedient— exactly, even when it doesn't make sense. I'm so grateful that he knows best.
~Sister Nielsen
PICTURES!
We met this family at one of the parks in our area. (This is Stephanie and her parents, for those who are following along.) They wanted to take a picture with us, so we decided to get our cameras out, too. Also, there's Lee being all creepy and stuff. :D
Strike a pose, lil squirrel. Strike a pose.
Walla Walla is really pretty. So is my companion. A selfie resulted.
Going through the reasons people are former investigators: "Not interested." "Moved." "Not interested; try back soon." "Not ready." "In Prison." ...oh. :)
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