MTC Before
My Same Mission "Family"! (After)
Ciao cari,
This week I'm super short on time! But this week was amazing. Yesterday we had a wonderfully magnificent zone conference on what it means to be a successful missionary. And basically it is if you are committed to the lord and are trying your best. It doesn't mean you are perfect because perfection is unattainable in this life. But it does mean you are trying to be the best you can be and give what you can in that moment.
24 And again, I say unto the poor, ye who have not and yet have sufficient, that ye remain from day to day; I mean all you who deny the beggar, because ye have not; I would that ye say in your hearts that: I give not because I have not, but if I had I would give.
25 And now, if ye say this in your hearts ye remain guiltless, otherwise ye are condemned; and your condemnation is just for ye covet that which ye have not received.
26 And now, for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you--that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless before God--I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants.
27 And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order. -Mosiah 4:24-27
We had so many miracles this week. We had the mission conference on Thursday where Elder Hallstrom, Elder Kearon, and President Nelson and their wives all spoke to us. It was really awesome. They spoke of finding joy in the work, making sure the mission always stays with us throughout our lives and is the foundation for our lives instead of just a really good experience and then we fall back into our old ways and then about our true identities. President Nelson talked about how we were hidden by lord, saved until these days to come here. It was so powerful. The spirit was so sweet and I know it was inspired, every word. I know the world is so shaky and changing, but we can find the power to stay steady through our tender Savior, who is the greatest understander of all of our hearts.
Then on Friday we had two jaw dropping miracles. First, we had a lesson with the investigator Heavenly Father just dropped right into our laps two sundays ago. She just randomly came to church. And this Sunday we learned that she told a member that she came to church that Sunday because Jesus led her down the street and told her she needed to come inside.
She has such a great desire to know the truth. She asks questions and then accepts our answers, because she is humble enough to let Heavenly Father work on her heart. We are so blessed to know her and are so incredibly happy and grateful to be a part of this time in her life as she acquires the truths of the full gospel of Jesus Christ. She loves the plan of salvation and she understood exactly why we need to be baptized by the proper priesthood authority of Christ. She said it was because we need to exercise our own agency and choose. She is so golden.
But the storm of miracles does not end there! Right after that lesson Sorella Hess and I stopped in to get a pizza from a place right by our apartment that we may or may not frequent often ;) and we have been trying to teach this woman named Gina who works there. Well we went in and immediately she came over to us. The last time we saw her she said she knew who we were, and that we believe Christ lives. We were shocked and so happy she recognized that! And so when we saw her Friday we asked if we could meet up to maybe explain more about the Church. And she told us she had to tell us something. That she was a member already of the church. And had been since the 1990s. She was baptized in Ukraine where her family still lives, but has been in Italy for eighteen years. But she told us it was a very complicated story and she couldn't tell it to us all right then. So we are going backtonight to learn the whole story. We told her she was a complete miracle, but she turned right back around and humbly said that we were the miracle, that we found her after all this time.
And that just made me realize that the lord really does put us here in these places at these times for specific souls. They are people with eternities behind and in front of them. Each soul has tons of other souls connected to them. So it is completely vital we make sure we have the spirit to be prepared to act on promptings to be an instrument in finding these people. We need to make sure we are always aligned with the lord, and that our intentions fit in precisely with his.
Another experience I wanted to talk about was last night. We went to visit a family in our ward after zone conference. And as we were sharing the thought I just felt this very firm feeling that I needed to tell them their family was going to be alright. That there is tragedy and heartbreaks in families, but that doesn't mean they still can't be okay. And those heartaches are to shape us. To lift us higher than we thought we could climb. To learn that we can't do anything alone. Even when we feel like we are, we must recognize we are not. And then we can get somewhere. We can begin to accept the grace so readily given by the one who knows us perfectly and suffered all our sufferings perfectly.
So much is happening here and it is all good things! usually but I know as we do our best each day we can consider ourselves a success. And in heavenly father's eyes, we are! No one expects us to run faster than we have strength. Except Satan. He wants us to run out of strength to resist temptation and so he tells us we need to be more than we actually really need to be. All we need to do is be obedient, happy, and try every day to stand a little taller and be a little better. He wants us to have joy. Not to carry the world on our shoulders.
In all of this, God’s purpose is that we, His children, may be able to experience ultimate joy, to be with Him eternally, and to become even as He is. Some years ago Elder Dallin H. Oaks explained: “The Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts--what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts--what we have become. It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become.” -D. Todd Christofferson
VVB
Sorella Jarnagin
Piazza Monte Gemma 9
00141 Roma, Italia
Italia Roma Missione 🇮🇹
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