OUR FRIEND IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!
A member in our ward told me and Sis. Shay that the church's "best kept secret" is the mission. Truth. Because it's hard to know what something is like on a mission until you actually experience it. I want to talk about our friend who is getting baptized. But truly, it is so hard describe everything that's happened and how happy we all feel, but my dad told me when I share mission experiences, that's part of missionary work. So I present to you, "Mission life with Sister Chou. Today's episode: On the Lord's errand."
Last Saturday (12/28): *phone rings* *a member is on the other line* hey I have a friend from China over who's only visiting for a couple weeks. Could you guys come teach her the gospel?
So me and Sis. Shay head over, and we share about the how God is our loving Heavenly Father.
So me and Sis. Shay head over, and we share about the how God is our loving Heavenly Father.
Over the next 2 days, we taught her the Restoration, and the Plan of Salvation and while we were preparing for our Plan of Salvation lesson, me and Sister Shay were like, we feel like we can invite her to be baptized. Then we were like this is crazy. But we prayed to ask Heavenly Father if it was right, and then that lesson, she said yes and then we set a baptismal date for January 18th!!!!!!! We've been meeting with her every single day almost to teach her about this gospel and it's truly been amazing. Here is a little "highlight reel" of this past week with her.
-we taught her about fasting 2 days ago and then she fasted with us on Sunday!! Then during fast and testimony meeting she bore her testimony about how coming here and meeting the missionaries was truly part of God's plan, that reading the Book of Mormon helps her feel close to God, and she invited everyone to her baptism. She's pretty much the best.
-taught her about obedience and that we were going to teach her the commandments, and then she said she would be willing to follow them, even though we hadn't taught her all of them yet.
-told us that this past week, she's really felt her life change and that she always wants to be this happy
-one night we called her and asked her if she believed that the Book of Mormon, if she believed that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ, and if she believed in living prophets. She said yes to all 3
-it's so amazing to teach her because everything is new and she just absorbs it
-taught her about obedience and that we were going to teach her the commandments, and then she said she would be willing to follow them, even though we hadn't taught her all of them yet.
-told us that this past week, she's really felt her life change and that she always wants to be this happy
-one night we called her and asked her if she believed that the Book of Mormon, if she believed that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ, and if she believed in living prophets. She said yes to all 3
-it's so amazing to teach her because everything is new and she just absorbs it
I don't even know how to explain it, but being able to see true signs of conversion in other people's lives seriously just makes me so happy. I just didn't ever think that seeing Christ change people's lives could make me THIS HAPPY. And it's not even that me and Sister Shay taught someone and are helping them get baptized, but that we get to bring lasting change into someone's life. I think the greatest joys in this life include seeing other people's lives change and being able to witness the happiness they feel. I could literally explode with happiness. As missionaries, yes we commit people to baptism and help them be baptized, but it's a lot more than that. It's helping people find lasting joy through Jesus Christ.
A thought:
These last couple of weeks I have really learned about faith and prayer. I used to think that if I didn't follow every promoting, the Lord wouldn't bless me. Wrong. If you strive to do what the Lord asks of you, He will give you blessings. I've realized that when I pray, I can actually ask Him specific things, and then if I exercise faith, the Lord will deliver the exact thing I asked if it was a righteous desire. (I know, crazy that I'm just figuring this out.) This week, I asked God if He could actually bless me with specific things that I asked if I exercised faith. Then I read the scriptures and guess what I read? I read about how Nephi desired to know about Christ and his father's dream about the tree of life, and the he was shown these things. It's that simple. But you have to have to have to exercise faith.
These last couple of weeks I have really learned about faith and prayer. I used to think that if I didn't follow every promoting, the Lord wouldn't bless me. Wrong. If you strive to do what the Lord asks of you, He will give you blessings. I've realized that when I pray, I can actually ask Him specific things, and then if I exercise faith, the Lord will deliver the exact thing I asked if it was a righteous desire. (I know, crazy that I'm just figuring this out.) This week, I asked God if He could actually bless me with specific things that I asked if I exercised faith. Then I read the scriptures and guess what I read? I read about how Nephi desired to know about Christ and his father's dream about the tree of life, and the he was shown these things. It's that simple. But you have to have to have to exercise faith.
Now tying the thought and my exploding happiness together:
For those who feel like they don't have missionary opportunities, pray for them. It's hard to explain, but I promise you that when you ask for those experiences, the Lord will give them to you and you will have so much joy it will exhaust your strength like Alma says. I love each and every single one of you, and because I do, I want you all to have this joy!! So look for opportunities to share the gospel!!! Go be on the Lord's errand. And if that's not motivation enough with all my exclamation points, here is a talk:
For those who feel like they don't have missionary opportunities, pray for them. It's hard to explain, but I promise you that when you ask for those experiences, the Lord will give them to you and you will have so much joy it will exhaust your strength like Alma says. I love each and every single one of you, and because I do, I want you all to have this joy!! So look for opportunities to share the gospel!!! Go be on the Lord's errand. And if that's not motivation enough with all my exclamation points, here is a talk:
Spiritual Capacity
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/10/15craig
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/10/15craig
Some yellow emojis because I'm super happy
🌞🌟💛🐤🏵⭐🌻🌞🌟💛🐤🏵⭐🌻
🌞🌟💛🐤🏵⭐🌻🌞🌟💛🐤🏵⭐🌻
No comments:
Post a Comment