Sister Lagrosa: Compelled to Humility - December 30, 2013

Hi Family and Friends!

 

So, this past week was amazing, As you may have discerned from the title of this e-mail, I am a missionary with a subtitle! haha

 

On Christmas Eve, we had to finish our proselyting by 6pm, and we were going to meet up with our Elders at the church, but they were late. Luckily though, we found some members, the Murrays, there who were substituting for the missionaries who run the Addiction Recovery Program in our building on Tuesday evenings. No one showed up, but it was a good opportunity for Sister Plante and I to sit down with the Murrays and we talked about how the steps really help us to come closer to Christ, and receive help for the trials that we all face. Over and over again in the scriptures, and also in the steps, it talks about humbling yourself before God, and our trials compel us to humility. As we were talking about this, I said something like:

"I really have been compelled to humility time and time again. That's me, 'Sister Lagrosa: Compelled to Humility!"

and Brother Murray says:

"Oh boy! We have a missionary with a subtitle here!"

haha, but it's true, we do need to be humble to receive help... and more often than not I feel we are compelled by our trials.

 

Later on that evening we opened our Christmas presents, because we were going to have an early morning calling our families! There was definitely a theme -- socks and lotion! haha, we are really grateful for our warm feet, and our bathroom cabinet which now looks kind of like the toiletries section in Walgreens lol. It is truly a blessing to be a missionary on Christmas!
Early Christmas morning, I sang a hymn with my makeshift guitar (racquetball racket) to Sister Plante, and we went to the Huddlestons to Facetime. The whole drive over we were talking about how weird it'd be to talk to and SEE our families, but when the time came, it was just kind of normal... except for seeing my nametag in the little box that shows what you look like lol. :P But it was wonderful, and I loved talking with everyone! :D

 

This really was quite the week with Christmas, and everything going on with the holiday season. We were really blessed to have some solid lessons with people, and we were able to see miracles every day. I feel like a brand new missionary sometimes, because my heart is just so filled with joy before, during, and especially after some lessons where the Spirit is testifying of truth with so much power!

 

Yesterday was an example of a crazy-yet-amazing missionary day filled with miracles. Church was fantastic, and our friend Justin was there again (3 weeks in a row!) and he is so lit up with the Spirit, desiring to learn, and he's smiling and talking so much more than when we met him nearly a month ago!

 

We taught Emily (9) and Evie (8) (two sisters who are getting baptized this Saturday!) in a tent at their house after church. It was so amazing to see how far Emily has come since we first met with her, and how well her understanding has increased. She's really articulating what she knows, and she really wants to be baptized because she knows that it's what "her friend, Jesus" wants her to do.

 

We've been driving up to Lovington (about 20 miles N of Hobbs), on Sundays the past few weeks, and we did again yesterday, after 2 hours of what we had planned fell through in 15 minutes, we went looking for some members' whose addresses weren't correct. It was pretty uneventful until we met a man who was just really filled with sadness. I don't know exactly how to explain our conversation, but my heart was heavy as we left his cold, windy doorstep. He'd really made me think about how we let our trials affect us.

The words he'd said so accusingly: "You don't know what I've been through... I feel sorry for you that you can trust people." rang, as I though to myself You don't know what I've been through either... but Christ does. There is hope, there is goodness in the world.

 

I thought again about the Spirit, testifying of all truth, and how it really brings hope into our lives. And I realized again how important it is to search for truth, and search for goodness even though, honestly there is a lot of hate and sadness in the world. There is hope in Christ's gospel, there is hope for the world.

 

We prayed together to try and feel the Spirit again, and we knew where we needed to go to feel the Spirit again.  We went to see Sister Audrey. She's blind, and can't make it to church most weeks, but we always go and read with her when we are in town. We forgot the exact address of her house, but we knew the street, and talked about how we'd know it's her house because it'll be glowing with all the love she has for everyone around her -- which is so true. She speaks with intention -- intention to understand, to comfort, to explain truth, and we were able to uplift each other's spirits as we discussed the miracles of Christmas, the blessings of our families and read from Mosiah.

 

Afterwards I thought to myself: I knew something great would have to happen after the sorrow we'd felt earlier, I'm so glad we went there! As Sister Plante and I traveled to A member's home- our last appointment for the evening. We were thrilled as we walked in, because we were just reflecting upon the craziness it seemed like the day was, and we had been trying to meet with Sister Cozette for 3 weeks now! As we ate dinner, we got to know her and her family a little better, and her coworker, Laurie, who had come to church today joined us. (I thought about how it's every missionary's dream to have a member 1- bring a friend to church, 2- invite us over for dinner AND 3- bring that friend to dinner and have a lesson, then I thought about how that's kind of how I ended up meeting the missionaries. :P)

We had such an amazing lesson as we talked about the restoration of Jesus Christ's one true church on the earth today. Laurie has been looking for direction, and she described how she felt as: "Well, I came in just feeling hungry, and now I feel... different. There was like a weight in my head, and it's been lifted."

 

I love that the Spirit really does affect us all in our own way that we can feel it. We read with her in Galatians, about the fruits of the Spirit, and invited her to read from the Book of Mormon and pray to know for herself if it is true. We were able to promise her that as she did read and pray that she would come to know her Savior better, and she would know that Joseph Smith was truly called to restore the very church Jesus Christ established when He was on the earth Himself. We asked her when she came to know the truth of our message for herself if she would be baptized, she said: "Yeah. I would do that... wow! I didn't even hesitate."

 

It is truly such a blessing to be here. I know that our God is a God of miracles. I'm so blessed to see His hand in my life, and I know that His love for His children is so great that words cannot even begin to describe it. There is hope and love to be found in the world, and there is true, lasting joy and safety to be found in the good-news, the gospel of Jesus Christ. I feel so blessed to know my Savior, and to know that we are led again today, but Him, through a living prophet. I know I am so blessed to know that our loving Father in Heaven is no author of confusion, and He wants us to find truth as we search for it.

He loves us, and we are never alone!

 

Be safe as we welcome in this new year!

 

All my love,

Sister Lagrosa

 

Pictures:

1- I sang a hymn to Sister Plante Christmas morning :P

2- We opened presents Christmas Eve. :P

3- We had a lesson in a tent yesterday!