Hello family and friends!!
I can't believe it's already been another week here in the land of enchantment! It has been quite an interesting week with transfers all around the mission, and my life staying pretty much the same, lol, but we were blessed with many new challenges this week, and as always, it fit right in to a theme that seemed to be very present: Faith and the Scriptures...
So the changes that did happen went more in with faith, and the prophets theme, was more for the people we were able to teach, but get excited, because it was all excellent, and Sister Muaina and I are breaking the Sister missionary mold down here in Hobbs, America!
That's right, weird thought that Sister Lagrosa of all sister missionaries would be breaking a mold huh? (we can disregard the hair-shaving ;) haha but you are now reading the blog/e-mails of the first sister missionary bike area here in the TLM! ...okay, well, we are half way there... We have the delightful opportunity to share a car with the Elders that we split the ward with! Luckily we get along great, so that's a plus, but due to some back injuries, our new Elder can't really bike, so they're walking around their 4 sq/mile area everyday. Lucky Sister Muaina and I get to bike around our 16 sp/mile area during the days! haha, but we're allowed to drive to the towns we cover that are 20miles outside of Hobbs, we're still banking on being pretty fit by the end of these next few weeks... if the Elders even take the car. I've been really surprised/flattered with the chivalry of the missionaries here (because even though we all have bike day on Thursdays, every sister missionary companionship has a car), and the Elders really do feel bad about using it when we could be.... but now we feel bad, because we want them to be healthy you know?Nevertheless, this little trial of faith will work out, and I know we're gonna see miracles down here! God is good to His servants, and we are faithfully working hard to declare the restored gospel to everyone we meet! :D
Speaking of which... even though we had a lot of appointments fall through, we did have some amazing lessons this week! The highlight was definitely with Alex, on Thursday night. We taught the Plan of Salvation -- which is truly amazing! And at the end of the lesson we asked him about his goals that he has in life. His immediate answer was: "I need an upgrade!" ... and he listed a few things from his relationships to his ride. Brother C asked him about his relationship with God, and he said "Oh man, I DEFINATELY need to upgrade that!" That was really cool to hear, I think we can all use some upgrading in that department lol. But this man was just so excited to come to church, and he's experienced the peaceful change already that's come into his life from doing the simple things like reading the Book of Mormon and praying each and every day. He knows that the restored priesthood power on the earth, is the only way he can "upgrade" in God's way, that will be permanent beyond this life, and he's so excited to be baptized! It's really amazing to see, from this missionary's point of view, the effect that the Holy Ghost really has on people as they listen to it, and really seek truth in their lives... there's a LOT of darkness in the world... it's not hard to find, but that light... that light of truth that comes from the Spirit, that is what changes us, and brings us closer to God. :)
We've been reading with quite a few people lately, because they haven't been able to make the time for it that they need to, but something that really has stuck out to me, as we've borne testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, is how important it is to find out for yourself if it's true. There are quite a few people down here that have already made up their mind without even attempting to read the Book for themselves, and that really breaks my heart more than some of the less-than kind things that they may say about us in ignorance.
Ephesians 2:20 states: "[we] are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone."
I know that in order to be built upon the proverbial rock of Jesus Christ, we need to be nurtured by His word... and the scriptures are a record of His prophets and apostles. His counsel throughout the scriptures is "by their fruits ye shall know them", and I know that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, written by prophets who lived before, during, and after Christ's ministry here on this earth. I know that Joseph Smith translated that ancient record for us today, through the power of our loving God, so that we could know without a doubt that He has restored the fullness of His gospel to the earth again today.
I also know with all of my heart that the fruits of simple daily scripture study are exceedingly desirable, and if we each paused for a simple minute to read, and 4 more to ponder what it is that we've read, we WILL see blessings in our lives that cannot be duplicated by man. I've experienced these blessings in my own life, which is by no means without challenge, and I've seen these simple steps bless the lives of countless families around me. It's comforting to know also, that there are blessings to come in the future, and God cannot lie, He will always keep His promises.
It truly is the simple things in life that have the greatest effect on us... think about the last difficult day you had. Did a stranger smile at you? How would it have felt if one had? ...simple things have great effect. And reading the scriptures is something we only have to rely on ourselves to do. ;)
I love you all!!
Remember Romans 15:4 "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
It is such a blessing this opportunity we have to be fed by the Spirit as we read the words of the prophets. I know that we can always learn more, and that there is always more room for hope.
I love you all, and miss you greatly! I hope this finds you well, wherever you may be! Keep pressing forward, in faith and hope.
All my love,
Sister Lagrosa
Picture:
not many pictures this week! but we washed 7 puppies for service one day! :D It was a blast :P
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