Happy transfer Pday, my good friends and family! We are officially coming to the close of yet another transfer, and I'm not quite sure how to feel about it. Six weeks doesn't feel like anything anymore.
This week was fun and hard and interesting all at the same time. We had fasted and prayed this week to be able to be more obedient and to be able to teach more by the spirit. Well, after that, we couldn't find anybody to teach! Even with our scheduled visits, everyone fell through on us. Talk about a trial of faith.
On Friday we had a work visit from our amazing District Leader. He's always overflowing with the Spirit. And, we still couldn't find almost anyone to teach. But we had a really cool experience teaching a part member family! They have a little four year old boy that is a little hyperactive. Super sweet and adorable, but always bouncing off the walls. Well, we had planned on teaching the Restoration, but didn't quite know how to do it with him jumping around and yelling. We got his attention by telling him we were going to tell a story. He sat down long enough to say the opening prayer, and then I sat right down on the floor and started telling a story about Jesus here on earth teaching his friends, the apostles, how to help other people learn about God. They all had super special powers, like the superheros we like to see. But when Jesus died, the people were angry with all of his friends too... so we lost the super special powers here on earth. Everyone was sad and confused, and forgot how to find God. One little boy was really confused and didn't know what church taught the truth, so he read his bible. The bible said that he should ask God himself with a lot of faith to find his answer. So he did it! And God answered his prayer!
Telling this story to a four year old was probably the most spiritual experience I've had teaching the Restoration to anyone. I couldn't even stop to let my companion talk for fear of losing the little boy's attention. I kind of felt like a mom or a Primary teacher. What a wonderful reminder as to how much our Heavenly Father loves little children. It left his non member dad very interested in our message, and the whole fam bam showed up to sacrament meeting on Sunday.
Other spiritual things I have encountered this week... I finally finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish today! Literally just this morning. I really liked, well, all of it... but especially one part in Ether chapter 6. You know how we have all heard the story of the Brother of Jared and his barges? Well I especially like an extra part that I feel like we sometimes overlook, when they have finally left for their journey to the promised land. "And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters..." These poor people living in little boats were tossed and turned in wind and waves because the Lord made it so.
They were buried in the depths of the sea, and they prayed to the Lord that he might deliver them. He answered their prayers, but the wind never ceased. They prayed and sang for almost an entire year in these barges all the while being tossed upon ferocious waves at the hand of the Lord. Have you ever thought that that might be how our journey is as we find our way back to the promised land? The Lord, not the devil, puts trials in our paths to help us reach our destination even faster than we could by ourselves. Think about how important the wind must be to a sailor... without wind and resistence, he couldn't get anywhere. So rejoice in your trials, my friends. They will not cease. And they are carrying us ever closer to the promised land with our loving Father in Heaven.
I love you all dearly. I hope there isn't too much change to report in the upcoming week...
Until we write again!
Hermana Schroader
This week was fun and hard and interesting all at the same time. We had fasted and prayed this week to be able to be more obedient and to be able to teach more by the spirit. Well, after that, we couldn't find anybody to teach! Even with our scheduled visits, everyone fell through on us. Talk about a trial of faith.
On Friday we had a work visit from our amazing District Leader. He's always overflowing with the Spirit. And, we still couldn't find almost anyone to teach. But we had a really cool experience teaching a part member family! They have a little four year old boy that is a little hyperactive. Super sweet and adorable, but always bouncing off the walls. Well, we had planned on teaching the Restoration, but didn't quite know how to do it with him jumping around and yelling. We got his attention by telling him we were going to tell a story. He sat down long enough to say the opening prayer, and then I sat right down on the floor and started telling a story about Jesus here on earth teaching his friends, the apostles, how to help other people learn about God. They all had super special powers, like the superheros we like to see. But when Jesus died, the people were angry with all of his friends too... so we lost the super special powers here on earth. Everyone was sad and confused, and forgot how to find God. One little boy was really confused and didn't know what church taught the truth, so he read his bible. The bible said that he should ask God himself with a lot of faith to find his answer. So he did it! And God answered his prayer!
Telling this story to a four year old was probably the most spiritual experience I've had teaching the Restoration to anyone. I couldn't even stop to let my companion talk for fear of losing the little boy's attention. I kind of felt like a mom or a Primary teacher. What a wonderful reminder as to how much our Heavenly Father loves little children. It left his non member dad very interested in our message, and the whole fam bam showed up to sacrament meeting on Sunday.
Other spiritual things I have encountered this week... I finally finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish today! Literally just this morning. I really liked, well, all of it... but especially one part in Ether chapter 6. You know how we have all heard the story of the Brother of Jared and his barges? Well I especially like an extra part that I feel like we sometimes overlook, when they have finally left for their journey to the promised land. "And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters..." These poor people living in little boats were tossed and turned in wind and waves because the Lord made it so.
They were buried in the depths of the sea, and they prayed to the Lord that he might deliver them. He answered their prayers, but the wind never ceased. They prayed and sang for almost an entire year in these barges all the while being tossed upon ferocious waves at the hand of the Lord. Have you ever thought that that might be how our journey is as we find our way back to the promised land? The Lord, not the devil, puts trials in our paths to help us reach our destination even faster than we could by ourselves. Think about how important the wind must be to a sailor... without wind and resistence, he couldn't get anywhere. So rejoice in your trials, my friends. They will not cease. And they are carrying us ever closer to the promised land with our loving Father in Heaven.
I love you all dearly. I hope there isn't too much change to report in the upcoming week...
Until we write again!
Hermana Schroader