Monday, February 17, 2014

ARE YOU READY FOR THIS ???

FAMILY!

Oh boy....the energy I feel from this work is so wonderful! I am typing so fast there may be smoke coming out of this computer any minute! The spirit is so much more powerful than any technology….. I WIN! (Adri*) 

Cheylee asked me a question last week that has stuck with me every day. "How do you feel during your lessons with investigators?" I would not only like to answer the question for her but for each one of you. When I am looking directly at one of heavenly Father’s children, a child of God, I can feel a small, teeny tiny, glimpse of God's love for each one of us. And that love continues to expands to so much more. I want them to come to Christ, to understand his role in their lives, to know him personally, to feel and understand and recognize his love and NEVER, NEVER, NEVER forget that love. Not even for one second of their day. After a lesson,your brain, your face and your body hurt because you are just praying, listening, and discerning so hard for Heavenly Father to help you understand and feel what they need. And it doesn’t stop there because you go home and study and think and ponder some more on what you could share, say, or do to help them in their journey. It doesn't hurt like ‘school studying’ hurt, because the spirit replenishes you and the feeling of the Holy Ghost is so warm, so rich, so good. Once you feel the spirit, your mind just works and hungers and thirst for more of it. The feeling when teaching is so rich, so exhausting, yet so full. It is similar to the feelings you have when you are serving someone…. but even greater! 

We had the great privilege and blessing to hear from Elder Alonso of the Quorum of the Seventy! Ahhhhhh! We attended a Saturday evening session. A General Authority had this to say about the youth and missionary work, "The youth play a VITAL role in the work of salvation." They are the oxygen in the fire! If I could go back to my days as a youth... wow! They have such an influence on the rising generation. They are the future of the world, the leaders of the church! Saturday evening we were put on the spot a bit and had a full-time missionary choir with the Elders in our zone, and our Mission President and his wife. Afterwards Elder Alonso stood up with us all surrounding him and said (paraphrasing) Do you feel the power of these missionaries? What are you doing with these missionaries? How are you using them? Sunday morning he gave two direct invitations, one about loving your wife and the other about missionary work. 

The one about missionary work was this: “Create a list of all the individuals you know who are not yet members of this church….. friends, family members, neighbors, co-workers.” ( He said he has 127 family members alone that are not members.) And then he said, “I want you to pray, and pray, and pray again, and kneel down again and pray to know which individual the Lord is preparing to hear the message of the restoration of the gospel. And then I want you to share some knowledge you have of the restoration of the gospel with them, and then I want you to invite them to listen to the lessons with the missionaries.” Later that evening we received a text from an individual in our ward who asked if we had a dinner open. He said a friends name was running through his mind all morning and when he heard Elder Alonso's talk it hit home. He texted his friend and he responded, “YES, I will come over when you have dinner with the missionaries!!!!!!!!!!!”

Well I have ranted too much and not shared with you anything of the investigators. They are all doing amazing!

Angela is a power house. Struggling to still live all the commandments, and trying to really know if she has a testimony of the restored gospel and if she wants to give up everything and follow God. 

Pat is an older single woman who we just started teaching. As we were reading with her in the Book of Mormon this past week she opened up and shared with us a lot of her deep concerns. She has lost a few members of her family and still feels very close to them. All that came to Sister Harmon's mind was, they are just surrounding you whispering in your ear to do their temple work for them, but she can't quite understand it. 

Ahhh, well, I have to go, I love you all so very much. Thank you for your love, your support. Yes, we are feeling your prayers here, we feel them every day. And these individuals who are learning are feeling them every day as well. It takes an army to bring an individual closer to Christ! 

Much Love, Sister Davis

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