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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