During
our family history hour, where we look for records and sources online
to put family trees together, I found 3 new families!! I felt so much
excitement for these families now that they've been found. I'm so
excited to take their names to the temple so they may have the
opportunity to be baptized by proxy and accept or decline that baptismal
covenant. Every single one of God's children will have the chance to be
baptized and accept His gospel! God is so good!
We
taught another lesson to Michael, an 8 year old boy who wants to be
baptized but his family hasn't been active in the church for around 20
years. His cousin Kaylani was there and we watched the 20 min
Restoration movie with them. We gave both of them a children's copy of
the Book of Mormon and Kaylani hugged it to her chest and said "I'm
going to read and pray about this every night!" As we kept talking she
leaned back and softly said "Am I in a dream?" It made my heart melt!
She knew it was true and was feeling the Spirit. Her quiet and sincere
testimony was so touching. She was smiling really big the whole time. At
the end, she introduced us to her mother who is not a member! She also
wants us to teach her and we are so excited!
We
also had more bike adventures this week haha! We only had one service
with other missionaries this week. The other service times we were
scheduled with the sisters who are too sick to leave their apartment, so
Sister Gugelman and I had a lot of alone time (not my favorite but it's
okay). We biked to one of our services which included us going over the
freeway on a bridge. It happened to be incredibly windy that day and I
felt like I was about to be blown over! Haha! Somehow the wind was
always going against us and we we're moving about 2 inches a second. ;)
Again, couldn't help but laugh. It was so funny. Don't worry - by some
miracle we didn't get blown over!
At Soles 4
Souls we packed a massive semi full of bags of shoes. Hermana Longshore
and I climbed on top of the shoe pile and packed the shoe bags in the
top as tightly as we could. It's true that heat rises lol! It was super
toasty in there! We packed for a solid 30 minutes and then I pulled out
my phone to check the time. Hermana Longshore said "uh oh. I don't have
my phone. It was in my pocket." We all paused the packing, said a
prayer, and I turned on my flash to start looking. She didn't have the
SIM card so we couldn't call it, and her phone was black. This semi was
packed with shoes and 10 feet tall 13 feet wide. It felt like trying to
look for a needle in a haystack. The shoes were going to Dubai, so if
all else failed, they could ship it back but... Yeah we were worried. I
said I hadn't seen her phone in her pocket for a while so I suggested we
go back and look. We went back a good 16 feet or so and dug around.
Elder Reeves came up to help and I asked if he would lift a bag up. I
shined my flashlight down there and he saw a screen. We found it!!
Honestly the odds were not in our favor but somehow... God answers
prayers. ;)
Referring back to the lessons I
learned this week, I won't go into specifics. But I have learned that
God's priesthood power is real. I've also felt the burden of those we
are teaching in a way I've never felt before. Lynn's car was stolen, her
phone was broken, and she's now getting threats on top of fighting
cancer and sickness. Tony, Amy, and Suzie asked us to stop reminding
them and only want to see us every now and then. Several people we're
working with called or texted us in distress asking us for help. As I
walked into church, I felt a heavy burden on me and could just tell many
people were hurting. As people bore their testimony, my feelings were
confirmed. I felt God's sacrifice for us and the burdens He carries for
us in a way I've never felt before. The thought of me causing Him any
more pain through sin and guilt made me cry even more. He truly carries
us because He loves us. Our burdens are not light. They hurt. But we are
not alone. Someone voluntarily took that upon Himself to carry the
burden with us. I'm so grateful for our Savior, and understand His
Atonement a little better now. Being a missionary does that, I guess.
Sacrament Meeting ended with the Hymn Abide With Me, the song my family
would sing a capella together. Needless to say, it wasn't a coincidence.
I love you all! Turn to your Savior! He knows every burden you have, do, and will carry. Miss you all so so so much! Love,
Sister Mary Goss
 |
| Riverside Pride sign |
 |
| Time to get dirty |
 |
| Waiting for interviews with President |
 |
| Soles 4 Souls semi :) |
 |
| I found a guitar!! |
No comments:
Post a Comment