natalie ann: week 74: God is merciful

Monday, March 27th, 2017

hello!

Who's excited for general conference?! I am!! I have been seriously counting down the months/ weeks/ days. My week was good! The weeks are flying by and it's crazy to think my 17 month mark is tomorrow.

Monday we got to contact a family, we talked to the dad and his friend for a while. The friend is a member and went on a mission but it not active. They are both tattoo artists. The dad did seem interested and we set a time to come back and then the wife came into the room and she told us they weren't interested. Sad. They seem like a really nice family. It's just so hard to see that because you know it would bless their family so much. We then had a lesson with the Ramirez family.

Tuesday pretty much not much happened. A lot of people weren't home and it's all kind of a blur on what happened. We invited a lot of families to do the 40 day fast.

Wednesday we had district meeting, it was our first one this transfer haha. We then had district lunch at DQ (we get it free). I finally got inspiration on my mission knock! It only took this long...we then went to see this old woman named Georgie who lives in an old folks home cause someone asked us to go see her. Sadly she isn't in our area but their ward mission leader wanted us to go see her. She was so sweet. It was a really cool experience to see her light up when we talked about God loving her and prayer and about Jesus Christ. She doesn't really know anything about them. I told her we were the missionaries, and she asked "mormon? I've been working on being a Mormon." Haha she is so cute. She asked us how she could feel God. She is just so prepared. I wish I could teach her! We then had a lesson with the Cole family. They have been reading their Book of Mormon!! We then called a referral and we asked him when we could meet and he was like you can come to native (a restaurant). So we go over but I was worried he was going to be in the bar section haha but luckily we got there and a woman was with him who is actually a member called us over. We taught him a little bit about the plan of salvation because his grandpa just passed away. He wanted to know more about Joseph Smith and I said we can set up a time to talk about that but he wasn't really into it cause he already goes to a church.

Thursday we saw Hillary (less-active) and her nonmember fiancé. Yep they are getting married in May. They are total hippies and are so funny. They were excited to watch general conference! They even put it on the calendar! We had a lesson with Zach on the Atonement. He didn't know Jesus Christ suffered for him in the garden of gethsemane which I was really surprised about because I know we have talked about it before and at church. But it was really good and we were definitely inspired to teach that.

Friday we had a really good lesson with Clarice! Our member was amazing! She is our new ward missionary and I'm super excited about it. She related so well to her, Clarice had never been so talkative. We talked about a lot of her concerns, and we invited her to the women's broadcast and our member even bought her a skirt! But she didn't end up coming cause it was her son's birthday party. But she was so excited to go! She really needs to be reading the Book of Mormon everyday. She isn't really putting her all into it. She has a desire to believe though. We then had a lesson with Noah. It was good. He is adorable and loves the gospel. I get there and he asks if he could use my plan of salvation cut outs to test if he can do it. He told us of a cool story on how his prayer was answered. I asked him how he could prepare for general conference and he said "buy popcorn." Lol. We had a lesson with the Sotos and they kept making me try Mexican candy that has pepper on it haha. It's not very good. We then had a lesson with Molly.

Saturday we had breakfast with the stake president. We then went to a relief society service project and tied quilts. We then had a lesson with the Raymonds, we printed our bingo cards for them and they are so excited for conference. We were invited to the Cole's daughter's birthday party and Jackie's parents were going to be there who aren't members so we decided to stop by. Well it was at an aquatics center so we were two missionaries surrounded by people in swimming suits haha it was a bit awkward. We then went to the women's broadcast and it was good of course. I liked how sister McConkie talked about holiness and how it is a gift from the Spirit and that it is often the sacrifices we make to keep our covenants that make us holy. I also loved President Eyring's talk and how he talked about how weaknesses humble us - so true. I've seen that so much on my mission.

Sunday was good, a super less-active that hasn't come to church in so long came!! That was a miracle. Noah passed the sacrament for the first time! He was so nervous before. We then contacted some referrals and formers. None of them were interested but we had a good conversations with them. Bearing testimony really is so powerful & they can't deny it. Our calling as missionaries is so powerful. I love being a missionary a lot. We then had cookies with Bishop and President Williams spoke at that. We then had a lesson with the Ramirez family and then the Mcpeak family.

Something that our stake presidents wife said to us which I love is "success is representing the Savior well." It's not about how many baptisms you have or how many lessons you have. It's crazy how many people we talk to everyday, and we don't know who lives we are touching. Being a missionary is very humbling, it's the best thing I could ever be doing.

"True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior.” - President Boyd K. Packer

I finished the Book of Mormon this week, I can't get enough of that book. The Book of Mormon truly is a sign of God's love for us.

Alma 26:16 "Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel."

This scripture is exactly how I feel. God is omnipotent and His love for us is always there. We can also feel this love as we watch conference!

Happy general conference!

--xo: sista fisha