We all need the help of others

Every week during our planning session we compile a list of members
that we want to involve in the work that week. After that it is a lot
of calls and voice mails before the real magic happens of laboring in
the Lord's vineyard with the members of our ward.

This past week we called a Sister in the ward to come out with us and
we were surprised with the response we got. She came up to us at
church and told us the voice mail we left for her about coming teaching
with her made her cry. We were a little confused by this. She went on
to explain how it has been years since she has gotten a call from the
missionaries for her. Her husband is not a member of the church and so
every time the missionaries called it was to see if ye could teach her
husband. She told us how she felt very used and unappreciated.

It was a great lesson to me of how easy it is to overlook some of our
Heavenly Father's precious children. I'm sure that the missionaries in
the past had their hearts in the right place. They wanted to unite
this family for eternity by bringing the father into the gospel fold.

Through this experience my attention has been heightened to the needs
of everyone in the ward. Just because it someone may be firmly planted
in gospel soil does not mean that we can over look them. Every single
person you encounter is a child of God who needs love and support.
None of us are perfect. We all need the help of others.

The structure of the church is divinely inspired in such a way that we
have many opportunities to serve each other. We need our brothers and
sisters. Heavenly Father often meets our needs and the needs of others
through acts of kindness from His other children.

I invite you to take the time to observe the needs of others this week
and then act. It doesn't take much exertion to brighten someone's day
and make their burden lighter. Pay extra attention to the person who
doesn't get a lot of attention. I can testify that when you do this
you will be the Lord's hands on the earth.

Mosiah 2:17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn
wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your
fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

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Missionary Panel

Missionary Panel

This week my companions and I had the unique opportunity to
participate in a missionary panel at Guildford college. They have a
course in Mormonism and this past week they were studying missionary
work. We were talked to a class of about fifteen people with the
Elders in our area and answered questions the students had about
missionary work. The questions were all mostly about our routine and
why we decided to serve missions. But we did get some weird ones like
"what sort of guidelines are there for women's safety?" We told them
we just follow the Spirit and we don't have any problems.

They were all really fascinated with the white handbook. Apparently
they read through it as a class. What?! They were all pretty curious
about if we follow all the rules and who enforced them. We told them
that no one makes us follow the rules but we keep them all because we
love God. I think every person in the room scribbled that down on
their notepads!

It was a great opportunity to bear testimony to a captive audience. I
made sure that I bore frequent testimony and explained the Holy Ghost.
If nothing else I wanted them to know that God answers our prayers
through the Spirit. Judging by the amount of notes that class took on
what we were saying I'm not to worried about that point being missed.

The teacher provided us a copy of the syllabus for the class and one
of the Elders noticed that the Book of Mormon is not part of the
required reading! None of them have a copy. We remedied that very
quickly. I have never seen anyone so excited to receive a copy of the
Book of Mormon as these college students! I wish everyone we talked to
had as much enthusiasm! We also distributed the pamphlets we use for
teaching. It was a great way to give out a lot of media.

The best part of the panel was that we found a new investigator. She
is so sweet and she is getting baptized next month! It just goes to
show that you will find people prepared to receive the gospel no
matter where you go! If we simply follow the promptings of the Holy
Ghost we will be given opportunities to share the gospel of Christ.

I invite you to make an effort to recognize the promptings of the Holy
Ghost. I testify that when we do follow the promptings God gives us He
will give us even more and we can come even closer to Him.

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Guildford college

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Trust in the Lord with all Your Heart

I've been struggling a little bit lately with trusting in the Lord's timing. I have been waiting on my visa to Brazil for 4 months now. I have absolutely loved my mission so far but I hit a point where I just wanted to go. I was really disappointed in myself for feeling this way so I decided to start studying faith and hope during my studies in the morning. I also focused my prayers on aligning my will with the will of my Heavenly Father. 

I learned so much over a the short period of time that I did this. The biggest thing was that I became much more aware of the love that my Heavenly Father has for me and His purpose. He does everything for the benefit of His children. Everything. Once I realized that I began to rethink what it meant to align my will with His. 

I testify that everything that our Heavenly Father has us go through is for our benefit. Our circumstances allow us to become the best person we can be and become like Him. He wants us to be happy like Him. I know that wherever God calls me to serve is the place where I will learn and grow the most. It is also where I will be the happiest. All I have to do is work hard and choose to experience the happiness the my Heavenly Father is offering me. 

I know that this principle is true in all of our lives. We always have the choice to be happy no matter our circumstances by shifting our perspective to that of our loving Heavenly Father. I promise that He knows you and loves you more than you can imagine.

I invite you all to take an inventory of your attitude right now. Are you choosing to accept happiness that God is offering you in its fullness? He will never force anything on you. It is your choice to be happy so do it!