Wednesday, November 16, 2011 10:52 AM
Ciao tutti!
I'm already diving head first into the Christmas season...right along here with the beautiful country of Italy. You have to stay straight and focus on not getting homesick...especially when the air smells like Christmas and everyone is changing the decor in their windows. I'm hoping President will extend the transfer or let me stay here in Genova BECAUSE Christmas is the 1st week of NEXT Transfer!! Che peccato! Since I can't write to Santa this year, I wrote him instead...here's hoping I've been good enough!
I've been doing a LOT of reflecting on my life this week. Reflecting on how far I've come and reflecting on how much the Lord has blessed me. Just when I think I'm not doing well at all...the Lord sends a miracle...the actual situation AND the fact that I was able to hear His gentle prodding. For example, this transfer my companion and I really want to make 20 lessons each week. We are trying our VERY HARDEST to talk to people on the bus...to just jump right into the blessings of the gospel...and it really works. It takes SO MUCH FAITH...but SO MANY BLESSINGS come from it. Sunday night rolls around and it's time to head home...and we only have 19 lessons. Well, by golly, I am DETERMINED to get those 20 lessons and I KNOW that the Lord will provide someone for us to teach...Sorella Simkins (another sister missionary who lives with us) always says that she thinks we are led more than we know. As we were waiting for the bus at the Piazza, I was pondering that fact, and I was thinking "how could we get a lesson on the bus?" And then I look across the piazza and there is a woman sitting all by herself. As I look more intently, our bus passes...but I don't move. I had the strongest feeling...don't take the bus, and go talk to that woman. My thoughts? We will be getting home pretty late...we should go. Even though I already decided we weren't going to take it...I was just thinking of how to approach her. Truth be told...you never know how to approach until you open your mouth and the Lord literally fills it! And as I looked toward the bus...the feeling was so strong to NOT take it, and I just started walking towards teh woman. I looked at my companion and said " How about that woman over there?" And just as I said it, my companion laughed and said..." Yep! I was going to say the same thing!" We walked her direction and she opened to us IMMEDIATELY!! Talking about how lonely she is and that our visit was exactly what we needed. We had a great little lesson and just felt wonderful that we could help one of Heavenly Father's daughters...remember that she's still important. What an amazing experience. All she could say is that she just wonders why Jesus has given her these trials...she loved her husband so much, why did God have to take him? How can she find answers for her children to appreciate and love her more and not say she's a bad mother because she's getting older? Yeah...there is BRUTAL exchanges here between people that we find every day. Young couples will be arguing their heads off and the next minute you just wish they would go get a cave!! Well, you wish they had the gospel, were married, and THEN go get a cave...but what can you do?
But again,I look back and just see so many miracles. I see myself changing...and even with some challenges that I am facing now...in the past I would have just given up and I would have thrown everything to the dogs. But I have SUCH a different perspective on time and what I really CAN accomplish. Even though some things in life become set-backs, you CAN overcome them and you just have to learn that good things don't come for nothing. I've decided to change a saying that i learned a while back to be more personal..."You never said it would be easy...but you DO say that it is worth it" You gotta keep a perspective on now and that pushes you forward to the future. Oh, how I think back to the 4 months before my mission...and oh, how grateful I am to be WHERE I am today both spiritually and locationally. A year ago this Friday I was opening my mission call and just about dropping my baby sister because of how shocked I was. Oh the things that the Lord blesses us with. You know, He DOES have a sense of humor...even when you are weakest, He blesses you and just prods you along to remind you that, ONLY THROUGH HIM, you CAN do this.
You question sometimes, what exactly you are doing here. And as I'm typing this...it's really just the adversary trying to get to you. And so, when you get that way...without realizing that you are, the Lord sends someone to brighten your spirits, and in mission lingo...that's someone solid to teach. Liz explained the WHOLE plan of salvation back to us...a 16 year old girl who admits that she is coming to know who Heavenly Father really is...and wants to come closer to this religion. She LOVED church and she just smiles SO BIG during our lessons...she's reading and praying...and really opening herself up to feeling Heavenly Father's love for her. A woman in our ward gave us a referral to a friend of hers and we had a lesson with them this past Sunday. It's a family who is just thirsty...and HUNGRY for peace in their lives. We have another appointment next Sunday. That reminds me of how much of a missionary I've become...whenever we watch Finding Faith in Christ or The Restoration...you wanna pop popcorn and when the 1st Vision comes...you just want to prod the person next to you and say "yee! Here comes the best part!!" Well...haha....I do at least!! True story. Ma, scherzo aparte...The First Vision DVD really does wonders!! If you want to help a friend, have a family night and show that...then bear your testimonies. It's amazing. AND INVITE THE MISSIONARIES!!! Another miracle...We went through the area book a few days back (well my companion did because I got sick) and we found a few names to call. We had called Christiana and there were no responses...a name we had called before. But Monday night, we decided to call again..and she was SO excited to meet with us. We sheduled an appointment with her for today and, the adversary was working SO HARD! When we showed up to the address, it was SO INTIMIDATING! It was this huge, articulately decored building...a law office. "you mean to tell me her office is in THERE?!" And I look at my companion and say "holy moly...I feel underdressed..." She just laughs and says "me too...I feel like I'm in kindergarten..." Comunque, we walk into the office, catch the elevator and go to the 5th floor. It opens...and there's her office. We stand outside the door for about 5 minutes without saying a word...it was SO intimidating...and i had NO idea why!! Regardless, I bit the bullet and buzzed the door. She opens it...and she is the warmest person in the world. We hear her story, leave a spiritual thought, and get a new investigator along with her! Her coworker was listening to us and at the end asked for the scripture we shared and a copy of the Book of Mormon...which my companion grabbed just before we left!! I had a prompting to grab one but I forgot...because I think my companion, at that very moment, decided to grab one as she was walking past the closest! CHURCH IS TRUE...YOU HAVE TO TEACH THE GOSPEL TWO BY TWO!!
All these miracles came just when we needed it. We had to let Paula go this week. Her heart is too hard and she is too stubborn to accept anything more of what we teach. We had a lesson with her on Saturday and we had decided to extend a baptismal date. We prepared a BEAUTIFUL lesson on how faith is a course of action, and would she be willing to show her faith and be baptised. Instead of the Spirit completely leaving when she said no, and went on and on about how could we even think to say that OUR CHURCH has authority and others don't...the SPirit just got stronger. I felt the power of the Lord within me, and my foundation being SO SOLID that I KNEW the Book of Mormon was true. I KNEW that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ...and no matter how bitter her words became, I was unshaken. I had NO QUESTION about what we were teaching...it was all true. Sure, we were devastated that there was nothing we could do for her...for heaven's sake I cried when she only thought we knew the church was true because it was what we believe. I felt like Dad whenever he has to apologize for something...I looked up and said "I am so sorry..I have mistaken. I don't think that this church is true...and I don't THINK that Joseph Smith saw what he saw...but I KNOW that this church is true. HOw? Because I have read the Book of Mormon...living proof that God still loves us and He wants to reveal things to us BECAUSE He has given us a prophet on the earth today..." and a few other things. But, friends and family...point is...I knew. and I STILL KNOW. Through it all, all she could do was rub her head and say that she was confused. She doesn't think there will be an end of the world, she KNOWS that God will bless her for the fact that she got baptized, it doesn't matter how she does it, and you can never find answers...there will always be searching. "Oh the cunning plan of the evil one...or the vain (frailties?) and foolishness of men..."Cuninng plan of the evil one is right...We are at war. Raise your kids right...or it'll come back to bite you in the foot. ANd boy....it just hurts to see this family suffer...but...when there is no foot to put down or fear to do so...your kids will...well...they'll get lost, and you as a parent will too...if God isn't on your side...or you just don't listen to His guidance.
Comunque...testimony builders come in small ways and challenges come because the Lord just wants you to get over the hill and see all the blessings he has for you. The temperature has dropped outside because I can't feel my fingers anymore, so it's best to get moving!! :) Until next time, Counsel from Sorella Bowman...bear your testimony, raise your children according to the gospel, and don't be afraid when the winds of the adversary come your way...because the Lord knows EXACTLY how to calm them...just ask for His help :)
Con amore,
Sorella Bowman
No comments:
Post a Comment