Hey Ya'll.
Hmm. That was fun. Let's do it again. Ya'll. Embrace it folks.
Did you all LOVE conference? I know I did. A lot. Did anyone else notice the new camera angles? I think there must be a new director of filmography or something, because it was a bit different from others.
It's been a rough week here. Oh wow. Lot's of Trials of Faith happening around us. But also a lot of tender mercies.
One of our investigators, Jennifer, is moving mountains. We taught her the Word of Wisdom this week, and she struggled with the idea. We ended up being there for a very long time, but before we had left she understood what she had to do and started getting rid of the things. She has some pretty intense addictions to these things, and being in a college town, partying and drinking is what everyone does. But as she threw things away, she became more excited, and then kept looking for more things to get ride of. She is still struggling and working through some heavy withdrawls from those strong drinks, among other things. I admire her willingness to change so much. The things people do to come closer to Christ are not easy. But as Elder Holland told us once "becoming aquanted with the Savior is not a cheap experience. It's suppose to require some of your soul." I love his words. It gives me strength to know that amide all mine and others trials,as we turn to Him, we are coming to know our Savior more
On Sunday, we knocked into a few people and shared an Easter message. One, James invited us to come back again on Tuesday. James is a Photography Major here at TSU and has been through a lot the past couple of years. He's had five deaths in his family in the past three years, including his father's death from cancer. He has a lot of empty space inside, and I can feel angels all around us trying to help him as we teach him. He told as that his dad passed away around 21 days before his birthday two years ago. We knocked into him March 31 this year, 21 days before his birthday this year. I don't believe in luck. He still has a lot to heal from, a lot of pain, and we're praying so hard for him to find the turth in our message.
Right before the end of our last lesson with him, he said something about me being a "computer" becuase I just knew all the answers. This troubled me a little. I am not a computer. I am a person, doing my best to connect to people and help them understand. And I started overanalyzing my whole life, wondering if I act like a computer, just spitting out the facts and not caring about the people. I didn't feel like I was. And I started to feel like no matter how hard I tried, I wasn't going to be good enough. After the lesson we were home eating dinner, and my trainer, Sister Wright finnally got it out of me what was bothering me. She had to explain to me that in this sistuation, James was not unsulting me, instead giving me a very high complement. She told me that He could tell that there was something different when I spoke to him, and because he couldn't identify it as the power of God, he had to find a different way to describe it. Computer. I felt a little better. I just wished I could know for sure.
Within seconds we recived a text message from James thanking us for our lesson, and spacifically the short mormon message that we shared with him ("Mountains to Climb"). He said that it was pretty "spot on" to how he felt. I had decided to show the movie to him in our lesson, because nothing else seemed to be coming. At the time, I couldn't tell if President Eyring's powerful words in the movie had touch him at all. But they had. And I had felt prompted to share it with him. I realized that even in my selfish moments of doubting if I could really be a good missionary, God had sent me a tender mercy to show me that I could make a difference. That through following the promptings of the Spirit, I could help others find peace in their life.
I am so grateful for a Father in Heaven who knows not only my needs, but all His children's needs, and he will not withhold from us if we but ask. Even with so many struggles this week, with our investigators not following through, and losing quite a few, God is still there. And this is His work.
Well. Family. Life is busy and rough here sometimes. But I am a missionary. I am a Missionary. I still can't believe I'm here. This really is His work. And it is marvelous.
Love,
Your Hermana Montgomery
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