May 7, 2012:
I have never been happier
Well hello again. I can’t believe that this is the last week I will be serving with Sister Jorgensen! (President already spilled the beans and told us we won’t be serving together again, but hasn’t told us who is getting transferred etc.) But that is crazy, because I feel like we just barely were lugging my big red suitcases up the hill to our apartment. Crazy how fast time flies. I’m very excited for the Mother’s Day thing next Sunday! Yay. Except what on Earth--weren’t we just talking on Christmas?! Man. We really need to treasure every moment, don't we? :)
Well, this week was.... well, I can’t even find a word. Haha, it was interesting. We had thirteen confirmed lessons with investigators with a member present bail. It was the weirdest thing. We only taught three lessons this week when normally we are teaching 15 or so. BAH. So we did a lot of [talking on the street] this week. No one wanted to talk, and the people who gave us [phone] numbers changed their minds.... It was seriously so insane I just laughed all week. It is unreal how literally everything fell through. But I was praying this week to understand what I needed to learn from this, and the answer came on Saturday!
I have never been happier
Well hello again. I can’t believe that this is the last week I will be serving with Sister Jorgensen! (President already spilled the beans and told us we won’t be serving together again, but hasn’t told us who is getting transferred etc.) But that is crazy, because I feel like we just barely were lugging my big red suitcases up the hill to our apartment. Crazy how fast time flies. I’m very excited for the Mother’s Day thing next Sunday! Yay. Except what on Earth--weren’t we just talking on Christmas?! Man. We really need to treasure every moment, don't we? :)
Well, this week was.... well, I can’t even find a word. Haha, it was interesting. We had thirteen confirmed lessons with investigators with a member present bail. It was the weirdest thing. We only taught three lessons this week when normally we are teaching 15 or so. BAH. So we did a lot of [talking on the street] this week. No one wanted to talk, and the people who gave us [phone] numbers changed their minds.... It was seriously so insane I just laughed all week. It is unreal how literally everything fell through. But I was praying this week to understand what I needed to learn from this, and the answer came on Saturday!
So Saturday night we had a lesson with [an investigator]. And we prayed so hard that he'd come and not cancel, and [he] came, which was a huge relief since nine lessons had cancelled up to that point this week. So we sat down, and we had Brother Prachar teach with us, and he is really really good at teaching peacefully and simply. [Our investigator] started the lesson off with a perfect prayer, and then we started talking about prophets and why they are important to us today, since we had them in the past as well. I asked [our investigator] why he thought prophets were important for him to listen to personally, and he thought for a while and then said, "Well, I guess it's because the prophet is kind of like the Holy Ghost in person form. They both say what God would say and help us." Haha, oh my gosh, I lost it with happiness. Isn’t that a beautiful answer? And then Brother Prachar explained how the prophets receive revelation for the whole Church, and the Holy Ghost helps us receive revelation personally. But it was beautiful. And then we kept talking, and Brother Prachar told his first story with prayer which was so good! He said he hadn’t been a believer, but then one day while taking the lessons he decided to try it, and so he went into a field, so no one would see him, and he said, "Ahoj God, it's Martin Prachar here. I hope you're doing ok. Let me know if you're there. Thanks." and then the next day he said he felt so warm and happy all day it was as if God was saying, "Ahoj Martin, jsem tady." [= I am here] AH I LOVED IT. I was just smiling like a fool and loving life. The Spirit was a WALL, and the whole time I was watching [our investigator] and just was SO grateful he'd chosen to come and not cancel and how this gospel really was going to bless HIM personally, and how grateful I was to be witnessing this miracle and witness him finding God. And then I realized that was what I needed to learn this week. If all those lessons hadn't fallen through, I might not have appreciated [this investigator] so much. It was as if God was telling me, “Look at my son. Isn't he so wonderful and precious? Take good care of him for me, will you?” And I was so happy to be doing just that the best way we can, even though we are so imperfect. I told [our investigator] that Heavenly Father loves him so much, and that I could feel that deep inside me. [He] teared up, he apologized, and then tried to talk but kept choking on tears. He said that he knew this was the right road for him, and that he knew that God existed and that He loved him. We then ended in prayer, and before we could ask someone to pray, [our investigator] bowed his head and said the closing prayer as well. I wish you could all experience this. It really truly is the most beautiful thing in the world! [This investigator] is so special.
We invited him to come to Church, and he said he'd 80 percent come. So Sunday morning I called him to remind him about Church, and he said he wouldn’t be coming, because he had work. So I bore testimony that it would bless him, but then hung up, because he said he couldn’t. So we called everyone else, and then a thought came to mind to call [our investigator] again and ask him how we could help him with his work he had to do in order for him to be able to come to Church. So I called and asked him just that, and he said we can’t help him, but that he doesn’t have to start working till 10:40 am. So I said, “Well, can you come to the first hour then, because we'll be done by 10:30?” And he said he would!!!! AAAAH, I LOVE the Holy Ghost! I love it when you listen and things happen. I love that. I love this work! So then we got to Church, and it was Fast Sunday, so it was bound to be good. And good it was. I cried at one point, because a little boy in the Branch got up and told us about how he had asked for a blessing that week, and that Heavenly Father had told him in that blessing to read his Scriptures every morning and pray every morning and night. He started sobbing while he was at the pulpit, and I realized it was because he was feeling the Holy Ghost, and he didn’t really know what to do about it. It reminded me of that talk this last [General] Conference about the little girl who started crying after praying for her brother, and her mom asked her why, and she said she didn’t know. And then her mom said, “It's because you’re feeling the Holy Ghost.” :) I had tears come to my eyes too! It was powerful. And [our investigator] really smiled a lot afterwards, and I was so happy that he was there. So even though our numbers were very poor, we have a beautiful soul with whom we get to work with! He is so precious to His Father in Heaven.
And I think that is something I have really been awakened to while serving these people; I really and truly feel somewhere deep inside me a stirring of emotion when I talk to people and try to serve them, because I know how much Heavenly Father loves them. Our souls are precious to God. He wants us to return to Him. He loves us, and that is why He gave us His gospel. To enable us to be at our greatest potential, to be here and to help us be the happiest we can be. I know that to be true. And I hope I never forget that, because when we feel God's love for others we work hard. We don’t waste time, because we want to serve Him. We stop focusing on ourselves, and other people's concerns become greater than our own. I am far from feeling this way all the time, so I hope I don’t sound preachy, but I know it's true, because I get glimpses of that on a regular basis. I love my Father, and love my Savior. We really are here to find joy. But we have to FIND it. Which means we have to work for it. Which means that it is possible, but that we must recognize that the world's definition of happiness is not God's. Sitting on a cruise ship eating crab sounds fun, but how much more do we grow and how much more happiness do we feel when we sweat next to someone while working on their house, or while we let someone cry to us, try to feel where they are coming from, and then trying to help them by using what you think God would want them to hear? I think that the world has skewed happiness to mean we have instant pleasure, instant gratification. But the word 'instant' instantly takes away the best parts of that happiness, because work is something God has given us to refine, to purify, to heal, to help, and to strengthen. I have never been happier, and it's because I'm finally learning not to be lazy and only thinking about myself.
I apologize for always ending on rants! Haha, I love you all. My time is up. I'm excited to hear your voices!!!!
S laskou,
Sestra Satu Izattova
I apologize for always ending on rants! Haha, I love you all. My time is up. I'm excited to hear your voices!!!!
S laskou,
Sestra Satu Izattova