Note from Tiffany: PLEASE take the time to write Amy a letter. Missionaries absolutely love letters, more than emails, because they can keep them with them all week and remind themselves of the love people have for them. If you don't have time for a handwritten letter, please send her an email. Here is the link to the post with that information.
The past two weeks have gone by like a flash! Here are a few highlights from this past week.
At the beginning of the week, my companion and I visited one of the ward mission leaders to talk about the progress in his ward. We mentioned a name that we had felt lead to visit, and we discussed what happened when we visited that family. The ward mission leader smiled and began to tell us what he had been praying about the past week. He said he prayed to know what family he needed to visit and invite to come back to church. He said this same name kept coming to his mind, but he assumed that it was his own mind that kept bringing up that name and he wasn't sure that it was the Holy Spirit leading him to that family. He asked God to confirm that it was the Holy Spirit prompting him to visit that specific family. He said "If I am supposed to visit them, then when the sister missionaries come to talk to me, let them bring up that name." We had never discussed this family before, so there was no reason we would mention them the next time we talked with him. But there we were on his doorstep telling him about that family! Miracles like this happen all the time, we just need to recognize that they are miracles.
A few days later, we were walking down the road when we saw a sign that said "T-shirts for sale" outside of a member's home. We stopped by and chatted with the member who was selling these shirts. It turns out that he produces themed shirts for schools all over the nation. He gave me and my companion a free t-shirt! Mine is black with gold splatter in the shape of an eagle. It was a joy in my day. :)
On Thursday, we were meeting with a less-active member who hasn't gone to church in over 20 years. The sister missionaries here have been meeting with her since May, and she has always refused to give the closing prayer at the end of the lesson. We've been focusing on studying the scriptures with her, and studied 3 Nephi 11 and 27 with her on Thursday. After we were done with the lesson, she said the closing prayer! The little things like studying your scriptures and praying can have such a huge impact on your life.
On Tuesday night, we met with a man who is investigating the church, but is very active in his own religions. Since Tuesday would be our last lesson with him, he showed us his room for Masonic rituals, as well as an Alchemy lab. He makes various medicinal products and sends them to Free Mason hospitals all over the U.S. He gave my companion and I a jar each of Arnica salve, which is used for pain relief in muscles and joints.
Yesterday, my companion and I decided to join one of the wards for choir practice. We sang a medley arrangement of "Be Still My Soul" and "Come, Come Ye Saints". I was overjoyed to see that half of the song was in compound meter, and it had a lot of syncopation and dotted eighth-sixteenth combinations. If you know me, you know that I am a music geek. I was so excited about this arrangement! We get to sing with that ward in sacrament meeting in two weeks!!
The other day, I was eating lunch and came across a fantastic article in the August edition of the Ensign magazine. It was titled "Taming the Media". If you have not read it, I encourage you to read it. If you don't have the Ensign delivered to your home, you can access this article at Taming the Media on lds.org/ensign. It has great suggestions of how to keep your media use in control, both for yourself as well as for your family. I especially like the idea of setting your smartphone/tablet to airplane mode with using it at church. I don't know how many times I've been in Relief Society (before my mission) and following the lesson on my Gospel Library app when suddenly a text or e-mail would disrupt the Spirit. Brilliant idea!
I love each and every one of you that reads this blog. I keep all of you in my prayers daily. If you ever want to know something specific about how my mission is going, or you have a question about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, please don't hesitate to send me a letter. My address is posted here on my blog, but you can also ask anyone that knows me, and they'll tell you the address for my mission. Keep praying with real intent, and your Heavenly Father WILL answer you.
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