Wow,
So I went to my last Zone Training meeting this week. After today I will only have to go grocery shopping one more time….
What is happening?
I have been drinking a lot of water lately…so I usually wake up in the middle of the night. Anyways, when I wake up sometimes I can’t go back to sleep because my mind is just racing. Not being able to sleep is a pretty foreign concept to me. The only other times I remember really not being able to sleep were before Field Day in elementary school, and Christmas Eve–big things must be happening. So I lie there awake and just think about all the amazing people that have come into my life during my mission. Why did God bless me so much? I am so grateful and it is hard to take it all in. I don’t know if I ever will be able to. So I will just keep trying my best.
All that he requires of us is to keep his commandments…
King Benjamin!
20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you,and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—
21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.
24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?
41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.
I love the words of God. The Spirit flows through them into my heart. I hope that I can continue to do my best to keep his commandments and “hold out faithful to the end.”
This week was a kind of rough one. We found out that our friend from Brazil has a lot of friends coming in to visit from Brazil and she won’t be able to meet with us til next week. That will have been 2 weeks. We are praying hard for her.
Sister Johnson and I are trying to be more bold in our street contacting and it is bringing miracles. The other day we had lesson cancel…one that we had to drive really far too, and they didn’t tell us til we were almost there… oh well. Heavenly Father knows what is going on. So we were walking down the street back to our car after having a meal appointment with a member and guess what. We contacted two YSA. One of them asked US if he could read the Book of Mormon. it was great.
Fast and Testimony meetings in the YSA are one of my favorite things ever. They are so good. We had 2 people get up and bear their testimony who aren’t members. One is our friend from Hong Kong, and the other is a girl who wants really badly to be baptized but her parents are Jewish and don’t approve. Our friend who moved here about 5 weeks ago from Japan (literally the day after he was baptized there) also got up to bear his testimony in his limited English. Then another recent convert (he has been in the USA for a week) from Korea got up as well–he was super nervous about his English, but did great. Then, there was this other guy who was sitting in front of us that we had never seen before. He gets up and bears his testimony. Apparently he hasn’t been to church in ten years, but he bore his testimony of the gospel and the Restoration of the priesthood and Christ’s church through the prophet Joseph Smith and how he has always had a testimony.
It is so humbling for me to sit in sacrament meeting and see these young people who have so much faith. Many of them come from hard circumstances and have beaten the odds. They have been truly prepared by our Father in Heaven to receive and recognize truth. They are so strong, and they are everywhere! We had a lesson from Preach My Gospel chapter 1 in relief society yesterday. The teacher made a list on the board of all the things that frighten us about sharing the gospel. At the end she asked us to compare this list of scary things to the list of blessings that our friends and family will receive if we share the Restoration with them. It is incomparable! Read that chapter. List your fears and list the blessings. I will promise it will give you more motivation to open your mouth and take advantage of the missionary opportunities that surround us each day. Talk to him or her. Trust me, it will be worth it!
I again was so amazed in that lesson to hear the courageous stories of missionary work and the miracles that followed as the Relief Society members have tried to be a light in this dark world.
We are afraid to share something that has brought us the most joy in our life and greater blessings than we can ever imagine. That fear does not come from God. When we pray for help I know that God will recognize our efforts to push the boundaries of our comfort zones, and he will fill our hearts with the charity that is required to “go into the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mormon 9:22)
I love you all! I hope you have a great week, and that you are supported as you keep the commandments and move closer to our Savior.
Love,
Sister Rackleff
#ameaningfulacquaintance 