Another Wonderful Week

Family!

 

It was so good to hear from so many of you this week! I love you all so much and I am so glad to be a part of this wonderful family. We are so blessed!

 

Well this past week was really good. We had the Mbewe's at church for the first time on Sunday! I met the Mbewe's my first week in the mission field and we have been visiting with them ever since. They are a wonderful family, who orignially comes from Zambia. Moe, the mother, really liked church and said she wants to visit again. The two boys also came, and we think they liked it, but we are going to be talking with them soon to see more. :)

So the mission's Standard of Excellence is 1 baptism/month, 140 OYMs/week, 20 lessons/week, and 4 investigators at sacrament meeting. Except for the 1 baptism (which we are hoping will be happening next Saturday), we met the Standard of Excellence for the first time last week. It was only because Heavenly Father blessed us with people to talk to and we worked "stinkin'" hard! (That reminds me of Peder. :) ) We are going to have to continue to work really hard this week to reach that goal, but we know it is possible! "For with God nothing shall be impossible."- Luke 2:37

 

So one of the miracles of last week was a woman named Leslie. Sister Robinette and I had tracted into her in one of my first weeks, so Sister Jones had never met her. She had said we could come back, but everything kept falling through. So she went on our potentials list. Sister Jones and I have been trying to visit 5 to 8 potentials a week, so Leslie was on our list last week. We went once and she wasn't home. Then we just happened to be in the area, and stopped by again, and she was home! She said she had been praying that morning for someone to come, and then we knocked on the door. She was busy right then, but she really wanted us to come back soon. So we set up a time to meet with her that night and we came back and talked with her for 2 hours. It was a great lesson! It was a lot of question and answer, but we did explain the Restoration and invited her to read from the Book of Mormon. She siad she would read that night! It was just a miracle that we were in the right place and the right time and that she had been praying for us to come. I know that people are waiting for us to come and if we have the Spirit then we will be blessed with finding those people. :)

 

This morning I read President Uchtdorf's talk to the Relief Society, "Forget Me Not" and everything seemed to apply to me and I know that it can apply to everyone. First he said, "Forget not to be patient with yourself". You know me. I am not always the most patient with myself. I am still hard on myself on my mission, but I know that if I do my best, that is all that Heavenly Father asks. I know that last week, we worked really hard and Heavenly Father helped us reach our goals. I know that it is okay that we take small steps of improvement! "Our journey toward perfection is long, but we can find wonder and delight in even the tinest steps in that journey." Next he talks about not forgetting the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish one. He said, "Our Heavenly Father is most pleased when we sacrifice something good for something far greater with an eternal perspective." I love that! I could be home getting an education and preparing for work, or doing a number of good things, but this is the "far greater" thing for me to do. :)

He says we must never forget to be HAPPY NOW! I can always work on that one! Forget not the "why" of the gospel and lastly he says, forget not that the Lord loves you! I know that the Lord loves me and that this is where I am supposed to be. I know that the why of the gospel is beacuse I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior. I know that I can and am happy now as I focus on other people's needs, not my own.

Commitment for this week: Read that talk! Let me know your thoughts. :) That talk gives me a better perspective for everything I am doing.

 

Thank you again for all you do! I love you all and pray you are doing well! This church is true and Jesus Christ lives. Peder and I are so blessed to be able to share this message full-time right now, but you can share it too! Keep praying for missionary opportunities. :)

 

I love you so much!

Sister Schillemat