This week. Wow.
So here in thailand... we do not get to watch conference with the rest of the world. we must wait a week for it to be traslated. and if you are in my district, it doesn't get downloaded until 6 on sunday night... enough time to watch one session before heading home. and then you finish watching it on monday. (today)
so far so good!
we were talking with one of our investigators... we brought an investigator who is from uganda to church (because we ASSUMED we would have it in english... oops.) so we watched mormon messages, the restoration video (after we taught him the restoration), and then started 17 miracles while we went to go and deal with our other investigators in the regular thai session. it was a stressful day. but we really didn't have to worry about moses. he hung out until noon. then decided that he was ready to go home. (yes. his name is moses. made teaching about prophets REALLY easy!)
while we were teaching him, we were talking to him about prayer, and asked him how he prays. he said, "i ask god to go before me. and when he reaches that place before me, to prepare the people i meet for when i get there."
i don't think he knew how profound that was!
we indeed pray for god to go before us. all the time. and to help those who he is preparing for the time that we will meet them.
on saturday we DID get to see all of conference. and wow... gotta love it! i got a lot of different answers than the ones that i had been asking for... but i am starting to rely on god's vision rather than my own. i think i need this, this and this. he can see a little bit farther and says, actually - you need THIS. it's a pretty awesome and humbling experience to realize that he knows me better than even I know myself......
the one thing that i think i've learned from a year (*gasp?!* when did that happen!?!) of serving... is that you make a plan... and then leave it up to god. sometimes... like friday... we make a plan. we leave the house... and the plan........ i don't actually know what happens to it. all i know is that we keep trying. and god makes miracles happen.
on thursday i went on a switch off. my feelings toward switch offs has definitely changed...
i remember hating them because it all felt like a test. of me needing to prove myself. my language... all of it. and then spending days fretting about and mourning over the switch off that was to come. (i hope i have learned my lesson...) i am excited for switch offs now. mostly because i love being able to see how other missionaries work. and to hopefully... in some way... help them to increase their testimony of the savior and of his cause. which now, is OUR cause. i see the ability to work with other missionaries as an opportunity to share my testimony with them in a more relaxed, drawn out setting than just in a 5 minute testimony. it is something that i look forward to in being a "member missionary"... i've realized how much MORE effective i can be at sharing the gospel... with my friends. we meet a lot of people through contacting. we change lots of lives in that way... but it still isn't the most effective way. one of our investigators got baptized yesterday. her name is Cin. (sounds like SIN but is short for CINDERELLA...) the miracle is that she was a referral from her sister. at the beginning, i think a lot of it was simply interest in what her sister was doing. but eventually... it turned into HER testimony of jesus christ. HER testimony of the gospel. so what we do when we share the gospel isn't fruitless. many times it just TAKES TIME. it means more than we think it does.
on tuesday we got a little preview of conference...
i loved president monson's admonition to not simply walk WHERE jesus walked (been there, done that)
but to walk AS jesus walked.
i thought that was profound. as i've studied more about jesus christ, i've come to know him. but as i've tried to LIVE my life in the way he did... that is what has truly changed how i feel about jesus christ. we truly come to know him as we serve him. and we serve him by serving our brothers and sisters.
NOTHING ELSE CAN MAKE US WHAT HE CAN.
i know that this gospel is true.
i was thinking about it the other day. this life... is HARD! all of it. and my life definitely is not the hardest one... but i know that is it the hard things in life that have made it so that i know what real happiness is. it is because of the trials that i have experienced that i am able to feel true joy.
i wondered why i am so happy. but i know it is because i suffer more, i repent more, and i seek god more.
i love you all. and i pray that we can all seek him and strive ever more to become like him!
sister ellis
ps. monday i saw alligators. and got hugged by an elephant. :)
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