The weather here is crazy! One minute we're dying because the sun is really strong, and the next minute it's pouring! I never know if I need to bring an umbrella or sunscreen haha!
Anyway, sorry my email was so short last week, we got home late from the zoo! Sister Moura and I accomplished a district goal, and our reward was a trip to the zoo! It was super fun, 4 other sisters and our recent-convert friend Luan came with us, and we had a blast! I'll attach pictures at the end! Before getting into the serious, I thought maybe you'd all like to know that I ate pig's stomach on Saturday!
This week has been a little difficult. In our area, we now have 18 investigators! But none of them ever have time to see us. With this sad piece of news has come a little bit of a struggle for me--it's been hard for me to be excited about the work. Because of this lack of excitement, it's been so so easy to be pessimistic about the work, to focus on the problems rather than the good things. That is why I am so grateful that at the beginning of my training, Sister Moura set up a habit for us. In our planners, we write a miracle of the day, every single day .So when I've felt that the work was slow, or that my teaching wasn't top notch, I can look back and think "how has Heavenly Father blessed my life today?" It's very similar to the story of President Henry B. Eyring about journaling. When we write down our experiences, we have the opportunity to remember what happened during the day, and see the Lord's hand in our lives. It's been a huge blessing, especially for this week.
One of these miracles happened on Sunday. Sister Moura and I have a less active member friend, and she's amazing. During third hour, we had a training for all of the adults about less actives and how we can bring them back. She bore strong testimony that members need to help, it was a little bit of a reprimand--she talked about how her parents have been inactive for five years because they didn't feel welcome in their ward (not the ward were I'm serving) and something that she said that really impacted me was this: "Please don't stop visiting us. We may say we don't have time to visit, but we really just think we're unworthy to come back to church. So please don't give up on us." What a powerful, heartfelt testimony. This was a miracle because this is exactly what my ward needed to hear to get them to wake up! As members, we have the tendancy to fall asleep where church is concerned, focusing more on the life we live outside of church and not focusing enough of our energy with the church and what we can do to help others come or come back to Christ. This is our calling as disciples of Christ--when we are baptized, we promise to take His name upon us, and that means acting as He would act, and bringing souls to the knowledge of salvation. I have a testimony of this gospel, and that when we invite others to hear this message of happiness, miracles will happen. I say these things in the name of my Savior and brother, Jesus Christ, amen.
Love,
Sister Carlson
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