Hi family :)
So good to hear from all of
you! Thank you so much for the letters and support I received this week. It
means the world to me knowing I have all of you back at home living, and
serving, and praying for the cause of Christ as well! We are all on a mission
:)
Miracles happened yesterday!
After much prayer - despite the time change of church, and the adversary
working hard on our investigators - P..., A..., A..., D..., K...,
C..., C..., A..., and K... ALL came to church! WE HAD TWO ROWS IN
GOSPEL PRINCIPLES CLASS!!!! Not to mention, J..., L..., D..., and M...
(all less actives) came as well. Testimony meetings are the most powerful
experiences, and they are my favorite part of church from what I've seen on my mission.
D... got up and shared the most powerful testimony ever.
There are some members of our ward who sometimes tend to be overlooked, and
seem quiet and weak in the ward's eyes - and they got up and shook the house
with their thoughts. As I was sitting in Sacrament Meeting, tears filled my
eyes time and time again as I thought about what I was doing and experiencing
on this mission. If the ONLY reason I was in London, Canada right now was to
witness A... and A... hear the ward members testify of their Savior Jesus
Christ, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and the Book of Mormon was true,
it would be worth it. It would be MORE than worth it. I am so happy to be on
this mission. I love seeing people change. I love coming to church. I love
eating at ward members homes and helping them feel the Savior's love more
fully. I love knowing that even after talking with someone and they had NO
DESIRE to hear this message, I love knowing that they heard how I feel about
the gospel. And one day, they will have an experience that will open their
eyes, and the spirit will take them back to the time they talked to two sister
missionaries on the street, and they will be ready to hear more.
Sister Mendenhall and I really
focused on setting goals this week and doing everything to fulfill it. One of
our "raising the bar" standards is to talk to 10 people individually
independent of tracting, working with members, or teaching lessons. This seems
an easy goal for a missionary, but with a HUGE city, a car, and lessons galore
every day - this is very difficult for us haha. And THAT is what we decided to
work on for our daily goal yesterday. God put so many amazing people in our
path. At 8 at night, we needed to talk to five more people to reach our goal.
So on our way home, I said a prayer as we were driving, and we decided to park
on a busy street and have faith that the Lord would put his prepared children
in our path. We got out and ran haha. We chased after this man, called to him
to get him to stop, and we started talking. We found out that he had met with
missionaries before! He had a Book of Mormon! He knows that Joseph Smith is a
prophet! HE NEEDS TO BE BAPTIZED!!!! Haha. I Know that as we set a goal, and
pray with faith that that goal will be achieved... it WILL be achieved! And if
it isn't, if you did your best, then God will pour out His blessings in some
other way because He knows that you gave it your all.
IT IS COLD HERE IN LONDON. hahaha our poor little
toes suffer every time we step out of the car. I LOVE when we talk to people
and they like get frustrated that we are outside talking to people in such cold
weather. "Why on EARTH are you girls out here in such cold weather?!"
Well..... let us tell you why ;) hahaha it's great. I'm really working on
trying new things and improving my ability to testify and teach on the streets.
I'm learning to love it more and more. AH I JUST DON'T WANT TO LEAVE!!!!!!!
So many of you talked about how you saw a change in me in my
last letter, that I seemed to be a completely different person in such a short
time! And it is true. I have had so many eye opening experiences, and wake-up
calls galore to the person I am, and the person that I need to be. And quite
frankly, I am NOWHERE close to where I need to be! Haha and that is what is
changing me. I know that to be true, and it seems to have given me a sense of
urgency and greater motivation to give it my all which is more
than I have been giving - even when I feel that I am giving my all. There is a
quote that a missionary said recently, "In life we will never
achieve 100%, when 90% is good enough". How true is that? We NEED
to give our ALL if we want to truly see miracles and qualify for ALL the
blessings God is prepared and willing to bestow on us. For these past 2 1/2
months, I have been working hard. And that is great. But last week, I realized
that I was still the same person as I was 2 1/2 months ago. And that person is
NOT GOOD ENOUGH to be a representative of Jesus Christ. That person is not good
enough to have the power to look someone in the eye and testify with unwavering
faith and power that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the
point of them feeling the Spirit and seeing that there is MORE to life. It is time
to change. I know that I am not perfect and I will never be perfect. Sometimes,
while I am trying to allow God to mold me, I get discouraged for a minute
knowing that I did my best and I still didn't say the right thing, or they
still didn't accept the message. Or I tried and I still missed the point that
God needed me to share. But the fact is, I know now that I need to change and
improve and I am allowing God in my life more fully now to do that. It feels so
good :) There is SO much more to do. And that is what makes this mission just
so great :)
Well I love you all! Thank you
so much! I can't express my gratitude enough!! Keep being the wonderful people
that you are and know that Sister Bodine LOVES YOU!!!!! Keep your standards!!
Sister Bodine
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