Heyyy!!!!!!
It's my second to last P-day ever as a
missionary and that is just INSANE!!!! Soooo crazy. It still doesn't
seem real. It probably won't even seem real until I get on the plane!!
haha. So it's just been crazy realizing how little time I really have
left. Huge mix of emotions. Now I understand returned missionaries a
little better I think haha. But yeah I've felt it all. Sad to leave,
excited to see all your beautiful faces again :D, anxiety about life
haha, not knowing how to say goodbye to these people, sadness about
having to leave such a sacred mantle, excited to apply everything I've
been learning when I get home, anxious to know what path God wants me to
take in life like what to study, etc, exploring what it means to
represent Christ without a name tag, and soooo much more. It's been
really good. I feel better about it now haha. Last transfer all I felt
was fear and anxiety and sadness haha but now I feel a lot better--a lot
more prepared and just happy and content about finishing one of the
most amazing adventures of my life and moving on to the next one. :)
It's been so amazing and I feel like life will just keep getting better
from here.
Miracles from this week!
So
we contacted a lady on the street last week named Paulina. She was
verrrry Catholic and didn't really want to make an appointment with us
but said that if she just happened to be home one day and we passed by,
she would let us in. So we decided to pass by yesterday and she was
there! We taught her about the Restoration and she was sooooo different
from the day we contacted her. We have no idea what happened but she was
just so much more open and receptive. So that was a miracle! And we now
have a new investigator FINALLY. It has been so hard to find new
investigators lately so that was just a huge miracle. Afterwards Hna.
Maxfield and I realized that it is probably because we did a combined
fast with our district last Sunday specifically fasting that our
investigators can progress towards baptism and that we can find new
investigators since it was a common challenge among our district and
zone. So we did that and have really seen the blessings of it!
We
also had a really great lesson with Monica this week. We tried planning
for her but for some reason we just weren't sure exactly what she was
going to need. So we just said a prayer before and trusted that the
spirit would let us know what to say. So then we started the lesson
going over the chapter she read in the Book of Mormon which was 2 Nephi
31 about baptism. She said what stood out most to her was the importance
of being baptized in water, by immersion and that that was clear for
her now. But then she went on to say that when it comes to baptism for
her, it was a no.
....
All
we could do was pray and listen and just pray some more that God would
help us know what to say. She talked about how it would just be really
hard for her because she would feel like she was abandoning her Catholic
roots. Then the spirit just led us to share our testimonies with her.
Then I asked her if she had prayed to know the Book of Mormon was true
and she said no, she hadn't. So we talked about how vital that would be
for her, to really pray and ask with a sincere heart and real intent and
she nodded and we could tell she understood. She said she would do it.
It
was so intense! But calm at the same time. If I've learned one thing
since being out here it is the importance of the spirit. The spirit is
everything. Nothing happens in lessons where we don't have the spirit.
So it's been a fun journey exploring that and trying to figure out how
to connect to the spirit and how to recognize it. It's such a vital
skill not only for missionary work but just for pretty much everything
in life. So I will be forever grateful for having been able to dedicate
so much time to trying to figure out how he works. I hope to have him
with me the rest of my life. :)
Something cool
also happened yesterday during zone conference. We did this little
activity where we all had to write down on a scrap of paper 1 fear, and 1
thing we didn't like doing. As I pondered that, I thought of my regular
fears... the ones that I still had throughout the majority of my
mission, and then all the sudden I realized I wasn't afraid of them
anymore. I pictured each fear and then thought, "oh wait, I have the
temple. I'm not afraid of that anymore," or, "oh wait, I have the iron
rod. I'm not afraid of that anymore." It was a pretty sacred experience
for me. If there's one thing I've really learned about the gospel since
being out here is that it dispels all fear. I've really learned and
experienced that where there is faith, there is no room for fear. Just
like how light dispels the darkness. And Christ is the light. And I can
see now how vital that truth is going to be for the rest of my life. A
verse from a song that I'm writing right now goes "and even though I've
fallen hard before, you've picked me up and dust me off... I never
really knew myself before, but I never lost the sight of my Savior."
Something like that. Kind of illustrates what I've been thinking about
lately about the importance of having Christ at the center. It doesn't
matter what happened in the past, who we were, or what trials might be
coming in the future... Christ will always be our Savior. And as we look
to that, our sight is filled with light. Nothing else, just light. Just
Him. And that saves us.
Love you guys soooooo
much. Hope you have the best week ever! :) Next week will be my last
P-day and then I'll see you AT HOME! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! hahaha. Love
you sooooo much.
xoxo
Hermana Cannon II
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