miracles, of miracles.

I've definitely met some Great human beings!

Hey familia!

So last week we didn’t end up going to DC.  We are supposed to go today so hopefully all works out with that and we can see the Cherry Blossoms and get some awesome pictures.

Later Monday night we visited the R. family and had a long discussion about the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement. The father is a member and the mother is a different religion so I’m not positive how beneficial the whole thing was.  We had dinner with them and they were way cool. It is difficult when there are two different religions within a family. It confuses everyone. Their daughter had lots of questions.  

We lost our phone that night so we were pretty worried about not being able to contact anyone.  So we ran over to F. house and knocked on his door and had him call it like ten times!  We still couldn’t find it! He was like dude you Americans are Psycho.

Tuesday morning we went on a search for the phone. We said a prayer and drove all the way out to the R. house.  On our way back we decided to check this house we stopped by for five seconds the previous day and actually found it in a pile of mud on the side of the road!  It was still working!  So we were lucky.  It was pretty sweet that we even found it though. We had like ten missed calls from F.  ;)  afterwards we went to district meeting and to Five Guys for lunch with the Sister Training Leaders. I got to go on exchanges with Sister Smith in Gainsville!!  It was so much fun. The Gainsville apartment complex is basically a CASTLE. So that was grand.  Sister Smith is such a sweetheart. It was wonderful.

I learned lots of new things from her about Finding and well... life!  She showed me this scripture (which I forgot the reference to)  ..about hunting and fishing. She said that some missionaries FISH:  they just real in so, so many people. Especially in other countries the work is crazy there!  Our mission:  is a HUNT. We are hunting for the elect. and...its true. It’s definitely a hunt. A very difficult one at that! President emailed me this week and said he enjoyed interviews and I’m already a Great Leader! Which was Kind!

Wednesday was Eli’s birthday (: HAPPY FIFTH BIRTHDAY ELI!

I woke up in Gainesville and made a little video with Sister Smith. President encourages videos on Facebook because people actually watch them. So I showed her how to make little clips and we made one about the beauty of the earth because it’s spring! It was a fun time. I came back to Manassas and we knocked a lot of doors but I feel like everyone disappeared.  :I So we did lots of finding.

This morning I actually read this great scripture in Helaman that I’ve turned into my new finding scripture. It says "blessed art thou for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word which I have given unto thee, unto this people. and thou hast not feared them, and has not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments. And now because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness behold, I will bless thee forever. "

It’s basically my new finding scripture because.....that is finding in a nut shell.  We are continually blessed in our efforts for trying to find! When we show The Lord we are willing to work he blesses us with more opportunities to teach and to find the Elect.  Even if our efforts of searching don't exactly come through the finding the blessings come later in the day!

Thursday was the MOST, BEST MISSIONARY WORK DAY EVER.
We went finding for a little bit so I’m assuming that is why the rest of the day went so smoothly ;)  I got my keyboard and that cute skirt.  Thanks mom & dad! It’s pretty sweet! I really like it! The weather was perfect outside.  The flowers are blooming and it is BEAUTIFUL here in Virginia.

We had an object lesson with F. to get him out of the house. He's in First Nephi Chapter Ten so we had him go on a little walk with us to the “tree of life” by “holding onto the iron rod“, which was the rails at the apartment.  He thought we were crazy.  By the end of the lesson he actually understood what he was reading in the Book of Mormon.  So it was a mission accomplished. As he prayed he was like, "thank you for this wonderful lesson about the iron rod and how we can achieve eternal life through the fruit, and that we were able to gather under this here tree of life..."  It was great. Gotta love object lessons ;)

Afterwards we did service for M. (my recent converts Grandpa!) We were helping him move in and unpack because he is in a wheelchair. He was so, so, so Grateful for us because he never would have gotten it all done and it would have been so Difficult. He told us time and time again thanks for the help.

SERVICE SOFTENS HEARTS I’m telling ya!

Because afterwards we had a lesson with him. He was really grateful for all that we did and we cleared up a bunch of misconceptions about “Mormonism“. We have a return appointment.  So he is now a NEW investigator!  He is awesome.

I lost my name tag somewhere along the way though and it was my last one. So I made a ghetto name tag.  You'll see it in pictures. I used my name tag clip on my scripture case and duck taped it to a clip, to clip to my shirt.

We taught T.  a members house then visited a less active named G. and she really appreciated the talk. She watched Conference which was great! Then we talked to N. & N. about Christ.  They are both interested because of their AA meetings. It was quite the eventful day!! Busy, Busy,  Busy!  We basically included all aspects of missionary work in it!

Friday.. I’ve got to say I have become quite the cook of scrap items. I can throw together quite the missionary meal with whatever we have in our fridge and pantry. I’m telling ya...I eat delicacy as far as missionary standards go.  On our way to an appointment we had a miracle!!!!!!!

We ran into C. and her family while we were with Sister C. at the park so we had a lesson with them.  It turns out she has a car now so she is going to come to church on Sunday!!

ITS THE MIRACLE OF MIRACLES
SHE WAS ALMOST OFF THE CHARTS!!!

Which was a solid thing to hear.  Sister Mckee asked C. why she was interested in the missionaries coming back over.  She said that she was really depressed when we first met her.  We asked her if we could come over so she let us.  When we did we BOLDLY asked her if she believed in God and it just struck her! and We ALWAYS Came Back!  She said, Even when we were dressed all nice we would come over and offer to help with the kids and get them ready to go to church. She thought that was crazy. It was really cool hearing this come out of her mouth.  She kept saying that my excitement about church made her want to go.

So FUTURE missionaries..... BE EXCITING.

I definitely learned it from my trainer the Schrammcracker.  That woman is crazy she makes hand motions and laughs and smiles and gets so excited when people keep commitments. THAT'S WHAT YOU GOTTA DO. If your boring and don’t show emotion they don’t care either. So remember that! We also got to finally run into S. which was nice because it has been a while.

Saturday we went to Brother C. baptism in the ward. It was really awesome because his whole family are members and now he is baptized. We brought T.  to it and had an awesome lesson with him. He said he would be baptized and we set a date for him in the summer (June 21) he needs to talk to his parents about it. We went to Panda for lunch and Brother D. was there and bought our food which was way kind!  We met his friends who were there with him and plan to go see his wife soon because she is pregnant and on bed rest :(  They are awesome!!

We visited lots of members and tried to check on potentials. Then had a lesson with Rose. It was outside so I have pretty sweet tan lines where my watch was. M.  came also so it was more kind..?  I’m pretty sure she looks up anti so its hard getting to her because she’s very close minded.

Sunday T.  to church.  We visited some investigators and had some great lessons throughout the day.  Sunday’s are so hectic.  We use so many miles on the car. Our church is about twenty minutes away so it's a process getting out there. Overall it was a pretty good day. We finally got to meet this lady who had her records removed from the church but wants to be re baptized. We had a great discussion about deeper doctrine and I think she is lovely.

One of the things I love and cherish about my mission is all the Amazing people we get to meet I mean it's seriously crazy the relationships I've been able to establish in such a short amount of time.

The members are awesome and supportive and love us and help us and take us in and feed us just like family. Which I really think is so profound. And investigators recognize us as representatives of Christ and will totally open up to us.

The whole thing is crazy that we can knock on someones door and they'll just spill their life story to us or offer us food and water to complete strangers! It's amazing seeing the different reactions of people. I've definitely met some great human beings with amazing testimonies and inspiring stories. I love it.
It's HARD, but I LOVE it.

As I was reading this week I found one of my new favorite scriptures in Helaman chapter thirteen it says "now when ye talk ye say, if our days had been in the days of our fathers of old we would not have slain the prophets; we would not have stoned them and cast them out. behold ye are worse than they. for as The Lord liveth if a prophet come among you and declareth unto you the word of The Lord which testifieth of your sins and iniquities ye are angry with him and cast him out and seek all manner of ways to destroy him. yea you will say that he is a false prophet and that he is a Sinner and of the devil because he testifieth that your deeds are evil. but behold if a man shall come among you and shall say. do this and there is no iniquity; do that and ye shall not suffer; yea he will say walk after the pride of your hearts yea walk after the pride of your eyes and do whatsoever your heart desireth and if a man shall come among you and say this ye will receive him and say that he is a prophet. because he speaketh flattering words unto you."
Helaman 13

I hear this a lot in today’s world. People jump from Church to Church, Preacher to Preacher finding a belief that suits their lifestyle rather than seeking for truth. They are trying to align Gods will with their will, rather than their will with Gods. How does this make any sense?  They don’t experience growth or change. That is the problem people are afraid of change.  I loved Elder Hollands Conference talk when he talked about this very thing. He said...

Unfortunately, messengers of divinely mandated commandments are often no more popular today than they were anciently. As Abinidi said to King Noah: "Because I have told you the truth ye are angry with me. ... Because I have spoken the word of God ye have judged me that I am mad" or, we might add, provincial, patriarchal, bigoted, unkind, narrow, outmoded, and elderly.

It is as the Lord Himself lamented to the prophet Isaiah:

"[These] children ... will not hear the law of the Lord:

"[They] say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not
unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

"Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy
One of Israel to cease from before us."

Sadly enough, my young friends, it is a characteristic of our age that if people want any Gods at all, they want them to be Gods who do not demand much, comfortable Gods, smooth Gods who not only don't rock the boat but don't even row it, Gods who pat us on the head, make us giggle, then tell us to run along and pick marigolds.

Talk about man creating God in his own image! Sometimes--and this seems the greatest irony of all--these folks invoke the name of Jesus as one who was this kind of "comfortable" God. Really? He who said not only should we not break commandments, but we should not even think about breaking them. And if we do think about breaking them, we have already broken them in our heart. Does that sound like "comfortable" doctrine, easy on the ear and popular down at the village love-in?

And what of those who just want to look at sin or touch it from a distance? Jesus said with a flash, if your eye offends you, pluck it out. If your hand offends you, cut it off. "I came not to [bring] peace, but a sword," He warned those who thought He spoke only soothing platitudes. No wonder that, sermon after sermon, the local communities "pray[ed] him to depart out of their coasts." No wonder, miracle after miracle, His power was attributed not to God but to the devil. It is obvious that the bumper sticker question "What would Jesus do?" will not always bring a popular response.

(The Cost--and Blessings--of Discipleship)

I love this talk because of the truth that comes from it. Are we trying to align our will with Gods? or Gods will with ours?

We need to be constantly striving to come closer to the Savior so that WE can Align our will with his. Keeping the commandments, following the Prophets, becoming disciples of Christ ISN’T EASY.

It wasn't meant to be easy.

It was meant for change, growth, and experience.

Said the Lord, "My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom" (D&C 136:31)

What are you willing to give to align your will with Gods so that you may receive the glory he has prepared for you?

The cost of discipleship isn’t easy but the blessings make it worth it.

Keep being strong and bold disciples of Christ!

I love you all thanks for all the love and support have a great week!
Sister Stucki
(via email April 14, 2014)