Date
August 20, 2018
Area
Columbia, MO
Companion
Sister England
faith & blessings
So, talk about a week full of miracles. We had Wiley's baptism on Saturday which was SO GOOD. He was so happy and so many people came to support him. The primary room was beyond crowded because of everyone that came, it was literally the best. The Elders who we work really close with really wanted to invite someone to come but didn't know who. 20 minutes before the baptism, they met this random lady at one of their investigators home. They told her that they were on a way to a baptism and asked if she wanted to come. She ended up coming and right after Wiley's baptism, the Elders met with her afterwards to ask what she thought. They invited her to be baptized on September 15th and she said yes! It was such a tender blessing for them to meet this lady 20 minutes prior to Wiley's baptism and commit her to be baptized. It's so neat to see what a simple invitation will do and it's so cool to witness how strong the spirit is during someone's baptism.
Sister England and I kinda had a hectic week. We set aside a lot of time to go tracting & finding, but something always came up and we didn't have as much time to find as we were hoping. Sunday rolled around and we hadn't found a single new person yet and and we wanted it dang bad so that we could reach our missions Standard of Exellence. After church, we went to try a potential that we have been trying to meet with for 5ever, but she told us she couldn't meet that day, classic. We decided to go knock on her door anyways so she could at least have a Book of Mormon to study from, but she pretended like she wasn't home, even though we could hear her hushing her dog from inside, love it. We walked back down to the main floor and saw this man that we felt promoted to talk to. Turns out he formally investigated the church a year ago and agreed to take the lessons again! After finding him, we decided to go to the park to try to find some other people. We're walking around and saw this guy playing his guitar underneath a tree and felt prompted to talk to him. We walked up to him and asked him if he would play us a song, so we sat on the ground and listen to him sing to us. He then asked us what we were doing and as we got to talking we found out that he has been studying religion as his undergrad. We were able to tell him what we believed in and he promised to read the Book of Mormon and told us that he was legit interested in learning more! It's the neatest thing to see God pour his blessings upon us when we are being faithful and trusting in Him.
SPIRITUAL THOUGHT- 2 Nephi 9:18 "But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever."
I decided to study what it meant to endure the crosses of the world. It reminded me of the verse in Luke 14:27 "And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple."
We have to bear the cross daily. And we do this by following Christ's example, which a big part of that is having self mastery. "When we master ourselves within the bounds of God's laws, we can enjoy longer life, greater love, and consummate joy." -President Russel M. Nelson
Luke 21:19 "In your patience possess ye your souls." The footnote for possess is actually win mastery over. I know that as we are patient with ourselves, with others, and with God, we will receive those blessings that President Nelson promised when we learn to master ourselves.
over & out
Sister Beal