Hola todos!
Okay so another week has gone by...we are currently in December! This is CRAZY!!!! The time is just flying by and when we are working hard it goes even faster! My companion and I had a great week this last week. Everyday the Raytown ward keeps on amazing me. These members really love the missionaries and they are always looking for more ways to feed us! Thankfully they are less offended if you do not eat a whole elephant every time that you come over. Do me a favor, if you feed the missionaries fix them a nice big salad with some fruit for dessert! Ha ha, but really I cannot help but feel blessed in this ward.
I want to share a miracle that happened to me yesterday. This may not seem to be a huge deal to you all but for me it was a testimony that I can trust the Lord to bring things to my remembrance because He promises that He will through the Holy Ghost. Yesterday I was at the Visitors' Center studying and waiting for a group to come so that I could take them through the presentations. I looked up from reading the Book of Mormon and in walks a family from my first area that I was pretty close to. As I got up to greet them a horrible blankness came over my mind and I could not for the life of me remember what their last name was. I knew the names of their two small children but I could not remember who Brother and Sister so and so were. They wanted to go through God's Plan for His Family which I was happy with because it is a movie presentation and I needed time to remember their names. This happens to me as a missionary sometimes. I just go blank on some of the most simple and easy things. As I started the presentation and was walking them through it I kept praying that I would remember their names because I love this family and I knew they would be pretty shocked if I did not remember their names. As I prayed I felt a calmness come over me and a simple thought came into my mind "I will help you remember it, stay calm, be patient." I then took a deep breath and tried to pay attention to the presentation. As I lead the family into the last room of the movie(it is a moving presentation/movie) I did not freak out that I was going to have to address these people and that it would be really awkward if I did not know their names, I knew the Lord would give it to me if I had faith. Just as the presentation was finishing the name "LaPlant" popped into my mind! I had been thinking that it started with an S so I was way off. It was a rather small and simple experience but for some reason I was overcome with emotion and gratitude. Instead of trusting in my own knowledge and wisdom I trusted that the Lord would bring it back to my mind and He did. The Lord is really teaching me patience, that He does not always give it to me right away but He does ALWAYS give me what I need. I am realizing how much sweeter it is when it takes some time and some work and most of all some faith. What great reason we have to rejoice!
We had a baptism on Saturday! Her name is Amanda and she has been investigating the church for over two years now. I sang at the service with my dear friend Sister Park and I was nervous out of my mind. President and Sister Keyes were there and a TON of other people. I think(I hope) it went well though. The whole service was just awesome and the ward has really been awesome about welcoming her in and helping her feel loved. We even had a huge potluck dinner afterwards...after all our ward mission leader is Polynesian. :D
We have an investigator named Sandy who I love with all of my heart. Sandy has been through some really hard times in the last little while. Her husband died a year and a half ago in a car accident and she has a daughter and a granddaughter living with her who do not tend to pull their weight around the house at all. Sandy is 60 years old and she works full time as a school bus driver in one of the most dangerous parts of the area. This last week a fight broke out between some elementary school kids on the bus and she stopped the bus and went back to break it up. The kids then turned on her and knocked her to the ground and proceeded to kick her while she was down. As she told us what had happened on Sunday after church she had no desire to get those kids who had done that to her into trouble, she was just worried about how their home lives must be for them to do something like that to her. I felt so angry that these kids had done that because she was so sore from the experience that it hurt her to move, but she set the example for me. She did not want revenge or for them to pay. My anger dissipated quickly as I saw how forgiving she was and how much she just genuinely cares about others before she does herself. You know I had been wondering since I met her how she has not gone insane with the stress that she has in her life but in that moment I really started to understand. She puts others before herself and does not let herself wallow in self-pity. I then thought about why I am so happy as a missionary and I know without a doubt that this is a huge part of it. I put others before myself and I have faith that I will always be taken care of and I am, and so is Sandy. Alma 7:11 states "11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." Christ, our perfect example, put others before himself and He is the holder of true joy. I pray that we can all find this true joy and progress in the journey as joyous travelers.
Remember through the hustle and bustle of the holdiday season to try and feel the real Spirit of Christmas...the Spirit of Christ.
I love you all!
con amor,
Hermana Thorne
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