Record breaking. again:)
vipi homies? I hope poa sana.
So, let's start with the greatest miracle of the week!
Church. So, as a missionary, Sundays are often the craziest day! We get up, get ourselves ready for the day, and then spend all morning waking people up, knocking on their door to make sure they are still coming to church, and coordinating rides with members so that everyone arrives at the right place at the right time. So, we had a lot of people to visit on Sunday morning. We were able to visit a couple families, and luckily, everyone was up and getting ready to go! That was so exciting. We then got to church and got a text from the Elders saying they were going to be late, so we needed to teach Sunday school. In Swahili. Without any prep. So, we did. We ended up having a really great discussion about personal revelation, and prayer, and ways that we can show our faith to God. As we taught, person after person kept coming into class! We ended up having probably about 20 adults in our Sunday school class. IT WAS AMAZING.
(At one point, our branch president was sitting there laughing. I was so confused. lol But after class, he walked up to me, and he asked if I saw him laughing. I said yes. He then proceeded to explain that he was just examining how amazing the situation was that we were in. Some white girl from Texas was teaching over 20 African refugees about personal revelation, all while speaking perfect Swahili. A language this white girl taught herself. He just said that he was so proud of the work I'm doing and just felt blessed to be a part of this whole thing. I agreed.)
Anyway, after class, we went into a sacrament meeting. We then were able to report who came to church. By the end of our reporting, we looked at our numbers. WE HAD 16 NON-MEMBERS IN CHURCH. 16.
I was so excited to see them all sitting as families. It was an amazing sight. But, I can testify that that was all God's doing. We were able to invite people, members were able to invite people, but the most important thing was God made it so those people could feel the Spirit and make the decision to come. Amazing.
Here are some updates on the people we are teaching!
1. Y'all know I gotta talk about my homie Musa. Not much has changed, other than that he is still a literal icon. He prayed that his family would be able to come to America so that he can go to the temple. He also commented in Sunday School, and he is just a pro at this church thing already. We are still teaching his wife over the phone, and she is super awesome as well. I can't wait to see this family in the temple one day!
2. Charlotte is progressing well! She actually came to church this week! We were able to visit her with a member, and we helped her remember the Spirit she has felt while we have been there with her. She says she will be baptized one day, and we are so excited to help her get there. She is reading the Book of Mormon and also helping Johnny be ready to get back to church as well!
3. Etienne is someone new we are working with! We were able to teach him the restoration last week, but this week we came back and talked with him about the Book of Mormon and the gospel of Jesus Christ. He had his Book of Mormon out the whole time and was taking notes in it, and really loving everything that we said! He came to church with us this week and seemed to make friends while he was there! We are excited to see what happens with him moving forward!
4. Patricia was in the hospital this week for stomach problems, but her boyfriend and her children all came to church! He seemed to really love it, and his kids really loved their primary classes as well. They have such a great family and are so firm and strong in their faith. The kids really want to be baptized, we are just waiting for Benjamin to jump on board as well!
5. We were able to bring a member with us to teach this lady named Ramlah, who we haven't taught in a while. But, we talked with her about Relief Society and the things that she would be able to participate in, and after that she asked if she could come to church with us! We didn't even have to invite her! She ended up coming, and it was awesome.
We were able to give a training this week to our zone about conversion. We talked about why we were on a mission, and what we wanted to become while we were out here. Something I loved was from a talk given by Elder Bednar. He said that conversion is how we show gratitude for the testimony that we have. We show our gratitude by acting on that testimony, and being obedient. It was a cool thought to share with our zone!
Something else I really loved was from my personal study this week. I was studying about spiritual gifts, and how we receive them. While reading a talk, I was reminded of the different ways that the Holy Ghost can be manifested to us as we progress in the gospel. This is how I understood it.
(bolded words= steps of the gospel of Jesus Christ, underlined words= how the Holy Ghost fits into those steps)
1. We all are born with the Spirit of Christ in us. It leads us and helps us know when we hear the truth.
2. That Spirit of Christ then leads us to have faith, which is the first step in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We show God that we believe even when we can't see him.
3. That faith allows us to have manifestations of the Spirit in our lives. We can feel the Spirit as we learn more, and because of the faith we have, we can feel that a little bit stronger.
4. When we have those manifestations of the Spirit in our life, it leads us to desire to change. We are led to examine our lives, and repent, as we change a little bit everyday to come closer to Christ.
5. As we repent, we eventually are led to the desire to be baptized, and open the gate that lets us enter the straight and narrow path.
6. We then have the opportunity to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. This gift allows the Spirit to be with us even stronger, and we are able to have it with us always, as we continue to develop our faith in Christ.
7. After we have been given the Gift of the Holy Ghost, we have the special chance to ask for and develop spiritual gifts. These gifts are anything that we can develop to get us closer to God. Those gifts include the abilities to ponder and study, the gift to have faith, the gift to know to turn to God, etc.
8. As we develop these gifts, that is how we endure to the end. We work on improving ourselves and using the Spirit daily to continually walk towards heaven.
This process is awesome. We can use the Spirit in so many different stages of our progression. I also really loved how this helped me to see how connected the Godhead is. God the Father created a plan. That plan was a way for us to learn and grow spiritually so that we may one day return to live with him as people who have become better. The way he made this possible was through his son Jesus Christ, who taught us his gospel, or the steps we need to take to achieve God's plan. Those steps are faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. As I discussed above, the way that we progress through those steps is with the help of the Holy Ghost. Their purpose really is the same. All three members of the Godhead, God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, work together so we may one day return to live with our Father in Heaven again as people who have worked hard to become more like him. How can you not believe in God when the plan is so intricately connected?
Well, that was a lot. Sorry to flood your mind with so much information, I just really had a good week! I hope everyone is doing well, and know that I pray for you all the time!
I love you all so much.
Love,
Sister Copeland
Pics of the Week:
1. The cutest little word search someone turned in at English class. We don't think he totally understood, but he was so proud of himself.
2. I made a handout for Relief Society:)
No comments:
Post a Comment