This week has been...uhh...different. But good. It's just been a roller coaster of experience and emotion, but that's what makes the mission experience complete :)
Ok, working online continues to challenge me in a new and interesting way. Good thing I'll be doing this at least until January so that I can catch up with the learning curve one of these days. So right now we have an investigator named Mark and he lives in Colorado. We meet with him 3 or 4 times a week and teach him the lessons and answer his questions. We are learning more about him and he is progressing quickly with his testimony of the restored gospel. He truly is prepared by the Lord to receive the gospel at this time.
The amazing thing about all of this is how the spirit knows no boundaries. We can still receive revelation for him...what to teach him, what questions to ask, how to help him progress, even through a computer screen. I have come to greatly appreciate the spirit of discernment - which instructs us and helps us understand what his situation and intentions are. On the other side of all this, we have conversations with anywhere from 20-40 people a day! On Saturday we had a really rough day with a lot of negative, offensive, or perverted comments and we decided that something needed to change. Sister De Arton and I have been studying and praying more sincerely to have an added measure of discernment and on Monday things were much different. Within the first couple of minutes, the spirit gave us very distinct and recognizable impressions as to the intentions of those we were talking to. We knew when we just needed to end the conversation, even before anything wrong was said. The spirit has been telling us all along but we just need to pay more attention.
These experiences have given me a much greater appreciation for the promise in 2 Nephi 32:5 "If ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do." I know this is true. I also know that it is vital that we always qualify to be instructed by the spirit. There is no other way to do the Lord's work and to be the people we need to be if we can't qualify for the spirit. Be obedient, be diligent, be humble, loving, and honest. Repent and exercise faith in Christ and the spirit will be your constant companion. It is VITAL that the spirit of the Lord be with us always. There is nothing we do, no sin we commit, that is worth the loss of the spirit.
I pray for you all daily and especially pray that we will all make the decisions that qualify us for the spirit. We need the Lord's help, but He is there with open arms, ready and willing to lift us to a higher level. He is lifting His missionaries, and He is lifting the wonderful people here on the islands, and He is lifting the whole world. I pray that everyone I love is letting Him lift you up to greater and lasting happiness! Aloha!
Sister Stringer
Ok, working online continues to challenge me in a new and interesting way. Good thing I'll be doing this at least until January so that I can catch up with the learning curve one of these days. So right now we have an investigator named Mark and he lives in Colorado. We meet with him 3 or 4 times a week and teach him the lessons and answer his questions. We are learning more about him and he is progressing quickly with his testimony of the restored gospel. He truly is prepared by the Lord to receive the gospel at this time.
The amazing thing about all of this is how the spirit knows no boundaries. We can still receive revelation for him...what to teach him, what questions to ask, how to help him progress, even through a computer screen. I have come to greatly appreciate the spirit of discernment - which instructs us and helps us understand what his situation and intentions are. On the other side of all this, we have conversations with anywhere from 20-40 people a day! On Saturday we had a really rough day with a lot of negative, offensive, or perverted comments and we decided that something needed to change. Sister De Arton and I have been studying and praying more sincerely to have an added measure of discernment and on Monday things were much different. Within the first couple of minutes, the spirit gave us very distinct and recognizable impressions as to the intentions of those we were talking to. We knew when we just needed to end the conversation, even before anything wrong was said. The spirit has been telling us all along but we just need to pay more attention.
These experiences have given me a much greater appreciation for the promise in 2 Nephi 32:5 "If ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do." I know this is true. I also know that it is vital that we always qualify to be instructed by the spirit. There is no other way to do the Lord's work and to be the people we need to be if we can't qualify for the spirit. Be obedient, be diligent, be humble, loving, and honest. Repent and exercise faith in Christ and the spirit will be your constant companion. It is VITAL that the spirit of the Lord be with us always. There is nothing we do, no sin we commit, that is worth the loss of the spirit.
I pray for you all daily and especially pray that we will all make the decisions that qualify us for the spirit. We need the Lord's help, but He is there with open arms, ready and willing to lift us to a higher level. He is lifting His missionaries, and He is lifting the wonderful people here on the islands, and He is lifting the whole world. I pray that everyone I love is letting Him lift you up to greater and lasting happiness! Aloha!
Sister Stringer
