Transfer 10 Week 6 Update 9-4-12

Hello everyone!

 

 Apologies for not getting a email out yesterday, the libraries sure like their holidays. Lake Placid was pretty busy and in a hustle yesterday being a holiday and everyone getting in their last vacay's before school starts this week. I will admit though, it was pretty cool to have a couple extra hours of P-day without emailing to do other P-day stuff. Last Monday, we went on a hike in the Adironacks, 3.3 miles most of it ascending and climbing. It was pretty intense.

 

 Also, this past week was transfers. Sister C. went safely to Syracuse, and Sister La. arrived safely in Lake Placid with me on Wednesday. I have been in Lake Placid, NY for 6 weeks now. I love it here, it is so beautiful and the leaves have been changing for the past 3 weeks. By mid September they will all be changed at this rate. Sister La. is from Draper, Utah - another Utah companion. She has been on her mission 3 months and this is her second area here in LP. She is awesome and we get along really well and teach very well together. She is a hard worker and I know that her and I will be able to accomplish great things with the Lord's help in this area. I truly feel that this companionship was inspired and I am so happy to be working with her here in this area. 

 

Sister La. and I have been planting a lot of seeds this week in our area. There have been many occasions, once again, where we intend to try to contact someone who has had previous missionary contact at some point that isn't there or interested but we end up finding someone who is, around their home or neighborhood. One such example was a lady named K., we were trying someone who used to meet with the missionaries and was taught, however, when we were knocking on his door I saw he drove away (no doubt because he was trying to avoid us). However, we were talking to one of the ladies that lives nearby by on his street and at first was disinterested in talking with us. As we listened to her though, she expressed frustrations and questions about religion in general and I asked her "Would you like to know the answers?" She said she did, and so we proceeded to answer some of the questions she had like why there are so many versions of the Bible and how can we know if the Bible is complete, etc. She was raised Catholic but left because she saw things weren't how she said Jesus would do them. As we continued to listen she said that previously she had been given a Book of Mormon. We asked her if she had ever read it, she replied she hadn't. We invited her to read the Book of Mormon and to ask God through prayer if the things we shared with her were true. Not to take our word for it but to find out for herself. By the end of our front porch conversation with the lady, she said that we were welcome back any day around 2pm. This goes to show that with some patience, sensitivity to the spirit and a willingness to speak, Heavenly Father will use us as the vessels He needs to speak through us to the rest of His children. We as missionaries may not necessarily know where the prepared are kept, but Heavenly Father does. He knows and loves each of His children individually and knows their needs. He will let us speak, if worthy, in such a way that the power of the Holy Spirit will carry the truth unto the hearts of the children of men.

 

Also, I have come to realize that the things I have previously gone through in my other areas and companionships have been but a prep for being in this area. What a blessing it is to experience those hard times as difficult as they may be they also shape, mold and refine us for a greater blessing or experience in which our Heavenly Father desires us to have. I know that through prayer, faith, and trust in God that it doesn't matter how steep the journey may seem, He always provides a way to endure and learn from that which we have expereinced not only in the mission fields but also in our lives. 

 

Speaking of steep, another experience from this past week. Sister Lambert and I decided to tract Jackson St. Well when we arrived and tried to drive the length of the street we realized it was a lot longer than it looked on the map or anticipated. It was several miles uphill on a windey dirt road. We park at the top and start walking down to hopefully contact someone on that street of maybe 6 houses very spread apart. No one was home (perhaps they were vacay homes, idk). Even though no one was there though, we learned from that experience and were becoming stronger in body and spirit just by hope and faith that they will be contacted again one day and perhaps some soul might accept the messages offered at their door step. 

 

There has been a scripture that has been mentioned a couple times this week that has come to have new meaning to me.

 

Mosiah 18:30

"And now it came to pass that all this was done in Mormon, yea, by the waters of Mormon, in the forest that was near the waters of Mormon; yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever"

 

No matter where a person is who comes to the knowledge of the Savior, how beautiful that place will be to the eyes of them who came to that knowledge of their Redeemer. No matter what area it is, there are people there and when they come to the Knowledge of their Redeemer how beautiful it will be and they will be praising his name forever. My hope and goal is to find those people, I know they are here and are waiting to be found to come to a better understanding of the Savior Jesus Christ and the role He will have in their lives. I hope everyone has a wonderful week, I pray for you everyday. 

 

-Sister Gifford