Blessed to be a Missionary

Dear Family and Friends, What a fabulous week it has been! I am so blessed to be a missionary at this time. The Lord is indeed hastening His work of salvation and there is no better time to be a missionary than right now. We had the opportunity to watch the Work of Salvation broadcast this week and it was just amazing! I just wanted to sustain every word that was said. There really is a MUCH better way to do missionary work than just knocking doors and street contacting. Members really are the key to missionary work. As I watched the broadcast, I thought a lot about my past, present and future. In the past, I wasn't involved in missionary work! I had a desire to, but didn't know how to go about it. Occasionally I had given Book of Mormons to a couple of people but nothing ever came of it. Now, I feel as if there is SO much missionary work to do and not enough of me to get it done. I still don't completely understand my purpose as a missionary (and I probably never will), but I do have a much better understanding of how to do missionary work. Then, I started to think about my future. What will it be like to come home and no longer have this badge over my heart, reminding me of my purpose? How do I continue to be a missionary, without the authority I have now? These thoughts actually kind of scared me to be honest because I think it's a lot easier to be a missionary when you are set apart to do it and when you devote 24 hours of your day to it. But, I don't want to be the missionary gives all I have on a mission and then goes home and doesn't CHANGE something. I am reminded of my experience at the MTC with Elder Holland. He told us that we must be converted first, which really means that we need to change. Now, I'm not sure exactly how I will do missionary work when I go home, but I know that I will. I never ever want to stop being a missionary. I invite all of you to think of specific ways that you can be a better member missionary. I'll give you a week to think about it, and follow-up next week :) Well, here's the overview of this week: Monday was a fabulous p-day. We did the usual emailing and grocery shopping and then wrote some letters. Wednesday was my birthday. I was a little nervous about it because I usually hate birthdays. But, my companion woke me up at 6:30 with silly string and sang me Happy Birthday. She made me breakfast and then we got ready for the day. She drew 21 pictures and hung them in the bathroom saying 21 things she likes about me. Haha, it was really sweet. Then we did our personal study and companionship study. We left the flat and followed up with some potentials. We knocked on this girl's door, called Jia Jing. She invited us inside and then to lunch with her and a friend. So we went to a little chinese restaurant and after we taught her and her friend the restoration. They really liked it and agreed to meet with us again! It was such a miracle! After that we went back to the flat to do some planning. I got the flash-drive and letters from home! It couldn't have been more perfect timing. We planned for a fireside that we're putting together and then went to an appointment. She didn't show up :/ So we got on a bus and went to our dinner appointment with the Gray's. After that we had to jump back on a bus and hop on our bikes to get to an appointment with Neil and Carlos. We didn't have a member with us so we had to do a doorstep lesson. It went really well. We taught them the law of tithing and they both committed to live it. After, we biked home and then did daily planning. That night we baked a cake for the 4th of July. It was fun to bake again! It's something that I really miss doing. So that was my birthday! It was actually really good. I really felt everyone's prayers and love that day. On the fourth of July we had district meeting. We took our American Flag cake to it with sparklers. :) We sang every American song in the hymn book. Haha. It was great. We had a DA that night as well and they cooked us Hot dogs and they had printed out a wordsearch that had all the people that signed the declaration of independence. My companion and I wore red white and blue all day and we got some pretty funny looks. I don't think the British really like Independence day :) Ha. Then, on Saturday was the baptism!!!! It was soooo good. Neil and Carlos were really funny. Carlos kind of has a hard time being reverent but it was really cute at the same time. He loved the baptism. Sister Merrill and I got to bear our testimonies and Sister Merrill sang, I Know that my Redeemer Lives while I accompanied her. It was a beautiful service. I felt so proud of Neil and Carlos and I know their Heavenly Father was so proud as well. I know that this church is true! I know we have a living prophet that guides it today. Heavenly Father loves us immensely! I learned something this week about Heavenly Father's love for us as I studied in Preach my Gospel. In lesson 4, it teaches about Obedience. It says, "We will be blessed as we strive to be obedient to the commandments. Heavenly Father expects us to be obedient so he can bless us." I loved that! It's shows how much our Heavenly Father really does love us. He will bless us as we strive (make great efforts) to be obedient, NOT as we are perfectly obedient. And why does he expect us to obey him? Not because he is the almighty God and we should do what he says, BUT, because he wants to bless us! How cool is that? I have a testimony of that. Heavenly Father loves us and wants to bless us, but only can as we make great efforts to be obedient to him. Thanks for all your love and prayers! Love, Sister Jensen