I LOVE to Serve!!

I absolutely love Sundays! Yesterday was a great day! I wish I could have another Sunday right now. The highlights of yesterday were first that I was able to go to church at all and partake of the Sacrament. That is a joy in itself. Audry Colon, a friend, was just baptized into the church a couple months ago and she shared her conversion story along with her testimony. I always love hearing new Converts bear their testimony. It's so great to see people making good choices. Especially those you come to know personally. I feel like I get a glimpse of parenthood in those moments. The other two talks were given by two young men preparing to leave on their mission. They spoke of Repentance and forgiveness. I was impressed with their ability at a young age to speak with eloquence.

The second hour I went to Mission Prep class for Sunday School. Normally we have one of the return missionaries teach, Mitch Baroni, but he wasn't there so the Bishop taught and it was great! He challenged us to write a brief 5 minute talk on any gospel topic we wanted to this week. To find scriptures and short story to support it and to write them on a 3x5 card. I think that's a wonderful idea and a great way to build a little library of talks. I love Bishop Lundquist...He's a great example to me and a man who truly loves the Gospel. He definitely pumped me up even more for missionary preparation. You're probably wondering if I am seriously planning for a mission and the answer to that is no. I've prayed a lot about it and I would have no problem serving one if the Lord wanted me to, but I don't believe that is His plan for me at the present time. I do feel however, that He wants me to learn how to teach the gospel and be a better member missionary. I also think that it will help me tremendously in my calling on the membership committee. I've always wanted to be more comfortable sharing the gospel and this is a great way for me to learn how to do that.

Continuing on with my Sunday. I got all new visiting teaching assignments. It's always a bummer to say goodbye to those you taught, but then again it's always nice to have the opportunity to get to know new girls and be able to serve someone else in need. I have a new partner too, but I don't really know her either. In fact, I hardly know any of the girls. So I get to become better friends with them. One of them her name is Christina Mullins and she is a recent convert who is struggling with inactivity. Her boyfriend is a member as well who I believe also struggles with inactivity at times. After church I was talking with a friend Derrick Peyton about what we were going to do for the rest of our afternoons and he told me he and his home teaching companion Jared Oakden were going to be visiting Christina Mullins later that day. I told him I had just been assigned to be her visiting teaching and I asked if they wouldn't mind if I tagged along. They were going over to continue teaching her the New Member discussions. They said yes and asked me to prepare to talk about "Enduring to the end." Once we got there it felt so great to be on the Lord's errand. Moreso, it was good to see her openness and to see that there is still a part of her that believes in the gospel. I hope to get to know her better and become a good friend to her and someone she can look up to. I hope to be able to inspire her to make good choices in her life. I want to try and visit teach or visit someone less active at least once a week. There is an unexplainable feeling when we not only fulfill our callings, but when we reach out to those who are struggling and/or who are lost sheep. It's not always easy when you can never get ahold of them or they don't respond well to your invitations, but...that is where we (or I) must remember to persevere.

I have also had the opportunity to befriend another gal named Kristine Brown. She is a convert as well and she had been inactive for a couple of years. She felt she needed to come back to church, but had a hard time making the commitment on her own. She knew that things weren't good in her life and that she needed to make a change. I happened to get hooked up with her in an indirect way. She sold some copy machines to the company I work for and when she found out I was a member of the Heritage ward and that I knew Regina she started asking me questions. So after a few invitations she started coming to church and activities and she's even been hanging out with us playing games and what not for the past couple of weeks. I know a lot of times people in her situation are afraid to come back to church because they are afraid that no one will talk to them (which can be the case sometimes) or they need an extra a push; an invitation to act. I'm trying to be more aggressive in inviting people, especially less active and non-members to church and activities. The Stake Presidency has challenged us to be better at doing this. I hope to be more bold in my efforts. The more friends I make the more overwhelmed I tend to feel, but I'm don't want this to stop me. It's hard to be a close friend to everyone all the time, but I hope that I can do well enough to let all of my friends I come in contact with know that I care about them and their happiness. I hope you'll forgive me for any time I may have neglected you or if I let too much time pass without spending quality time with you. *sigh* it's not always easy especially when you're single and still trying to find your eternal companion. :-) There's so much that requires our time, efforts, and attention. I just have to keep on trying to do my best and keep trusting that the Lord will fill in my gaps and help out in the places where I fall short. After all he is the Almighty!!

I love Relief Society! Even more I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I feel so blessed to have not had to search as much as others do for the truth. Thank goodness for the sister missionaries who taught my mom. I wish I knew their names so I could thank them personally for their service. God is good and there's no other way for us to find happiness, but through His son, our loving elder brother and Savior, Jesus Christ.