Dear Family,
Sadly, we don't have a whole lot of time to email today, because we had choir practice today and we have a dinner appointment in 20 minutes! So I'm sorry if my email isn't very long this week. But it's been a great week. We talked with a lot of people! Every day I get more comfortable with awkward situations as we truly try to talk with everyone we see. In fact, some of the best moments come as we stop and talk with people who are riding by on their bikes or who are way across the street or who are out gardening or who are up on their balcony. I am learning to love talking to strangers! People's lives are very interesting!Monday, June 16, 2014
June 16, 2014
Monday, June 9, 2014
June 9, 2014
Dear Family,
This morning I read a talk by Elder Christofferson called "The Resurrection of Jesus Christ." It was a powerful witness that he bore that Jesus Christ truly did live, died, and then lived again, that He truly is the Son of God. Then I watched a video that was up on the lds.org home page about the Saints and missionaries in Europe, where Elder Christofferson again bore that Same witness that Jesus Christ was Resurrected and that He is our Lord and Savior. I am so grateful to know that we have Special witnesses of Christ-the Apostles and our dear prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. Their testimonies strengthen me and help me keep the most important things in sight. I was thinking "what does the resurrection mean to me in my daily life?" Well, I know that We all will live again once we die. I know that without a doubt. And I know I can repent daily, be reborn spiritually, even for the little things that bring me down and farther away from Heavenly Father. Christ's sacrifice and resurrection help me every day!We've still been trying to talk with everyone we see! It can be intimidating at times, but we see miracles as we do it! (We also have some interesting stories to reminisce about later, because we run into some interesting situations!) There was one moment this week where the Lord really taught me a specific lesson this week. We felt prompted to go visit a sister who might have needed some service from us. She ended up not being home. We were both so disappointed, because we felt we really needed to go there. I felt a determination to find the reason why Heavenly Father wanted us there. So I really tried to talk with literally everyone as we headed back to our car. In one instance I hesitated-there was a young man up on the third floor, and I didn't really want to have an awkward moment, but I decided to shout up to him anyways. He was polite, but didn't want to hear a message about Jesus Christ. After our conversation with him, a young woman and her baby passed by us. We said hi, but she kept going. Not feeling that that was enough, I asked if we could share something with her. She said yes. We introduced ourselves, talked about our message, and ended up finding out that her best friend is LDS. We were able to set up an appointment to come back and teach her more. This experience helped me realize that if we are diligent in all situations and just give our best, the Lord will not let us fail. We will be able to find those He wants us to find.
Monday, June 2, 2014
June 2, 2014
Dear Family,
It's been quite an interesting week. If there is one thing I know, it's that my skin will be thicker when I return home! And hopefully my heart will be softer. I am grateful for the trials that have helped me to grow. One sister shared a spiritual thought this week in church about how adversity is meant to make us stronger. In the last conference, Elder Anderson gave a talk called "Spiritual Whirlwinds." Here is an excerpt from his talk:
"In nature, trees that grow up in a windy environment become stronger. As winds whip around a young sapling,forces inside the tree do two things. First, they stimulate the roots to grow faster and spread farther. Second, theforces in the tree start creating cell structures that actually make the trunk and branches thicker and more flexibleto the pressure of the wind. These stronger roots and branches protect the tree from winds that are sure toreturn.4
You are infinitely more precious to God than a tree. You are His son or His daughter. He made your spirit strongand capable of being resilient to the whirlwinds of life. The whirlwinds in your youth, like the wind against ayoung tree, can increase your spiritual strength, preparing you for the years ahead."
So this week hasn't been awful or anything, but it was a bit rougher at times, and I know that Heavenly Father has made us so that disappointments and trials will not tear us down but make us stronger as we rely on the Savior. He is continually preparing us for the future and aware of us and the things we go through.
Possibly my favorite miracle from this week: one of our investigators prayed after refusing for weeks to do so! His wife is a member, and we absolutely adore her. They have been going through a rough financial time, and so he decided he would turn to God, because there wasn't much else he could do. He is praying and hoping for a miracle, and we are praying that he will recognize the answer when it comes. One of the most important parts of missionary work is to help people become connected with their Heavenly Father through prayer. When that happens, the Spirit can come into their lives, and they can experience the peace of the gospel for themselves. I know that trials are not always taken away, but it kind of goes back to that principle I was just talking about. When we pray in our trials and when we rely on the Lord, we are made stronger for future experiences and we can gain a greater conviction that God loves us from the peace that He gives us! (John 14:27-Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you...)
Another wonderful miracle: we have been teaching a less active woman and she is considering coming back to church after many, many years. She is such a neat woman. Just some of her talents include cake decorating, quilting, sewing, book writing. She is just awesome. She's having a hard time picking up the Book of Mormon and reading it, but we are getting there! She once had a beautiful testimony of the Savior that she shared with us, but she feels that she has lost it. I know reading the Book of Mormon will help her to come to know her Savior. I am so grateful for her humble attitude in wanting to come to know Him again. I just love her!
This week in my studies I was reading in Mosiah 24. Verses 13-15 talk about how the Lord eased the burdens which were put upon the backs of His people because of the covenant they had made. But what stood out to me most this time when I read the chapter was verse 21: "Yea, and in the valley of Alma they poured out their thanksto God because he had been merciful unto them, and eased their burdens, and had delivered them out ofbondage; for they were in bondage, and none could deliver them except it were the Lord their God." This makes me think about how many of us are in some kind of bondage-we all are! We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. We face spiritual bondage, emotional bondage, physical bondage. Whatever it may be we all have weaknesses and trials to face. And we cannot be delivered from it without Jesus Christ, "the Lord [our] God." Sometimes I just wish I could make people understand! They can't be free without Him. What wonderful message we have to share, that Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, lives. Here is a wonderful video about the Savior that I invite all of you to watch-I love it! http://www.mormonchannel.org/bible-videos?v=3595397361001 All the bible videos are awesome!
I love you all so much. Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Mecate
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
May 27, 2014
Dear Family,
It has been one great week. It was kick started with an amazing zone conference on Tuesday. I was sitting in zone confernce thinking about how I used to go to EFY for a week to learn about the gospel and have a good time, and Mom and Dad paid so I could go have a great week. As a missionary, this is my life! I get to learn about the gospel every day and live it! And President Eaton is a top quality teacher. We had an amazing discussion about the Atonement at the beginning of the conference. There were about 50 missionaries in one room, all studying and sharing about the Atonement and what we had learned about Christ on our missions. It was a powerful discussion. One scripture that was shared that I loved was D&C 3:9-10
" 9 Behold, thou art Joseph, and thou wast chosen to do the work of the Lord, but because of transgression, if thou art not aware thou wilt fall.
10 But remember, God is merciful; therefore, repent of that which thou hast done which is contrary to the commandment which I gave you, and thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work;"
The Lord tells Joseph that he has made mistakes, but because of the Atonement of Christ, Joseph can repent, and he is still a chosen servant. Each of us are the same. We will not be called to be prophets of God, but we each have a role to play in God's kingdom, whether it be as a teacher, leader, missionary, friend, or a mother! And we are not perfect and we make mistakes, but we can always repent. We never lose value in the eyes of the Lord. I love the talk by Brad Wilcox "His Grace is Sufficient." He talks about how Christ's grace doesn't "make up" the difference. It makes ALL the difference. You can find it on lds.org if you just put it in the search box.
The rest of the week was great as well. We are working on talking with everyone we see. We find miracles when we do! But sometimes it can be discouraging, when people don't want to talk with us, appointments fall through, or people just aren't as committed or honest as they seem. But it's all in good fun. We "just keep swimming!" as Dory did. Sister Evans-Bottoms quoted that this week to a lady who was recently baptized. I think that's fitting. But anyways, we had a lesson with a man this week who wasn't at a previous appointment. We saw him walking down the road one day, parked and jumped out of our car, and talked with him. He said we caught him and that he would meet with us again! He seems to be holding a lot of weight about the things of his past. He believes in Christ, but is having a hard time allowing Christ to help him. He lives alone, and he is on oxygen. We taught him on his doorstep about the Restoration. We invited him to church, and he said we would come, but we weren't sure if he would. It got to be Sunday, we were sitting in church, and Sister Evans-Bottoms tapped me and told me to look over, and he came! He had to leave early, but he told us to stop by on Tuesday! It was so exciting! It's the best thing ever when we try so hard to help them understand how Christ can help them, and then to see them enjoying church, or reading the Book of Mormon, or praying with us, especially when they are going through a lot of trials. Best feeling ever. The gospel is just so awesome!
We had two awesome opportunities to serve this week! One, we helped move a family into their new apartment. It was so fun to get to know them and help them and to see their burden be made just a little lighter. We love to help people do physical labor, but we don't get a lot of opportunities to do it. I think people don't realize we have pants we can change into and that we don't always wear skirts! Something that touched me was that the oldest daughter in this family thanked us for listening to her talk about her art hobby as we took a short break in the moving process. It feels good to know that we can help others just by listening to them. Sometimes that means the most to people! Another opportunity we had to serve came from the downstairs neighbor of one of our investigators. This lady's name is Lori. She has an amazing story, and I feel ok sharing it, because she says she likes to share it to help others. The reason we were helping her was because she just had knee surgery! it was funny how we met her too. We were just coming out of a lesson with our investigator and this dog came running at us, barking. Lori told us he was harmless and then we started talking with her and found out about her knee and we offered to come help her with stuff. She readily accepted! It was awesome how Heavenly Father placed her in our path. We came over the next day and helped her clean a little bit, and she shared her story with us. She is 31 but has been through enough stuff for 3 lifetimes! She suffered different kinds of abuse when she was young. She left home at the age of 14 and was homeless for a while. She used some pretty awful drugs in the process. And she was atheist the whole time. She had had some pretty bad experiences with church. Then she started to wonder what she was missing that her friends of faith had that she did not have. She said the last thing she turned to was God. But when she did she really turned! She has such strong faith now in Christ and has become a completely different person. Her face was glowing with happiness even though she had been through so many awful things. She truly has become a "new creature in Christ," she told us. (2 Cor. 5:17) She told us she has many atheist friends that are so upset with her change, but that she keeps telling them of Christ. I shared with her the story of Abinadi in the Book of Mormon, and how he was preaching to people who wanted to kill him! But he kept preaching, because he knew that's what Heavenly Father wanted and needed him to do. And because of that Alma heard the message about Christ and went on to teach and baptize hundreds. She appreciated that story. She said that her door is open for us if we ever need anything. She is such an awesome lady! By the way Mosiah 12-18 might just be my new favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon. They are so awesome! They tell Abinadi's and Alma's stories. And they are all about the coming of Christ!
Well, I've got to go! Love you all sooooo much!
Love,
Sister Mecate
Monday, May 19, 2014
May 19, 2014
Dear Family,
Yes, I made it to 22! My life is complete! Haha, I'm kidding. I'm excited for all that I will keep learning as I get older. It's a weird feeling to have a birthday on a mission, because every day is very similar. It feels just like any other day (besides all the wonderful birthday wishes I have received!) This birthday will be wonderful, because I'm sure Heavenly Father has some miracles to share with Sister Evans-Bottoms and I as we open our mouths to share the gospel. He always does. I must make one complaint before I begin the rest of my email. I have had to lower my standards and throw away things that could have been recycled! I almost died of the horror! Washington has failed me. In Maple Valley we had recycling dumpsters. But here in Auburn, we only have a trash compacter, which I guess is better than nothing. I was just horrified as I watched all of our plastic and cardboard items go into a trash dumpster. What has this world come to?! Anyways, it's ok, I moved on. I will just have to live with it. Bringing souls unto Christ is more important than my personal quest to save the earth. But I think there are some connections we can make between the two. The earth has really become polluted as mankind as progressed in knowledge and technology. We have to make a constant effort to keep the earth clean with all the awful things we are putting in it. There are many programs formed to remove pollution that has already contaminated the earth. Similarly, the earth is spiritually polluted in many ways. Many of God's commandments have been forgotten. As we live the gospel, we can keep ourselves clean from spiritual pollution. There are many programs we have that provide us with the knowledge and protection we need to remove pollution or to keep it from ever entering our homes-seminary, church, mutual, family scripture study and prayer, family home evening, general conference. The Lord has provided us with endless sources in which we can find spiritual strength, protection, and peace in a world that is doing everything possible to take those things away. Not to mention, we have a living prophet of God on the earth! who gives us counsel and guidance from the Lord himself so that we can obtain the greatest blessings of this life, and we can return to live with our Heavenly Father again. "And hehath said that: Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as yewill not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence." 2 Nephi 1:20. We must never forget the commandments of God, because they are what will bring us the greatest joy and happiness. So many of God's children have! That is why we must share these things with them. And the Lord will help us as we do.Tuesday, May 13, 2014
May 13, 2014
Dear Family,
I am so happy I got to see your beautiful faces! I must say, nobody's personality has changed one bit! It's fantastic! You guys keep me going. Thanks for all that you do!Saturday, May 10, 2014
May 5, 2014
Dear Family,
It's been one great week. First of all, the sun came out! Second of all, that means people come out! We talked to so many people this week, and we saw so many miracles from it. We talked to one guy about the apostasy, the restoration, and about God's mercy. His wife said she definitely wasn't interested in talking about religion. Before we could ask if we could come back to talk with him, he said,"Well, ya, I'm definitely interested. I'm off of work Tuesday. Would that work?" I've never had anyone invite us back before we could ask! It was awesome! And he is an awesome guy! We will have to talk with his wife to get her to feel of the Spirit! And then yesterday we talked to a couple about the restoration. They were outside watching their nieces, nephew, and daughter. After we talked with them for a while, the guy told us he was "baptized Mormon" when he was younger, but that he wanted to be re-baptized now that he knew more what it was about. We didn't explain that he wouldn't need to be re-baptized, but we will later. He's been through a lot in his life and he recognizes the need to make good choices. He and his girlfriend also want to be married. And they want to come to church with is on Sunday. We are going back this week to teach them more. It is such a neat feeling to talk with so many people and to meet those who are seeking light. And to see how God leads and guides His children. I know that he is truly aware of each of us!
"Doctrine and Covenants section 8 teaches that revelation is knowledge—“knowledge of whatsoever things [we]ask in faith, with an honest heart, believing that [we] shall receive.”7
And the Lord tells us how we will receive this revelation. He says, “I will tell you in your mind and in your heart,by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.”8
Thus we are taught that revelation can be obtained by asking in faith, with an honest heart, and believing we willreceive.
But notice that the Lord made it very clear when He warned, “Remember that without faith you can do nothing;therefore ask in faith.”9 Faith requires work, such as studying it out in your mind, then asking in prayer if it isright." (Elder Aidukaitis-"If Ye Lack Wisdom.")
This little boy is such an inspiration to me with his faith. I hope we can keep teaching him! Oh, and he also thanked us more than once for coming-and he's 10!Well, time is about up. I love you all! I am so excited to talk to you guys on Sunday! If you ever have any questions for me, let me know!
Love,
Sister Mecate
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