Adventures from West Virginia: Don't Stop On the First Floor

Hello friends, this week was outstanding!

Exchanges with Sister Christopherson in Blacksburg

We went on exchanges with the Blacksburg Sisters. I got to go to Blacksburg and we had a great time! Blacksburg is a college town, because that is where Virginia Tech is, so that is always fun haha. I love being able to go on exchanges with these wonderful missionaries, I learn SO much from them! The secret is out! WVCM has the BEST missionaries :) It is also the best mission and I'm pretty sure that is doctrine :)

So this week I have been thinking a lot about my purpose and studying 3 Nephi 5:13. This is a scripture that we as missionaries were asked to memorize. I love it!

"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."

The Blacksburg Sisters

It really helps me understand and know who I am, why I am here, and what I have been called to do. I am here to do HIS WORK. My companion, Sister Miller, is wonderful and she has actually started using it in lessons while we teach people. It is awesome to see what happens when we tell someone that we have been "called of Him to declare His word". I LOVE how important and significant this work really is!

We had an awesome lesson with one of our investigators, Steve. He hasn't really been progressing well, so we have been trying to help him build his faith. He is also a heavy smoker. He smokes two packs a day! We decided that we would teach him the Word of Wisdom and then do that Stop Smoking Workshop with him. We were able to teach it to him last night! It went really well. There is a part in the program at the beginning, that we ask the smoker to get all the cigarettes that they have. Then we ask them to crush them. Normally people hesitate and maybe crush them just a little bit, but Steve went all out! He got both of the packages that he had, tore open the packaging, and broke every single cigarette in half as well as crushing it to pieces. After throwing the Tobacco mess in the trash, he came back to sit down and said, "My blood sugar is really high right now". It was amazing! He is going to quit smoking!

More Exchanges with Christopherson

We picked up a new investigator this week named Jeffery! He is awesome! He is so willing to learn and he is excited. He is recovering from a head injury that happened some years ago and he knows that God has defiantly been watching over him. We put him on date and invited him to church, but he had a bad headache so he wasn't able to come :( hopefully next week though!

Okay, so I absolutely LOVED the General Woman's Session of Conference! If you are a woman and you didn't get the chance to see it, I would invite you to repent :) and GO WATCH IT. And if you are a priesthood holder, GO WATCH IT. I love and sustain the leaders of our church and I really enjoy the wonderful opportunity that we all have to listen to the Lords representatives on the earth today. I loved each of the talks and I especially loved President Uchtdorfs words. I have been focusing on developing my faith for about the past 6 months now, and so I felt like that talk was for me! I mean especially the story on those missionaries because people, I AM A MISSIONARY! :) I loved hearing about the great faith of these 2 missionaries and how they didn't stop on the first floor when no one would listen to them, or even the second floor when no one would listen to them. They kept going until the LAST floor and the LAST door! We need to have the faith that God WILL answer our prayers. BUT WE CANNOT STOP ON THE FIRST FLOOR. We need to be diligent in seeking answers. I also love how President Uchtdorf talked about the Lord's promise that is repeated though out the scriptures: "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you". President Uchtdorf said, "God rewards those who knock, but the reward usually isn't behind the first door." I LOVE THIS. It not only applys to literal missionary work, but to all of us in our lives. Do not forget the Lord and his promises, he will give us answers, we just need to be faithful and diligent in seeking them.

Double Rainbow

Some other thoughts I had from conference:

We need to strive to have faith, hope, and charity.
Know and understand the Doctrine of Christ (2 Nephi 31)
Keep your temple and baptismal covenants!!
Use the atonement more in our lives
Sometimes we need to "listen differently" :)

As a last note the members here are awesome! We had a dinner appointment this week with an awesome member who just moved here with her husband for school. They moved from Provo, Utah and they are so great! She knows that Sister Miller and I are both from Utah, and so when we went over for dinner and she surprised us by making home made Cafe Rio! It was delicious! There isn't a Cafe Rio in the mission, the closest one is in Richmond, VA. When we thanked her for being so thoughtful she just said, "Everyone needs Cafe Rio!" :)