Birthday Week!

It was my birthday!  So fun to have a birthday on a mission.  We ate lunch with one of our investigators and she had a birthday cake, and then at dinner with the Wright's, she had a really cute cake as well.  I loved the packages I got from home and the few gifts I received from people in the ward - it was SO nice.  Overall it was a good day.  Feels weird that I'm 20 though?  Haha I still feel 16 (but do not wish to go back to being 16) haha!

This week I get to sing in a trio at zone conference, and then next Sunday I get to sing a solo in church so that will be fun.   :)

Well this has again been a very humbling week.  The work has just been very dry.  No one seems to be interested, but we are effortlessly trying to tract.  I have really come to feel and understand the atonement on a new level.  I was reading a talk by Elder Holland called "Missionary Work and The Atonement" and this quote really touched me:

"Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn't it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren't there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn't the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?

You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.

I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price...For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy."

This really stuck out to me, to understand the Atonement even a little more in depth, to have a deeper testimony and understanding, we have to experience some sort of trial, some sort of hardship, some sort of "hard times" just as The Savior did.  I was also fasting this Sunday for an added measure of strength, desire and determination to work hard.  I want to be the best missionary I know I can be, to fulfill my fullest potential.  While pondering this during sacrament I felt  a whispering that "it's the little things."  What an answer to prayer.  We don't just wake up one day a rock star missionary.  I must do those little things that matter, like focus on the spirit daily, grow and test my faith daily, exercising exact obedience daily.  It's the little things that make up the bigger picture...that mold and form you into that person that God designed you to become.  Just as Mosiah 21:16 the people of Limhi "And it came to pass that they began to prosper by degrees."  I just feel truly refreshed after this weekend, ready to finish out the next 4 weeks of the transfer strong.

I got the following letter from someone I worked with previously and was baptized, and thought I'd share it here.

"Dear Sister Wawro!

The blog that your sweet mum posts is wonderful.  I’m almost done reading the entire thing, but what caught my eye was your temporary discouragement in your new ward, Lake Stevens. You were concerned that you knock on doors, you work very hard but you didn’t seem to be getting through to many people.

But my more optimistic view, as your grateful newbie, is this: every single “lapsed” or newly baptized Mormon whom you’ve counseled and prayed with, then they attend Sacrament and Sunday School with you, will then go on to baptize their deceased relatives, and when the person you’ve contacted then moves to the next life -- that work will continue also. So it’s like a pebble tossed into a quiet lake – the ripples move out and that is what makes the difference. Just one convert can baptize many relatives from long ago! You’re the pebble! (Although I’ve never seen Lake Stevens.)

So now you see how just one person – you – can make a huge difference with even just one convert, who can then work for the glory of our Heavenly Father, forever. The thought of that makes me so happy for you, for the church, for our Father in Heaven.

Lots of love to you and happy birthday"


Love you all,
Sister Wawro

PICTURES

The other sisters in our apt are the BEST!  So nice - Arave and Yeager - decorated the apt. the bathroom and the car!

Sweet "J" - one lady we met tracting and have given service too.  She doesn't like to be "taught" but she lets us come over and do service and share a message. She's so sweet! She made me a cake and fed me birthday lunch

 Dinner with the Wrights' - beautiful birthday cake!

My wall now, with quotes from (cousin) Ashley's birthday gift  :)