"Serving From The South": A Week of Blessings

Well, I can't even believe it's 2015! Where did the time go? I remember when I first got my call letter and I thought, my goodness I will be serving from 2013-2015 that is a LONG time. But then it just went by so quick!

We had interviews with our mission president this week, and he really is just so great. He is kind and truly cares about each individual missionary. I had a great interview with him, and he really lifted me up and made me feel like I am a great missionary, even though I am oftentimes too hard on myself. Our instruction at interviews was great as well, and really made me want to just sanctify myself.

So that night I prayed to feel the spirit that next day, and as I was exactly exactly obedient in everything I could do, with gratitude and a positive attitude, I would feel blessed. And that next day was seriously one of the best days I have ever had on my mission! I tried to do everything to a "T"...exactly out the door on time, talk to everyone, follow EVERY prompting, be gracious in all things, talk about spiritual things. And guess what, did we find any investigators that day? No. But did we work harder than ever? Yes. And were we happier than ever? YES. It was such a great day - that's what missionary work is about. Although it's fun and great to teach all day and have lots of baptisms, that's not what it's about. When you are doing what is right, at the end of the night when you kneel down to pray, you just feel accomplished and at peace with yourself and the day and know you truly did serve the Lord with all your heart, might, mind, and strength (D&C 4:2). I've always tried to be obedient, but when you really try and give your whole self to God that day and focus on what you are doing every moment of the day and how it relates to your purpose "Invite others to Come unto Christ", it's amazing. How did I not apply this uhhhm...16 months ago? Lol

On New Years' Eve we had to be in early at 5pm, so we did our weekly planning, then I scrap booked and we watched "Mountain of The Lord.'" We decided to make a new years resolution of no sweets, since we just got crammed this holiday season... so to have our last sweets-night while we watched the movie, we had a big bowl of popcorn with extra butter, M&M's and Gummy Bears. :) We also weren't allowed to go out on New Years' Day either, so we went to Mount Vernon with our district and played volleyball - it was super fun!

A really sweet thing happened this week. A member cancelled dinner with us, so they gave us money to go out to eat. We went to Olive Garden - MY FAVE - and I got my favorite soup. While we are eating, this really sweet young couple with a little baby comes up to our table - the guy puts out his hand and says "Thank you for doing the Lord's work sisters, we just paid for your meal." I literally dropped my fork and then my mouth and was like 'whaaaaat?!' It was so sweet! We graciously said thank you to both of them - it brought tears to our eyes and was just the sweetest thing ever. Then we were asking our district and describing this couple to them to see who they were, and they were from Mount Vernon - he is a recent convert and she is a non-member taking the lessons! So sweet!!! It made me want to work even harder and truly try and DO the Lord's work to the fullest extent possible.

And...FINAL miracle. We found a new investigator yesterday. Her name is Savannah and she is 17. Her dad was on our potentials sheets and said missionaries could stop by. The family is very religious and open to learning. We taught her about the Restoration and it went so well at the end she even prayed "help me to know if this is the path I should be on, and if I am on the wrong path in life, show me what is right and I'll follow." She is great! We have a return appointment where we are supposed to meet the rest of her family!

Sorry this letter is long, but one more thing. We went on exchanges this week. I went to Arlington with Sister Lawson who I came out with. It was a great exchange, she is serving in a single ward and it is SO FUN to work with young adults. At one point in the day we were at a red light and she goes, "I think that car in front of us is YSA (Young Single Adults), go talk to them!" So I jump out of the car and thankfully this car of guys all had their windows rolled down and I was like "Hi! We want to invite you to church!" Right as I am about to explain that our congregation is from ages 18-30, there the F-bombs go...I think I startled him, it even made him drop his cigarette. LOL! But then the light turned green and I gave him a card with the information about church and ran back to the car - it was such an adrenaline rush, I don't think I would have been able to do that at the beginning of my mission. ha ha

We also taught this YSA from Ghana, his name is Rchlue (rish-loo) and he was AWESOME. He has a cool story of how he got here - he was just one of 6 out of 300 that won a scholarship from his high school to come to America. So he is here in college and wants to be a doctor so he can go back to his country and serve his people. He is so sweet. So we taught him about the Book of Mormon and I just felt the spirit so strongly about prophets, as we read 1st Nephi Chapter 1. I can't tell you how many times I have read 1st Nephi 1, but its so great because Lehi is prophesying to Jerusalem to repent or they will be destroyed and they don't listen. God commands them to leave so they head to the wilderness, and we know from the Old Testament especially Jer. 39 that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon does come, and kills Zedekiah King of Judah, all but one of his sons, destroys the city and takes the Jews captive into Babylon. So they totally didn't listen and were taken in bondage! This is exactly how prophets are today...they teach us and invite us to repent to keep us from SPIRITUAL BONDAGE so we aren't taken captive by temptation and sin. And I never even caught that until I was testifying of that to Rchlue! It's so cool when the spirit tells you something and then you say it and teach yourself too! It was great.

So yeah - GREAT week!

Love you all!

Sister Wawro

PICTURES:

Another screenshot of our Skype/Facetime visit on Christmas Day (yes, we did both when one program crashed!)

Yummy!

Mom and dad, thank you! Love the speakers for Christmas!

So I've decided I want to get a fish when I get home! And I've found the perfect fish bowl too!!

We had to take this online survey for mission stuff and this just CRACKED me up! "Are you from Utah or outside of Utah?" Lol! Like Utah is its own country. LOL!