My dear wonderful family,
This week has been better! The work in the area is about the same, but I feel like my attitude and hope for the area has improved drastically....and that makes all the difference in the world! I feel a little bit like I would imagine the Children of Israel felt (on a much smaller scale, of course) being led into the wilderness for 40 years with nothing but the Lord to depend on for sustenance. Missionary work in my area has not been easy for me, but what I've noticed about missionary work, as well as all other aspects of our lives, is we need to put ALL of our trust and confidence in our Savior, Jesus Christ to lead us to the things we need....in my case, to lead me to people who have been prepared to receive the wonderful news of God's restored church.
Today I want to share my testimony with all of you. I have a testimony of acting on the promptings of the Spirit, no matter what you are doing or how unusual the prompting might seem. During one of our finding activities, my companion and I were going through old records of former investigators when I came across on that didn't even have any contact information. The person on the record had only been taught one time, and there weren't even many details about the person or the lesson at all. But that was the one that I felt impressed to go see. It seemed silly, the only thing we had were some cross-streets for where they lived, we didn't even have their address! When we reached the street that they supposedly lived on, we found nothing but a gas station and a food market. It was obviously a dead end so we went back to trying to find something to do. We drove around for a bit and found a pretty nice apartment complex down the street and decided to get out and knock some doors. After knocking for about half an hour with no success, we offered up a little prayer asking Heavenly Father what he wanted us to do next. I have never in my life received a prompting so specific, the Spirit helped us know exactly which door to knock, and that's how we met Dissenia.
We had a really great first lesson with her! She doesn't have much religious background but she told us that she had recently (within the past few weeks) started thinking that she needs to start reading the Bible and praying to help her family. She said that right before we knocked on her door, she had started praying while she was blow drying her hair. She said she felt like her prayer had been answered, and she's excited to learn about God.
When I heard that, I remembered the wonderful promise in Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." It's true! He keeps all of his promises, and his promises are REAL! I know that this is the work of the Lord. I know that it is He that is directing all of the affairs of the church and the Gospel. We are all working side by side with him, and it is just the greatest privilege in the world to be wherever He wants me to be. He is in our midst, even if we cannot see him. He is always watching over us and guiding us! I found a scripture today in my personal study that I just loved, in D&C he asks us to "Lift up your hearts and be glad, for I am in your midst and am your advocate with the Father; and it is his good will to give you the kingdom." If we could all just pause and really ponder the depth and the meaning of this promise, we would all be comforted in our trials and be able to have "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding"(Philippians 4:7).
I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. He is the only person we can fully put our trust in, He is constant, He is all knowing and all seeing, He is our teacher, He is our strength and our rock. We cannot make it without Him. As we submit our will and our lives to Him, He will be the one to bring us happiness in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come. I testify that He lives. In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sister Stacie Morgan Townley
