I love this Gospel! I really, really do! And I love this work! This transfer Sister Thacker and I have decided to work on developing the attribute of Hope.
Specifically, we are focusing on the statement in Preach My Gospel that says, “Hope is an abiding trust that [Heavenly Father] will fulfill His promises to you. It is manifest in your confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance” (See PMG Chapter 6). So our goal is to further develop those four qualities and guess what! It has completely changed the work! Don’t get me wrong neither of us were that bad at those things, but I hadn’t realized until now that we weren’t that good either. President sent a quote a few weeks ago that said, “A pessimist looks for the difficulty if every opportunity, but an optimist looks for the opportunity in every difficulty.” And it’s so true! The nature of missionary work really is difficult, as are most things in life. But inside EVERY difficulty is an opportunity waiting to blossom.
It seems this is the message the Lord wants to get across to me because it keeps showing up in my studies! Ha ha. Two quotes I found that I have to share! Both of them are from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. The first one Elder Holland referred to the story of Christ’s apostles and their experience of crying to the Master in fear that their boat was about to sink in the tempest and they were about to go with it. The Savior was a little disappointed with their lack of faith. Elder Holland related that to us by saying:
I know some of you truly feel at sea, in the most frightening sense of that term… it is not without recognition of life’s tempest but fully and directly because of them that I testify of God’s love and the Savior’s power to calm the storm… Christ knows better than all others that the trials of life can be very deep and we are not shallow people if we struggle with them. But… he rebukes faithlessness and he deplores pessimism. HE EXPECTS US TO BELIVE.”
I think this was for me, as well as a few of our investigators. We are all going through experiences that might seem like our “ship is sinking.” But I know that heavenly promises are always kept! And the Savior promises our boat won’t sink if we trust Him enough to lead us safely across the sea. So Sister Thacker and I are focusing on those “heavenly promises” of finding families that are prepared for the gospel. The other quote I found was in an Ensign article that you have to read! It’s called ‘This the Greatest of All Dispensations’ by Elder Holland. In it he said, “God is eagerly waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can’t if you don’t pray, and He can’t if you don’t dream. In short, He can’t if you don’t believe.”
So my dear family, I’m committing to do a little bit better of dreaming and believing! Ha ha. I really am! And I know that Heavenly Father wants to bless our family just as much as He wants to bless this work in the missionary field. So let’s look for those opportunities!
I just love this gospel!
So now I’m out of time to tell you about the week. I guess I’ll have to catch up next week. Oops sorry! But have fun at Disneyland, especially when you are go on Small World over and over and over again! Sister Thacker and I were laughing because we thought you would be there the same week as her family. However, you missed each other by a day.
Oh and let Molly know I did get the Christmas package, in February. Ha ha. Actually, it was devoured quite quickly. Sister Gundersen ate the Swedish fish in like three days flat. And Sister Thacker took it upon herself to sort that HUGE container of jelly beans into the right flavor so we didn’t have to keep eating the Java flavor when we were trying to find Rootbeer. Ha ha. I’ll send the picture.
Lots of Love!
Sister Painter
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