So this week was clouds with bursts of sunshine. No I am not talking about the weather :) This week was kind of meh, but we did get to see some sweet miracles (that's what i mean by bursts of sunshine). So before I get into the miracles, I have somehow roped myself and our entire zone of 6 sisters into singing at this upcoming mission conference. I have no idea how it happened or what possessed me to offer but it has happened and i can't take it back. We've decided to sing Joseph smith's first prayer to the tune of come thou fount. But another tricky thing is that the other sisters in our zone are an hour and a half away so we are going to basically only be able to practice over Skype. I'll let you know what happens with that. I face palm just thinking about it. Another musical update, Sister Xiong taught me the basics of Bass Clef on the piano so i am teaching myself how to play how firm a foundation in the hymns made easy book! I love it!
So we had a sweet miracle with a referral. Our bishop's wife, sister baker, texted us and said that a lady who had moved out of the ward like a couple of years ago had asked her to contact us and ask us to visit her friend Holly, who lives in this area whom she thought was at right time in her life to hear the gospel. So we went over on I think Wednesday and met her. She is SO CUTE! The spirit was really strong as we talked with her and testified about how the gospel blesses families. We offered to serve her or help her in any way she would need and she was really touched. She called us angles and said we could stop by whenever. We are so excited about her!!!
So also something AWESOME!!! we were at coordination with bishop and the elders said that they were talking to Jessie Cruzan (the awesome lady who has been coming to church with her family for over the past two months) and she said that she is ready to start taking the lessons! We are so excited because we'll get to teach her. Even more, she got up yesterday and bore her testimony and she said I'm not a member YET. Sister Xiong and I just gave each other a look that was like I heard that three letter word, that's right not yet but soon >:) SO EXCITED!
The last thing I want to write about I am just going to quote straight out of my journal from yesterday. (By the way I wrote this story the way I think someone in general conference would give it because it totally seems like a story that would be shared. Not that I'm EVER hoping to have to tell it in conference ;) ).
April 10th, 2016
Well today I made a discovery. I just found a cure for hurt feelings and bad days. I'm serious, I know it works because it just happened to me. I made a mistake while driving home tonight. We were in La Crescent, a place I've only been to twice before and it was dark. I thought we were on a double lane one way road, as is common in La Crosse, and a truck pulled in front of me going slower than i was. So I put on my blinker and went into the other lane to avoid using the brakes. To my surprise the car honked at me a I realized that the road was not a one way but was a two way and I was going in the wrong direction. I immediately slowed down and stopped to get over into the correct lane. The truck that had alerted me to my mistake also slowed down and stopped beside my car to make sure I knew he thought I was an idiot and apparently had personally offended him, his family, and the entire state of Minnesota by my mistake. That kind of lack of understanding makes me livid. I always want to yell "Yes. I made a mistake, I'm sure you've made plenty of them too", and I always want to share the story of the Savior when he is rebuking the accusers of the woman caught in Adultery. "Let he who is without sin first cast a stone at her". I let myself be angry for 30 seconds but quickly realized that that was not how the savior would react and I needed to let it go and forgive. That is not easy to do. What's worse is I got snippy with my companion Sister Xiong, who was just trying to help me feel better. My night had settled into a dull annoyance for and at everything and that's how i thought it would stay. But lucky for me Heavenly Father took this as an opportunity to teach me something that i hope will stay with me in year to come to help me.
The cure to hurt feelings and bad days, which, is service. I know I've heard this a million times but it actually works. A lady in our apartment building, named Vicki, was having a bad day a few days ago and we could tell she was upset. Sister Xiong and I had bought cookies on Saturday to give to her with a letter to let her know that we loved her and to hopefully brighten up her day. Even though we didn't get done planning until after 9:30 and were supposed ti get ready for bed, we decided to do it tonight. So we cut out hearts and wrote her a card. We taped the hearts on her door and set the plate of cookies and the card on the mat, knocked and ran back into our apartment like the ninja sister missionaries that we are :). A few minutes late she knocked on our door to thank us. She started crying and said no one had ever done something like that for her before. She had been upset because she had just learned that she would not be able to attend her grandsons graduation, which she said she "would be willing to crawl through broken glass to get to". She was upset but immensely appreciated our love and service towards her. After we said goodbye I realized that i was happy and filled with love and light. that was all because of service. It's the cure for hurt feelings and bad days. Night! -Sister Richardson
Spiritual Thought of the Week:
Ether 6:7
7. And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.
This reminded me of the following poem I found in a past session of Conference..
All the water in the world
No matter how hard it tried
Could never sink the smallest ship
Unless it got inside.
All the evil in the world
And every kind of sin
Could never damn a human soul
Unless we let it in
If we don't let sin inside there is no way it could ever harm us. We need to be strong in our testimony of the gospel and application of it in our life. Just like water if it finds the tiniest crack or hole it will immediately get inside. When we are "encompassed about by many waters [we need to] cry unto the Lord, and he [will] bring [us] forth again upon the top of the water".
I LOVE YOU ALL!!! Thanks for all of the prayers and Support!
Love, Sister Richardson
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for supporting Sister Richardson