Miracles. Miracles. Miracles.
Last week we were invited to a Methodist service on Sunday.
We didn't know it was a party until we got there, felt a little weird and left.
I was feeling super bad about leaving because we had told them we would go, but something amazing happened soon after.
We had some extra time where we thought we were going to be at the service that turned out to be a party, we looked at the saved addresses in our GPS around the area we were in and decided to figure out who all those people were.
We knocked some doors and wound up at a certain house where we knocked, she said
"I'm not ready. I didn't know you were coming. I'm not ready yet come another day."
"Thursday?"
"Yes come at six. I'm so sorry I'm not ready."
"No problem we understand! See you then! No problem."
*walked back to the car
"Ready or not.. you're ready."
It's usually like pulling teeth to get a return appointment so naturally we were like
who is this lady?
Well Thursday rolled around and at six we showed up.
She had us in. She cried. She told us her story.
Now in her thirties, this wonderful human being was born in the Philippines.
side note: when I was about to get my call, I had a dream that I opened my call to the Philippines.
Anyway, she married a military man and came here, had two kids, and was married for 17 years to an abusive, mentally unstable, man who has severe ptsd.
At this current time, she is separated from him and working on a divorce.
She is heart broken.
She loves him a lot, she was his caregiver for 17 years. She knows this is the best thing to do, but is suffering a lot of heart ache.
She expressed deep concern for the lack of peace in her life, and the lack of God in her life the past two years. She talked about the guilt she feels for running away from God and turning to parties, drinking to numb the rough situation revolving around her husband.
Two years ago, she met some senior couple missionaries who taught her and her husband/kids. She went to church a few times but with everything going on they didn't join, they stopped going to church and stopped praying all together.
But now that the divorce is in progress, she is left to face the feelings that could not be resolved more than temporarily by the ways she had been trying to forget it all.
She expressed her strong desire to forsake her old life. Begin again. Feel clean, peace, comfort, Christ's love. She feels humble enough to accept the fact that all of her walls have tumbled down, but has a desire to build again on the foundation of faith in Jesus Christ.
"Tell me what to do. Tell me about life. Do you know why we have life? You know. Tell me."
She practically begged us to offer her any kind of solace. Tears filled her eyes as we told her of Gods love for her and promised that it is never too late to begin again. That we can never stray so far, to some corner of existence where God's love does not reach. That does not exist.
She felt the Spirit teach her as she spoke, and as we spoke and at the end she said with a bright smile
"I feel at peace. I really do! I feel good." She was almost shocked at the prospect of feeling peace/happiness amidst trial, sorrow, and hardship.
We left her with Helaman 5:12
(shout out to my pa)
because she loved the thought of building from ground zero. Starting from the bottom, the foundation, because everything above that had fallen down.
Christ said if we build on His foundation we cannot fall. He didn't say if you have a huge beautiful perfect building you cannot fall. He said build. That is never ending, and never enough, but if we are building even brick by brick, we will not, we cannot, fall.
She thanked us. We set up a time to come back soon.
And we all thanked God for letting us be part of that miracle.
next
remember that cool story of the cute tiny crazy old black lady that gave us her phone number and address at the store to come over? Well we did, she had us in, and said
"When I turned in the store and saw you standing by me, we was so close to each other and I just knew you was an angel. God sent me an angel and I was like yep, they from the church. They angels."
Well this sweet 90 lb lady said something that I thought was very profound during the lesson
"If you take one step, He'll take two more for you. But you got to be sincere"
In our individual lives we can shuffle forward, we can even leap forward, but we can't go the full distance no matter what. All that matters is that we have sincere hearts to move forward and even if we make it a millimeter forward, He will help us at our pace to move two more.
We left happy, and excited to share the light of Christ with this wonderful woman. We also chuckled a bit because we both noticed the huge picture of black Jesus on the wall.
My heart is here<3
I love the things I learn, the cultural differences, and experiences I have everyday. There is a quote from an apostle talking about if you go on a mission looking for this and that and to experience the world you will return in vain.
Well I have thought about that and somewhat worried because I love the fact that I get to experience the world on a mission, so am I going to return in vain? Or should I not experience the world? But I realized I didn't come on a mission looking for "this and that" I didn't come here to experience the world, I came here to serve the Lord, spread His light, and grow my own because I love my Father in Heaven. The experiences I have are just icing on the cake :)
I love you all so much and hope you have an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving
pray that I will find my wallet/usb
I am Thankful for Ryan, Leslie, Seth, Rachel, Saul, Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, Paul, Paula, Raspberries, Bonds, Baxters, Tews, Vanks, Christiansen, Pyper, White, Sister Baker, President and Sister Smith's the first and the second, and everyone else in my growing FAMILY. Even the ones I haven't met yet.
Happy TURKEY DAY
(we have four thanksgiving dinners.)
Don't worry mom. I will be taken care of ;)
I’m first and foremost thankful for a certain plan. I’ll give you a hint as to the plan I’m talking about~initials are P.O. S.~ Plan of Salvation. I’m thankful for this plan because it enables me to be with my mom, dad, brothers, sister, cousins, Grandmas, Grandpas aunts, and uncles FOREVER. I’m thankful that my brother, Jesus Christ overcame the 2 things keeping me from doing that; death and spiritual death. I’m so very thankful for change, progression, repentance, hope, love, and the mercy and majesty of a loving, living God who not only knows who I am and what my name is but He notices the little things that make me happy. He knows my weaknesses, flaws, strengths, talents, and how to mold me from good to better to best in every aspect of my being. I am thankful for parents/family that have worked so hard to teach me correct principles and to keep me safe, protected, and provided for. I’m thankful for the experiences I have every day in the Florida Tally Mission; the good, the bad, the everywhere in between that have led me to my knees in humility like I would have never known was possible. Every time my heart breaks, I am healed by the power and love of Jesus Christ. I thank my God because I know I am different than I was just hours before~one inch closer to becoming like God the Father. I am thankful for my companion, for these people I love here, and for the angels I have felt directly involved in this work--most especially Grandpa Lyle. I’m thankful for good Southern cooking, thunderstorms that sound like World War II, and humidity. (HA just kidding about the humidity. I AM SO THANKFUL FOR YA’LL and my Savior and the mission.
-Sister Saunders
xoxo
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| <3 the South |
PS
The Church's Christmas initiative 2k16 is about to launch it's all about service.
So get hype for it and serve someone esp. on December 1st because that day is National Day OF Service Day.
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| Deloris let us help her set up her christmas tree |
The video is not for the public eye YET but we were able to watch it at a confrence and I may or may not have cried because THE CHURCH IS GETTING WAY TOO GOOD AT THESE VIDEOS which teared me up and caused the mission president to call me out in front of the whole zone.
;)
Maybe that happened. Maybe not.
#LightTheWorld with the Light OF The World
PSS
Happy happy birthday Grandpa! I love you!
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| exchanges with Sister Fletcher |
