It's my birthday this week. I only want 2 things:
#1-write me a letter about your life!
#2-if you want, donate to a school clothes fund so I have clothes for school this fall ;)
Love you!
Oh-and next Tuesday (on your birthday Dan!) is our temple pday. So I'll write tuesday afternoon. I'm excited! :)
Dear Family,
This has been a really good week. If I keep biking this much in the sun I'm gonna be super tan by the end of the summer :)
Karen
and Kathy, I am SO excited for you! You are going to be the best
missionaries. Just make sure to study the scriptures and PMG a lot
before you leave :)
I'm just going to tell the miracle stories of the
week, since the rest of it consisted of tracting. (We're really trying
to discover the more effective ways to find in this area-we're way tired
every day and have no new investigators to show for it yet...)
Jackie-I told you a little bit about her last
week. But it has been amazing to see the change that her heart has
undergone. She really is desiring the Gospel back into her life. We
taught her this week about prophets and how important they are to God's
kingdom.
(Every time I study prophets I get just a little bit more in awe of
the blessing they are to us. Of COURSE we don't worship our prophets,
but we recognize how needed they are to keep Christ's doctrine pure. As
I've studied the New Testament a lot this week I've realized how a large
portion of the new testament is the Apostles writing letters to correct
false or corrupted doctrine throughout the areas where Christ's church
has been established. Even with 12 of them preaching and traveling and
writing letters they still couldn't prevent errors and corrupted
doctrine to enter. It follows that once they were no longer there to
monitor that-to ensure that the pure, true doctrine of Christ was
followed and taught correctly-then Christ's church would get corrupted
quickly. Having a prophet is essential. Just as Peter received the
revelation to change the policy of taking the gospel now to the
Gentiles, prophets today receive revelation from God how to organize and
direct the church. Ah! I love prophets).
Sadly Jackie wasn't able to come to church on Sunday because of
problems with her 18 yr old daughter. But she wants to and that is a
huge first step.
Stacy-I told you a bit
about her as well. She has 3 kids, 13, 12, and 5 months. She was raised
in the church but because she felt the gospel was forced on her she
chose to leave as soon as she could (at 17 yrs old). Missionaries
throughout the years have tried to bring her back but she wasn't every
interested or willing to listen. But somehow, when Sister Wasden and
Sister Oler tracted into her, her heart was ready. She was out of town
all week, but on saturday we called and made sure she knew she was
invited to church. She said she was getting home late that night so
probably wasn't going to be able to make it. But Sunday morning came and
she sent a text saying that she was on her way! She staid for the full 3
hours and made so many new friends. It was beautiful to see the ward
rally around her and be so accepting, despite her living a lifestyle not
in harmony with the Gospel. She said she enjoyed it-it helped her feel
peaceful. She said ti was the first time since she was little that she
went to church because she wanted to. We were so happy :) God truly does
soften people's hearts.
Larry-We taught Larry when I was here 15
months ago. I had no idea what I was doing then. So we decided to go
back and visit. When we got there I was pretty discouraged. It felt so
exactly the same and I didn't have that much hope for being able to help
him out at all. But as we taught the Spirit came and we felt prompted
to challenge him to do a 30 day challenge-to live the Gospel fully for
30 days. And he accepted!! We are going to meet with him regularly,
teach him the missionary lessons, fellowship him with the ward, and help
him read and pray daily. I was humbled as I realized how easily I had,
in my heart, given up on one of God's children. But God is so good and
will never ever give up on us.
I've learned so much this week about myself and about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This morning I was studying the talk, Bear Up Their Burdens With Ease,
by Elder Bednar, and was so overwhelmed with the "love Jesus offers
[us]." The Apostles truly are witnesses of our Savior. He lives! And
because He completed the Atonement we have hope that we can change,
grow, repent, and be fully healed. I love this sentence from Preach My
Gospel, "We can return to live with God the Father only through Christ’s
mercy, and we receive Christ’s mercy only on condition of repentance" (PMG, Repentance).
I love the Gospel. It is so good. It provides such a happy way of life. Live it! :)
I love you!
Love,
Sister Andelin
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