Hello Everyone!
Happy Late 4th of July!! On our 4th of July, Sister Helsing and I came up with this brilliant plan that ended up not working out according to our plan but I'm sure it worked out the way Heavenly Father wanted it to.
Here in Wellington they have a HUGE 4th of July celebration where the whole town is at the park all day with different vendors, a car show, live entertainment, bounce houses, and all kinds of fun things. So, we knew it would be hard to catch anyone at home, but we came up with a plan. It would have been brilliant if we had more time and had known more about it in advance. But we made a plan to buy some Otter Pops, and go around handing out free Otter Pops to people at the event and talk to everyone, starting off the conversation with a question of, "What freedoms are you grateful for?" We took the Otter Pops to a member's freezer and left them overnight, expecting them to be frozen...but we got there and none of them were frozen yet. (We left them in the boxes...bad idea.) So we spread them out and then decided to go try some referrals and attempt to visit a few other people while we waited. They finally ended up freezing but right as we got to the park , it was getting stormy and everyone was cleaning up...Fail!!! haha, but we made the most of it. We changed our approach and went around talking to the different vendors seeing if they wanted Otter Pops and help cleaning up their booths. We ended up talking to quite a few people in the process and got some potential investigators out of it! We also ran into a missionary couple that is in charge of overseeing the temple being built and they said that they had a referral for us. They wrote their testimonies a copy of the Book of Mormon and they asked us to go and visit them. This man has been working on the temple and they say that they have felt prompted many times to share the gospel with him. We are excited to go and give him the Book of Mormon. He has a large family and very strong values. Miracle! So our epic failure on the 4th, resulted in many good things:) But we laughed pretty hard about it all day. It was such a hot day! Then we came home at our usual time and since we are in the country, we went into our backyard and climbed on the hay bails to get a better view of the fireworks:) We had a nice 360 view of about 8 or 9 different firework shows. T'was a great day! So grateful for the freedoms we enjoy. It's because of our freedoms that I can be a missionary right now!
M M will be getting baptized this upcoming weekend! Yay! We are excited for his baptism. We also had some really neat lessons with some less-actives this week. One thing that I am grateful for with Sister Helsing is her desire to follow the spirit. It is helping me to remember to listen:) One lesson I have been learning my whole mission is how the spirit works. I believe that the spirit works with both your heart and your mind. We need to study it out, use our brain to think what would be best, and then ask Heavenly Father. The spirit will help us. But Heavenly Father will not command you in all things. There is a quote in Preach My Gospel that says,
“[A person may have] a strong desire to be led by the Spirit of the Lord but … unwisely extends that desire to the point of wanting to be led in all things. A desire to be led by the Lord is a strength, but it needs to be accompanied by an understanding that our Heavenly Father leaves many decisions for our personal choices. Personal decision making is one of the sources of the growth we are meant to experience in mortality. Persons who try to shift all decision making to the Lord and plead for revelation in every choice will soon find circumstances in which they pray for guidance and don’t receive it. For example, this is likely to occur in those numerous circumstances in which the choices are trivial or either choice is acceptable.
“We should study things out in our minds, using the reasoning powers our Creator has placed within us. Then we should pray for guidance and act upon it if we receive it. If we do not receive guidance, we should act upon our best judgment. Persons who persist in seeking revelatory guidance on subjects on which the Lord has not chosen to direct us may concoct an answer out of their own fantasy or bias, or they may even receive an answer through the medium of false revelation” (“Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfall,” Ensign, Oct. 1994, 13–14).
This quote has helped me to understand the Holy Ghost more fully and my role in receiving revelation.
There were many times this week that I felt very guided by the Holy Ghost. I am more confident now in being able to recognize what is from the Holy Ghost. I still have a ways to go but I am grateful for how far I have come and what I have learned.
I have more I could share, but I am running short on time. I have many good things that are helping me stay excited and focused. This is such a great work! I am so grateful to be a part of it. I will do with this time, the best that I can. I love you all!
Love,
Sister Young
P.S-Thank you all for your birthday cards, and wishes! I appreciated them sooooo much:)
Pictures: 4th of July Fun!
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