"Is this a book club?" Why, yes it is. The Book of Mormon is our reading. We meet every Sunday for three hours and we'll even come help you read during the week. When you're done we might even have a baptism!
Haha twice in one day someone came up to us asking, "is this a book club?" We've been praying that the Lord would guide us to those who are ready to receive our message and people just came walking in! It's been great.
However, we felt like something was missing. It was the spirit. It was power. So we reevaluated ourselves and made some changes. We then prayed for spiritual earthquakes like in Mosiah 27:11-12 and the Lord lead us to our dinner apt. We thought she'd been fine and active in the church, but we learned that she had been harboring deep resentment against the church for some injustices that had/do occur in her life and other member's imperfect reactions. While listening to her I felt inspired to simply testify of Jesus Christ and His atonement. We started by testifying of the truth that our Heavenly Father loves us. He rejoices in our successes and weeps with us in our sorrows. I felt the spirit guide my words as I said what I know to be true: Because of Christ's ultimate sacrifice, one day all the wrongs may be made right. We come to church to remember HIM. He who lived a sinless life but willingly took upon himself all of our sins and paid the price for our sorrows. Alone. He who was falsely accused, beaten, whipped, and hung on the cross by His own people. She went quiet and then said that when you think about Him, you realize that nothing else really matters.
Throughout conference something I wrote was "Remember Jesus". Unfortunately it can be all to easy to forget about Him, but when we can remember Him, how much else really matters? Charity can begin to replace pride as we learn to forgive and forget, and reach out to others in Christlike love and service. This can come in many different forms, but something that has changed my perspective has been this quote from Sister Reeves: "Dear sisters, our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ, know us and love us. They know when we are in pain or suffering in any way. They do not say, “It’s OK that you’re in pain right now because soon everything is going to be all right. You will be healed, or your husband will find a job, or your wandering child will come back.” They feel the depth of our suffering, and we can feel of Their love and compassion in our suffering."
More than anything this sister longed for an empathetic, listening ear, and maybe a hug. Is that too hard to give? The Lord knows the sacrifices we make and cherishes them.
While watching conference my arm, (I know, the arm!) became just extremely uncomfortable. I just wanted to shake it out and stretch it and pop it. Like an internal itch. I became discouraged and began to silently pray that the Lord could just let me know that He was still aware of me. Then Elder Kazuhiko Yamashita spoke. He spoke about an elder with one leg who had to be reassigned. I felt grateful I still had 4 limbs and an overwhelming sense of gratitude that I can continue to serve here. He spoke about Being Ambitious for Christ. How grateful am I to be Ambitious for Christ!
I love and miss you so much!
Love always,
Hermana Wallis
I thinned my hair.
