Saturday, January 3, 2015

Samara - Week 17 - "The Greatest Miracle of All!"

Nov. 24, 2014
All is well,

I'll be spending another cycle down in lil Balakovo with my dear companion Sister Martinez. I'm excited to see who will be baptized this cycle, Heavenly Father has blessed us with a large teaching pool and I'm really anxious to see who he is preparing. Also on that note, the member Sv, who was baptized not to long ago, has actually been helping us on lessons. She's such a little fireball. She loves handing out invitations to people on the streets :) 
Sister Martinez and Sister Wilson eating their Thanksgiving dinner!


Oh man this week was full of the highest highs and the numbest numbs for me probably. My array of emotions has been pretty ridiculous here on the mission. However I am so grateful that I can always count on Christ when my mood goes down the toilet... he is my anchor and he is unwavering and unchanging. He always has a good mood, and he has overcome my bad mood, therefore I can rely on him to help me overcome my bad moods :)


Now for some miralces that we have seen. Most of them are pertaining to the members rather than investigators. At one point during the week all of our plans ending up falling through, however a member was still very persistant on being on the streets with us from 6-9:00. (Have I mentioned that our ward mission leader makes sure that the sisters in Balakovo are NEVER without a member from 6-9?) The member needed to take a bathrooom break so we called a member who lived nearby. When we walked in the door of the members house it became clear that we were not to come to her by coinsidence that night. She told us that she has nothing else to live for but pain and loneliness in her long 80 year old life. She is really losing sight of the point "enduring." She then pulled out of her closet a purse which contained the clothes that she wanted to be buried in. It sounded like she was thinking about ending her life short of what God wanted for her, and we spent the remainder of the night reading scriptures, praying, and lending comfort to our dear Babooshka. Heavenly Father is so mindful of his children. 


Saturday night we had a lesson with one of our dear sweet actives, E. She is married and has a child but the husband has always been against the church and refuses to let their son be baptized. Her husband's birthday was the very next day and it just so happened that we brought some famous american banana bread with us so we wished him a happy birthday with it :) On our lesson with E we focused on getting her back to church, so that she can take the sacrament and have the spirit with her throughout the week to lead and guide her and give her counsel according to the needs of her family. She came to church the next day with her little boy and texted us that night saying, "I have no idea why but my husband has agreed to come to sacrament meeting next week." She was overjoyed and so excited. She's been married to him about 7 or 8 years and that's the first time he's ever agreed to come to church. Heavenly Father is the master of changing hearts :) 


On the note of changing... I had an interview with President Schwab last week and he gave me some powerful insight...
When Jesus Christ lived on the earth every single miracle that he performed was the healing of something incurable. The deaf, the blind, the dead. But he mentioned that aside from all of that, the greatest miracle he has ever seen is the changing of a human heart. God is the one who made us, and truly only through him can we be changed.  


With another cycle here in little Balakovo I am really going to focus on giving it my all. I will love these members and strangers and investigators to death before I leave. I think Heavenly Father has seen my tendency to want to give up when I get "bored" or "tired"  he knows my tendency to give up when things get hard and he's not letting me back out! He really wants to transform such things into strengths. And that is what He wants to teach me right now; diligence :)


I wish you all a happy thanksgiving, and don't worry about me, I'm pretty sure Balakovo is one of the warmest cities in the mission right now, thankfully :)

with love,
Sister Wilson 

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