The truth will set you free! 9/21/15

Hello family and friends!

Sorry for the first email, I made a mistake!

Somehow this week went faster than the first. I'm trying to remember what even happened! I can't remember what I did 2 hours ago sometimes, its crazy.

Well this week the Lord blessed us with 2 more people to teach, both college students at University of Maine! Both have met with missionaries before and love coming to church and reading the Book of Mormon so I'm excited to start working with them. :)

We also met with Sister Lambert and her two sons who I mentioned last week. Her youngest son gave his first prayer and it was so sweet! We talked about faith with them and sang the song, "Faith" in the primary songbook. The spirit was so strong. We are starting with the basics with them, and I am excited because it is helping me to by remembering the simple truths and principles of the gospel. I love it! 

Me and Sister Eddington did a a training this week in zone conference on how the Book of Mormon frees us from the bondage of sin and it was incredible. In John 8:32 it talks about how the truth sets us free and I was thinking about this and it is literally true. As we come to know the Book of Mormon is true we also will know that the gospel of Jesus Christ truly has been restored to the earth including the Priesthood of God. Which will  lead us to be baptized by someone holding that authority and as we are baptized we literally become free from all of our sins and become clean! Therefore the truth sets us free as we are true to it. The truth also gives us the freedom to act and to use our agency wisely...I love Helaman 14:30. As a member of the church of Jesus Christ I have the truth and I am free to act but I also know how to act...and I must bring this truth to all of those who don't have it and be charitable when they may not treat me the way I should be treated...because they don't know and they don't understand! As Jesus Christ said, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." 

Sorry this is short, but I hope y'all have a great week!

Love, Sister Innes

I got see my last companion sister Hallam at zone conference! 

Splits with Sister Ellsworth

We went on the "Bog " Boardwalk in Bangor today! Enjoy the rest of the pics. 

The Spirit is the key! 9/14/15

Dearest family and friends!

These letters get harder and harder to write for some reason, maybe
it's because the weeks are just flying by! I will try and feel you in
on my week and the many miracles and things I learned this week. :)

Wednesday I was studying for a member we were going to see who has
recently started coming back to church, she is such an amazing lady!
The spirit led me to study about the Holy Ghost. In Preach My Gospel
it suggests looking up "earnest" in the Bible Dictionary, so I did and
it described it as the deposit paid by a buyer on entering into an
agreement for the purchase of anything. In Ephesians 1:14 talking
about the Holy Ghost says, "Which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of
his glory." So what I got out of that is basically when we have the
Holy Ghost with us it's a promise that we will Have Eternal Life! What
an amazing promise.

Thursday we went and visited another awesome individual who told us
that she had never really felt the spirit before and she wasn't sure
that Heavenly Father loved her because of all the things that had
happened in her life. That morning we prayed and studied for her and
the only thing we got was To sing her a hymn and help her feel
loved....and so that's what we decided to do. I was a little skeptical
because typically a lesson plan involves more than that but I put my
trust in Heavenly Father and just prayed that we would be the
instruments to help her feel His love! So we got talking and Sister
Eddington asked her if we could sing her a hymn, she said sure, so we
sang Nearer My God To Thee and the spirit came immediately...after we
asked her what she expects the spirit to feel like. She said, "like a
warm Comfie hoodie" and then we asked her what she felt and she
started crying and said that that's what she had felt! She had felt it
as soon as we started singing too....wow! I was so blown away. The
spirit guided us in helping her to feel His love as we continued to
teach her...I was just so grateful to be apart of that. Heavenly
Father is so good...we are going to keep meeting with her!

Wednesday night we had gotten a referral from church headquarters so
we stopped by and gave her a Book of Mormon and taught her the
restoration and she agreed to be taught! Yahoooo! Well after we met
with her I had a feeling we needed to tract around her trailer but we
didn't have time so we decided we would when we came back to meet with
her on Saturday. So Saturday rolls around and we go to meet with her,
but she had to cancel because something had come up so we started
tracting...and we were having no luck but we felt like we should keep
going! Well we knocked on a trailer and a man comes out and we say the
usual door approach and he let us in! Don't worry his girlfriend was
home too. So we started talking to him and the man was just so
prepared! He said him and his girlfriend have been searching for a
church. So we sang him a hymn and taught Him about Heavenly Father and
his worth as a son of God. He told us that before we came he had a
toothache and before we left it was completely gone! Ha Miracles! So
he agreed to meet with Us on Tuesday...thank you Heavenly Father!
There are people prepared and we are going to find them. I'm so pumped
to be here in Bangor, it's such a special place!

Saturday night we met with our new investigators, who were introduced
to the church by their friends in the ward. It's a mom and her 2 sons,
one is 12 and the other 16. They have never been really introduced to
religion at all in their lives so it was a really different teaching
experience for me. My favorite part though was when we sang " I am A
Child of God" and we asked the 16 year old what he felt, he told us he
felt this tingly feeling in his arms! Before we had asked him if he
believed in God and he said he didn't really know but it was just
amazing to explain to him that those feelings were from God and that
he actually was there! I'm so excited to keep teaching them, I've
really got to brush up on my teaching skills though, it's been really
good for me, I'm excited to learn more!

Well this week I learned that In order to be an instrument in Gods
hand I first,  have to trust Him which means I must trust that he
loves me unconditionally. Therefore, I can feel safe in giving my
heart to Him. After that happens, I must realize that my most
important responsibility in life is to bring others unto Christ. I
cannot do that without the spirit and I cannot have the spirit without
being obedient. I need not be afraid of making mistakes though because
that is why Heavenly Father sent Jesus Christ. I know and trust that
Heavenly Father loves me because He sent His son. Though the road may
be rough, we need not worry, because when we walk with Christ we truly
lack nothing. He makes up for our imperfections when we give all we
have to Him and his Gospel! I love being a missionary, I'm grateful
for this time Heavenly Father has given me to grow and learn and
become who he wants me to be! I'm grateful for the weaknesses and
challenges he has given me...those also show me that He loves me and
wants me to draw closer to him! I feel that I will stay here in Bangor
and just know that whatever I learn here will change me for the rest
of eternity! One more quote and then I'm out, Elder Richard G. Scott
said: “Just when all seems to be going right, challenges often come in
multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not
consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord
feels you are prepared to grow more. He therefore gives you
experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which
polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are
to where He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that
generally entails discomfort and pain. … This life is an experience in
profound trust--trust in Jesus Christ.”

I love you all and hope you have a great week feeled with the spirit!!! :)

Love, Sister Innes

Happy Day! 9/7/2015

Familia and Amigos :) 

How is everyone doing?! Well, I am doing great! Things are so good over here in Bangor....I love it, it is THE BEST. I love sister Eddington, she is the best for me. So this week was super quick but so good!

Tuesday we went to Missionary Leaders Council in Manchester and it was amazing, President Stoker is such an incredible man, I am so grateful for him. We are studying a lot about the book of Mormon in preparation for our upcoming zone conferences so it was a lot about the Book of Mormon, go figure! Me and sister Eddington were assigned to do a little presentation on how the Book of Mormon testifies of Christ...In the introduction of the Book of Mormon it says, "The record is now published in many languages as a new and additional witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that all who will come unto Him and obey the laws and ordinances of His gospel may be saved." We met with a lady last week who told us that she thought the Book of Mormon didn't portray Jesus Christ as she wanted him to be portrayed as the Son of God...and I had to disagree with her! I was thinking about the first time I read through the whole Book of Mormon as a missionary. It was in my first area and we were teaching the restoration to a family and as I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon I remember just feeling an overwhelming since of love for my Savior and I felt that I had really come to know him so much better without even really realizing it. Our purpose as missionaries is first to help others build their faith in Jesus Christ and I haven't seen anything else work better than the Book of Mormon. Brother Ishihara went from wanting to be baptized in 4-6 months to wanting to be baptized as soon as he could just because of this book. It is such an amazing miracle and gift our Heavenly Father has given us. President committed us to read the Book of Mormon everyday for the rest of our lives and I committed! So, who is with me? I've seen the Book of Mormon change lives...mine included. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows us so well!

I have become a little bit of a perfectionist on my mission and me and Heavenly Father have been trying to work through it with some help from my Savior. Well a couple nights ago, I just said to him, "You know Heavenly Father, I have a lot of weaknesses, fears, sins, and imperfections but I believe that you still love me. Can you just help me to feel that love?" and then I went to bed. The next morning we went on our morning walk but when I woke up I just felt different! As we were walking and talking we were talking about this subject and the thought just occurred to me, "He isn't waiting to love me until I am perfect, so why am I waiting to love myself until I'm perfect?" Each of us our children of God, He created us with all of our gifts and strengths but also our weaknesses and imperfections...for us to think we aren't worth anything is almost discriminating his creation. It's like someone telling me that a song I wrote is worth nothing..I would be heartbroken! And I think He feels the same way when we don't love ourselves.We are His in all reality,The Eternal God of this world knows us and loves us. He's not waiting until we are perfect or we are free of sin...He sees us for who we really are and loves us unconditionally. This week we met with a girl we just started teaching who is just incredible! She has been taught for awhile and her knowledge is amazing...but she has some struggles as we all do. The love I could feel for her from Heavenly Father was overwhelming....and I knew He loved her and me just the same. 

The other night I had a dream that I was home...it was a legit nightmare! I was driving in the car and we passed by these two missionaries on the street and the realization set in and tears were just flying! I was so happy to wake up...I love being a missionary, I am never going home! Yesterday at church we had an amazing fast and testimony meeting. The spirit was so strong...I had a short time to bare my testimony but as I did I was overwhelmed with love for this gospel and for my Savior and the opportunity I have to be His representative. I know I may not be perfect and I never will be, but He is helping me. He is working through me to be what He needs me to be. I am so eternally grateful for this time in my life!!

I love you all! Have a great week :)

Love, Sister Innes