This week was really great! Heavenly father taught me a lot this week.
He taught me what it means to love him and to give my heart to Him.
Tuesday me and Sister Eddington were asked to sing at the funeral of a
sweet girl who just recently passed away in our ward. She was only 20
years old with a whole life ahead of her! But Heavenly Father called
her home...he needed her! We sang, "Families Can Be Together Forever"
and oh man was that hard but it was a sweet experience. Before we sang
Bishop Degrasse spoke on the plan of salvation and I was already
bawling...so when we got up to sing I was worried I wouldn't be able
to make it through. The spirit was so strong there though throughout
the whole funeral...I was reminded of how short our life is on
earth...but so grateful to know that there is so much after this and
that we WILL be with our Families forever through the beautiful plan
our Heavenly Father has prepared for us!
That afternoon we were able to meet with a girl we have been teaching!
She is my age so that was a little different for me, but she is so
sweet!! She was introduced to the church by one of her close friends
from high school who is now attending BYU, so we were able to have her
friend Skype in for the lesson and it was so awesome!!! We read
through the Intro of the Book of Mormon..turns out she has been
reading without us even telling her to! As we read through the intro
she really liked how it said that the Book of Mormon tells us how to
find peace in this life...we testified to her that it would as she
lives by its precepts and then her friend shared a SWEET testimony.
Her friend just returned from her mission recently and she said the
Book of Mormon is what has helped her through the transition and
helped her to see that everything will be ok if she just lives her
life according to its words!! I am here to tell you that you can feel
the spirit through FaceTime. Haha Because man I felt it as she bore
that sweet testimony and my testimony was strengthened in the fact
that the Book of Mormon does bring peace no matter where we are or
what we are doing! As we committed her to read it and pray to know if
it was true the spirit bore witness to me again that it was true. Man
I love being a missionary! I am just so grateful...we had some other
pretty cool experiences this week with people we are working with but
I feel I should share with you what I learned during my studies this
week.
First off, I know that Heavenly Father is aware of us and that we
truly can find guidance and revelation through the Book of Mormon. In
all honesty these last couple weeks have been very hard for me...but I
know it was a trial to learn what I needed to this week. I have
experienced a lot of anxiety than I have ever before in my life due to
many different things but mostly just missionary work in general. As I
was praying I asked Heavenly Father what I needed to work on and what
I got was "sanctification." So I looked up sanctify in the dictionary
and the only thing I found was sanctuary which was defined as a place
where we will be safe and protected. While I was studying I was drawn
to Helaman 3:35 which says, "Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft,
and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and
firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy
and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of
their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding
their hearts unto God." And I looked up the first footnote in 2
Chronicles 30:8 which says, "Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your
fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his
sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the Lord your
God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you." And as
I was pondering these verses I realized that the way we truly sanctify
ourselves is by yielding our hearts to God through sincere prayer and
as we do we enter into his sanctuary where we our safe and protected.
The next day I was studying in 3 Nephi 13 and in verses 33 and 34 it
says, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and
all these things shall be added unto you.Take therefore no thought for
the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself." Heavenly Father was just trying to tell me that all I needed
to do was trust Him and I would be safe and I wouldn't be worried or
stressed. When we put him first and give our heart to him we need not
worry because everything will work out how it should...And it all
starts with prayer...prayer is so crucial. In order to give our heart
to him we must pray...and as we do our hearts our changed and our will
becomes His will and our faith is strengthened in our Savior Jesus
Christ and his gospel! And then doing His will becomes a desire and we
know that is the only way to truly live or be happy....any other way
just brings heartache and worry. Give him you heart and all will be
well!!!
I wish I had more time... But, I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!
Love, Sister Innes
This is my only picture for this week, but it explains a lot. Things are changing! I've been wearing boots and scarves and mittens and running the heater at night.
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