I love being a missionary. 11/9/2015

Well hello family and friends!

This week has been incredible! If you were wondering, we have not gotten any snow yet. In fact I am not even wearing a jacket today! Hallelujiah!!

This week I got to go on exchanges with the Brewer sisters. I went with Sister Harward and Sister Wright. Such great missionaries! Sister Harward taught me alot about charity and positivity. She has this ability to see the good in everything and everyone! Something I want to work on.

We also had this amazing lesson  with our investigator, Sister White. We brought along a member, Sister Morgan, who is just amazing! So in tune with the spirit and knew just what to say to relate with her. We committed Sister White to be baptized and she committed to be baptized on December 12th if she came to know that this truly was the Church of Jesus Christ. Aww! The spirit was really strong and truly guided our words to help her receive the commitment...God is good and the church is true Brothers and Sisters! 

We also had the privilege to go to zone conference with Elder Nielson and oh my, it was amazing!!! We then had the privilege to go to MLC with him at the Joseph Smith Memorial. I don't think I have ever felt the spirit so strong! What an inspiring weekend...It was all topped off with Stake Conference. And guess who I got to sit by? Brother and Sister Mckinley!! Seriously, as I sat there my heart was just full of gratitude to Heavenly Father...I am grateful for the chance he gives us to be apart of big and small miracles.

I wish I had more time and I truly apologize for such a short email..I will write in more detail next week about my thoughts from this weekend as well as things that have really influenced me these past couple weeks. 

Above everything else, I want you all to know that I know that this is Jesus Christ's church. If you really want to know then go on a mission. It has instilled in me a testimony that will never ever go away! I know that President Monson, his counselors, and the 12 apostles are truly men of God and they receive instruction directly from Jesus Christ! 

I love you all and hope you have a fabulous week!!!

Love, Sister Innes

Pictures: Fun weekend with Zone Conference and MLC w/ Elder Nieksok from the missionary department AND Zone Conference

His Grace is sufficient. 11/2/2015

Hello Everyone!!

I first off just wanted to apologize again for my lame email last week. From here on out I will be better, I promise :) 

So Wednesday, we didn't have district meeting because of zone interviews but we had lots of extra time! So we had some great things planned but...everything fell through and no one was home. SO, we felt like we should stop by one of our investigators apartments. Well, turns out she was home and had just had a really bad day at work and we showed up right when she needed us...we asked if there was anything we could do for her and she mentioned the dishes but said it wasn't a big deal. So you know what we did!! We did her dishes and it was the best thing ever :) We asked her how she was able to get through the hard things she goes through and she told us that she likes to wear her fairy wings because it lets her escape the real world for a little bit..so she let us wear her fairy wings while we did her dishes! Haha it literally was the best. 

So on Thursday we had exchanges with Skowhegan and Sister Knecht came here with me in Bangor. We had a busy day! We started out by doing some service at the thrift store down the road and then we had lunch with a cute lady in our ward and saw a bunch of other awesome members!! One of them, I have never met with because we are always on exchanges on Thursday and I have been gone for the past couple weeks but I actually got to meet with her this time! Me and Sister Knecht sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" and after we did she said that it made her cry...I know she felt the spirit and I think it has been awhile since she has so that was cool...then we got reading in the Book of Mormon and out of the blue she asked us what are favorite scriptures were. So we all shared our favorite scriptures but then Sister Knecht shared this sweet experience about how the Book of Mormon literally changed her life when she was in High School and the spirit was so strong! The Lord gave both of us so much love for her and I don't even know what we said now but it was just what she needed and we helped her to feel and see how the Book of Mormon would help her through everything she was going through...and the coolest thing is she committed to start reading it again!! I was so happy!! Also, a couple weeks ago a past missionary came to the ward and told us to visit this lady who had become inactive in the ward but we were so busy that day we didn't write her name down and we completely forgot it. Well we were able to get her name again and me and Sister Knecht went and visited her. Wow, probably one of the most spiritual lessons I have had in awhile. It was incredible! We got to know her a bit and then sang, "Nearer My God To Thee" and then I was inspired to ask her what has brought her closer to God in her life. And she shared this amazing experience from when her mom passed away. She said even though it was a trial that it was the closest she had ever felt to God. We had an amazing discussion about Jesus Christ and then the spirit led us to talk about how the Book of Mormon has helped us to come to know Christ. Wow, my testimony was strengthened again about that Book! I realized that the relationship I have with Jesus Christ has really come from reading the Book of Mormon. Its incredible. We asked her if she was reading and she said that she didn't even have one anymore so we gave her a brand spanking new Book of Mormon (my favorite thing) and she committed to start reading it again! Bam!!!

Well I have been studying alot about humility and the Savior's Grace. Two quotes that I love:

"We don’t discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves." -Deiter F Uchtdorf (This is what I am working on this week, it is always a challenge but we are getting there!) 

"The Savior's Grace is not a booster engine that kicks in once our fuel supply is exhausted. Rather, it is our constant energy source. It is not the light at the end of the tunnel but the light that moves us through the tunnel. Grace is not achieved somewhere down the road. It is received right here and right now." 

I know that the Savior's Grace is suficient to help us through anything. He is our Savior and our friend. Trust in his strength and power. 

I love you lots!! Have a great week :)

Love, Sister Innes