This has been an amazing week! Thanksgiving was so much fun, I got to have dinner with the Familia Coto again! We also had dinner with an active member who has a less active husband. He was active when I was in the branch before, but my companions had never met him. We were able to talk with him, and even set a return appointment with him! It was a huge miracle!
This week we were able to start sharing the "Light the World" initiative!! It is amazing, you should definitely go to mormon.org to learn about the Christmas initiative!
So last Saturday was the branch activity for Thanksgiving. We met 2 new potential investigators there, Miriam and Jessica. Turns out, there are actually 5 people in their family, and this week we started teaching all of them! The mother of the family, Miriam, is especially interested in our message, because she wants her family to come closer to God. She said that she wants to start bringing her kids to the youth activities! Our very first lesson with them was last Monday evening, and I learned an interesting lesson. We got to know the family a bit and explained our purpose. Miriam had been invited to come to the activity by her friend in the branch, Rosa. Miriam also mentioned that she had been to one other branch activity in the past... she went to the Thanksgiving activity last year as well. I was at the Thanksgiving activity last year. There were, in fact, a total of 6 missionaries at that activity last year, but apparently none of us even introduced ourselves to her. We were too busy eating, talking among ourselves, and talking to members. Who knows how many non-members were there that we didn't meet. Miriam might have been ready to accept the gospel even a year ago, and if I had been a better missionary, her family could have begun their gospel journey back then. Well, I have learned a lot in the past year, and I have grown and improved as a missionary. At the activity last week, I knew my purpose and I talked with as many people as I possibly could, especially the ones that I didn't recognize. Now, we have a beautiful new family to teach! If I hadn't been prepared this year, either, Miriam and her family might have had to wait that much longer to hear the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. When I got transferred back into the Rama Sierra, I thought that maybe Heavenly Father was telling me that I had some unfinished business to take care of, and I think I was right. I learned a lot from this experience. When we aren't prepared spiritually, we miss out on opportunities. It makes me sad to think about all the opportunities that I missed out on a year ago, when I didn't know how to do missionary work. But at the same time, I am thankful for all that I have learned, and Heavenly Father has allowed me to see just how far I have come. I still wouldn't say that I am a perfect missionary by any means, but I am thankful that the grace of Jesus Christ is sufficient. I am thankful that everything happens in the Lord's timing. I am thankful for all that I have learned, about missionary work and about life!
I don't know exactly how to put into words the things that I learned from that experience, but I hope it makes sense. Have a great week!
-- Hermana Nielsen
