I witnessed again the Lord use me as an instrument to comfort one of his most precious, but struggling daughters

Hey y'all...

Well you should have hit some of the first Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon this past week... cuz I did... and honestly, I still struggle to understand it all and I struggle to pay attention...oops  Look at what we have accomplished... we are almost done with 1 Nephi!!! Family, I am so happy that yall have taken on my challenge, I literally feel connected to yall as I read my chapter each morning because I know that somewhere in your day yall will read the same chapter.

This morning as I struggled to read chapter 21 I came across :16 Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. I love this verse because Christ will never forget us... it makes me think of the verses in the 11th chapter of 3nephi where Christ invites people to feel the prints of the nails in his hands and feet.... none of us were there or got to feel the prints, but we are still invited to come and feel... every time we open the scriptures, or we pray, or go to church and take the sacrament... we can feel the prints of the nails in his hands... as we experience the spirit bare witness to us that he is the Christ and that he really did atone for us! I have truly come to love the book of Mormon... it truly is another testament of Jesus Christ!    

Well this week was kind of uneventful... nothing to exciting sorry.

Monday night we ate dinner at the stake president's home (president and sister frost. you actually should have gotten a pic from sister frost). They are such a great family! I love they so much! I want to be just like Sister Frost when I grow up! (we all know I have a lot of that left to do) She is such a great woman! I really do look up to her!

Tuesday we had meetings and sister Cefalo had a Dr. appointment for her toe... she was told that she no longer needed the crutches and that she could walk on it! wow! what a miracle! we did some tracting that evening and met a lady who strongly encouraged us to read the bible, because it says that no other words should be added to it... and she told us that salvation only comes through the savior... as if we didn't already know... Duh! she wasn't a very nice lady... we met a man who said he thought it was great what we were doing, but then he said "but do it somewhere else"... huh... not so many nice people it was a bit discouraging... we tracted for a while and got nothing... I hate when that happens.

Wednesday was not that great either... all of our appointments fell through and so we did a lot of tracting that day too... no one wanted to listen :( we did meet a old southern Baptist lady and she straight up told us... you cant change me now, and then she continued to talk to us.... she just wanted someone to chat with... ehhh this finding the elect is hard work! We had a ward hotdog bbq and it poured rain (and I mean poured!!) the entire time so we all sat under the pavilion and visited with one another no one was brave enough to venture out into the rain... the thunder and lightening was very close and very loud... I of course LOVED it but my comp wasn't sharing my same feelings! we went out on a team up with a sister who had served her mission in Norway! and she said that just being with us visiting less active after less active and not getting anywhere reminded her of her mission and she wants to come with us again and do some tracting!

Thursday...we met up with one of our ward missionaries who is... less active due to health and we talked with her and she said that she wants to teach us how to crochet... she even let us pick out an afgan pattern... :) im super duper excited!

we met with a former investigator and tried hard to explain the book of Mormon to him, but he still only thinks it is a good book that only re teaches what the bible does ... and yes it is all of those things, but he doesn't understand the importance to the book and it's being true... if it is true then so is the Mormon religion... etc. we tried to explain it, but we really didn't get anywhere... we gave him a chapter to read and we will see him again this week!

Friday was eaten up by weekly planning... and it again poured rain... worse than Wednesday... there was a small lake forming on the main road outside our apartment complex... you could seriously take a canoe and row through this thing... it was super awesome!

Saturday we met with Sunshine and Tracy (sunshine's mom) we discussed the book of Mormon, and faith and Christ. Sister Mason has such great faith and she is such a wonderful woman! she thanked us for teaching Sunny and then she said "I had asked God to get sunny, but he also got me in the process." She has been less active for years, but with sunny wanting to get baptized it helped her realize that she needed to be back in church and she is making an effort to come back... she has been there the past two weeks! yay! I love seeing less active members come back to church... She thanked us, but I told her that it was us that needed to thank her... I always feel so much better when I am helping others.... it's funny how that happens! My testimony has defiantly grown while teaching sunny and I was so glad her mom allowed it to happen! we hare hoping to meet brother mason soon and see if Destiny (the son) wants to take the lessons as well... I can just see this family going to the temple and being sealed as an eternal family. Baptism really isn't the end goal for us missionaries... sure it is A goal, but only a step toward the real goal that we have for people... which is the temple and a life of activity in the gospel! I pray that the lord will soften destiny's heart like he has his mothers and we can begin teaching him!

Sunday was fun! I was asked to say the opening prayer in sacrament! and one of the young men in the ward gave his farewell talk! it is so fun to see people get ready to leave for their missions... we have two more young men getting ready to leave here soon as well... one of them is the Stake President's son! its so exciting for them!! after church we met with a sister that we are working with... she wanted to meet right after church in the relief society room... this was unexpected so we didn't have anything planned.. we hadn't even studied for the day yet since church was at 8:30... but we just sat with her and listened to the things that were going on in her life... she has been struggling with some issues with her non member husband and so she loves having lessons from us because she says she always feels the spirit and she feels better... I know how she feels... I hate days when it's hard for whatever reason to feel the spirit.. but anyway we just listened to her and she talked about how she would read scripture with her boys at night to put them to bed... and how her boys were remembering the stories... and while she was telling us this a scripture came to my mind ... I didn't know the exact reference but I knew that I wanted to tell her about the stripling warriors and how their mothers taught them the gospel so I looked up stripling warriors in the index and found it ! gotta love the index!... I sat and pondered this scripture for a bit to see what it was that I needed to say and if it was indeed the scripture I needed to share... and everything she continued to tell us just made it more clear to me that... yes it was the scripture that the lord wanted her to hear... I still had no idea what I was going to say but when I opened my mouth... the words came and comforted her perfectly... I witnessed again the Lord use me as an instrument to comfort one of his most precious, but struggling daughters... how blessed am I! I Love this work! l love the miracles that I get to witness every day... sometimes I really have to search for them on days that aren't that great, but they are always there! I am so glad that I decided to stay and serve my Father. I would have missed out on so much learning and growth... I wouldn't trade the last 10 months of my life for anything! This really is a great and marvelous work... and not just for the people we are sharing the gospel with... but this work strengthens and edifies even the laborer... God really is great!

We are going to stone mountain today... but we can't hike to the top because of sister cefalo's toe... she can walk on it, but I don't think a hike up a granite mountain would be the best for it... so we are just gonna hike around the mountain on some of the trails.. it should be fun... and hopefully when we come back out here as a family we can hike to the top!!

Well family I love you and hope that you are having a good week ill talk to you soon!
Sister Dannika Nielsen