Hello my dear family!! It
is so nice to be able to hear from you and talk with you today! I hope that
Derrick, Jacob, and Chandler had a fabulous birthday and that you partied a lot
for me:) I was a little busy here saving souls but I thought and prayed for you
guys a lot this week! You are in my heart and I give my all every day for you!
I know that there is great blessings that come to the families of missionaries.
So I make sure that I work really hard every day so that I don't deny any
blessings from coming your way:)
So this year as one of my
new things that I started, is at the end of each day, I write down a miracle
that I saw that day. I write it on my calendar that you sent me for Christmas
(the one with the pictures of the Savior). It has been such a blessing to look
back on it and see how Heavenly Father is such a huge part of this work and how
much He loves His children. I would like to share a few of those
experiences with you from this past week:)
So, as you know, I have
been meeting with the T’s very regularly ever since I came to Lakeview. I love
them! Well, because of some past mistakes, M had a court date this week and was
going to be serving a jail sentence for 30 days. She is 7 months pregnant and
it wouldn't have been the best situation for her. She prayed a lot before she
went to court and received comfort that everything would work out the way that
it needed to. She was blessed to receive house arrest for 21 days instead of
the anticipated 30 days in jail. It was a miracle! Heavenly Father loves the T’s
and is so concerned with those things that are going on in their lives at this
time. Bishop Needles always said, "If it matters to you, it matters to
Him, because you matter to Him." Sorry Bishop, I have kind of borrowed
that truth and I say it to pretty much anyone that I come in contact with. It
is simple but so true! Heavenly Father cares about us and is aware of us. He
knows our joys, pains, weaknesses, fears, etc. And.. His love is unconditional.
We have also been working
with the Mc’s, a part member family, for a long time. The husband is a non
member. He was very closed and against us for months. Every time we would come
over, he would run out of the room to drink and smoke as a way to rebel
"show us up". We continued to go by though and offer a lot of service
to their family. The Elders have as well. Through service, his heart has been
softened dramatically! It has been a miracle to witness all of it! This past
week he was taught the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation and he has been
reading the Book of Mormon! I never thought that I would see this all happen!!
It is a miracle!! The Book of Mormon can take someone from where he wanted
nothing to do with us, to sincerely reading and intently learning of its
truthfulness! I'm so lucky to be a part of this great work! We see miracles
daily!
For my message this week,
I wanted to share with you my testimony of the Book of Mormon. I want you to
look up a video and watch it together as a family. If you go on LDS.org, search
testimony of the book of Mormon by Jeffrey r Holland. Then on the far left side
of the screen there are some options to narrow your search. Click on videos. It
will be like the first option that comes up I think. It is about 4 minutes
long. I hope you can find it from that info! It was taken from a conference
talk in 2009. It is so powerful! I want to add my testimony to Elder Holland's.
I know that the Book of Mormon is true! I have seen the impact that it has had
in my life and in the lives of those I teach. I feel the spirit more and I
receive peace, comfort, and answers to my prayers as I am reading it and
studying it each day. There is such a power that comes into our lives as we
treasure that book and its teachings. I know that it is true and that as you
read and pray about it, the Holy Ghost will confirm the truthfulness of it to
you as well. Take time each day to read from it, even if that means 5 minutes a
day at first. You will hunger for more once you start!
I love you so much! I am
so blessed to be a part of such a great family! You mean the world to me! Keep
up the great work! You are in my thoughts and prayers!!
Love,
Erica
Sister Christensen:)
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