Sunday, April 14, 2013

Blessings follow a Fast

Written: Monday, October 29, 2012 
 

Hey there family of mine!!!!

Well, I forgot that it should be snowing there. It doesn't seem like November here in Chile since I have to put sunscreen on everyday now so that I don't look like my Latin companion!! Haha. 
 
Mom it sounds like you have to take on even more with this calling but I know Heavenly Father gave this calling to someone who is totally capable of doing it. I was so happy when you told me that you are still reading you scriptures. I truly have come to  LOVE the scriptures and my time to read them everyday is sacred. I know that Heavenly Father can actually talk to me personally through the words of His prophets. I don't have much time to write and I am sorry but I am glad that everyone is doing good. I'm looking forward to the time that we can talk on Skype. I hope that Brent and Blake are there to talk as well. 

Well, I have to tell you all about the amazing experience that my companion and I had and the power of fasting. I really didn't truly understand the importance of fasting before the mission. But now I love fasting because I truly can feel the power of the Spirit more powerfully. Every time I fast I can see the Lord's hand in the lives of my investigators and my sector. 

First of all it started out yesterday morning. We didn't go to church until 12 because they had elections and we only had Sacrament meeting. So my companion and I had our studies like normal in the morning. But yesterday I woke up and just felt totally wiped and worthless. We work hard everyday to find new people to teach and to help our investigators but in 4 weeks we haven't seen a real big change. I was thinking about this and how in 4 changes I couldn't see many of the fruits of my labors in my mission. I couldn't help but think that the problem was me and that I am not obedient enough and not diligent enough to truly help someone come unto Christ and change their lives. I truly don't care about baptisms...I don't care if I am not in any more baptisms for the rest of the mission but I just want to know that someone has learned for themselves to find Christ and apply His Atonement so that they can be happy in this life and the next. Well, I was crying and praying most of the morning for guidance and for help to know what to do. I went to my companion and we started to talk and to cry about everything. After a while I started feeling the comfort of the Spirit and my energy and excitement about the work slowly came back. I told my companion, "You know what we are going to do is be happy and excited today and even if no one is in the church we are going to give our talks and then go work harder!" Well we called our investigator who has a baptism date and she wasn't going to go to church and none of our investigators went. But when we got to church we saw three less actives who haven't been in church for a long time, and one couple  we had never even expected to see there! We gave our talks with the Elders and Sacrament meeting was really pretty good! 

Then in the afternoon we went out to work after starting our fast. And truly we didn't have many good lessons with our appointments and we were searching for less actives but they didn't want to talk with us either. So we had planned to go look for one of our investigators that we haven't seen in a week. Well we went and met her husband who we had never met before, but she had told us about him and how he loves music from Mexico. Lucky me I have a Mexican companion. They started to talk about that, when our investigator showed up. They invited us in and we ended meeting their two kids, and one daughter in law and their grand kids. We sang a song and we were talking and the one son asked us so what is the difference between your church and the Catholic church. We taught them about prophets, the authority of God and the Restoration and they all were listening super intensely and asking questions and we were testifying and inviting them to read the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon. We have another appointment with this family this week and when we left this house we couldn't contain our joy. The Lord had blessed us for our work and our diligence and our fast. I know that fasting brings an added measure of the Spirit and it is a blessing that we have the opportunity to sacrifice a little bit more for Heavenly Father. He wants to bless us and He wants us to receive the all the happiness that He has. 

I love you all and am so grateful for everything that you have blessed me with!!!! KEEP READING IN YOUR SCRIPTURES!! 

Con cariño

Hermanita Thacker

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