Another wonderful week has flown by here in Virginia! So crazy,
time is flyin! I can't believe it. We have transfers this week and my
companion Sister Tanner is leaving and Sister Walker and I are staying
here in Charlottesville in the YSA ward and I am still training. So
things are crazy.... crazy good! This past week has been pretty good.
Tanna, who we have been meeting with and is less active is doing so
great. She is coming back to church and reading and praying and is just
being amazing. It has been so incredible to watch her and help her go
through this process. She talked to the Bishop on Sunday
and got things worked out and started working the atonement in her
life. She has so many great goals and dreams for her life and the only
way she can get back on the path to reach those aspirations of hers is
through the atonement. We had planned to teach her this week about the
restoration and to gain her understanding of it but the lesson took a
different direction and we ended up focusing on the atonement and how
through the atonement she will be able to reach all of her dreams.
Through the atonement she can get rid of the guilt and extra baggage
that she is carrying and start over. The spirit was so powerful and her
testimony and desire to fully apply the atonement in her life just
helped me recognize how truly important and real the atonement is.
Christ knows how we feel.... he knows everything we are going through
and although at times we may feel misunderstood and alone, we arent. He
understands us and is always with us no matter what we are going
through. He has felt every pain we have and He is our truest and most
loyal friend that we can always turn to with anything and everything and
he will bear us up. He will be on our right hand and on our left with
angels round about us to bear us up (D&C 84:88 <--- fav scripture
lately) Anyway, Tanna wanted us to wait outside the Bishops office
while she talked to him and when she came out she just told us how good
she felt, she said she felt that load she was carrying was gone and that
she just felt so happy and free. She looked so happy and it was soooo
cool to watch her take the huge leap of faith and make things right
again. She is amazing!!!
We are still meeting with our investigator named Niko. He is doing
so good! He is the most chill and easy going guy ever, he is so great to
teach and just so accepting and willing to learn and act on what we
tell him. We had a good lesson with him this past week and actually set
him for baptism for August 10!
I'm super excited, we just need to get him coming to church though. So
the Hermanas that we live with actually ran into Niko's friend and told
him that he was getting baptized and i guess his friend was speechless
and almost like passed out.... turns out that Niko used to be addicted
to drugs and he has a pretty tough family life and some unstable parents
and turns out he almost commited suicide a little bit ago and the
reason his friend was so shocked to hear he was getting baptized was cuz
he thought that Niko actually did commit suicide and that he was dead.
Ahhhh. Crazy right? I was so surprised to hear that cuz something like
that is just nothing that you would ever expect out of Niko. He is only
18 years old and just a clean cut solid dude and i was just so shocked
to hear that. Anyway, i'm just so excited for him and his desire to
change. I know that this is the right way and right path for him to
choose. By living the gospel of Jesus Christ he wont and we wont ever go
wrong. We may still face hard times and opposition but with Christ we
can handle anything and he will help us get through anything! I know
that. I know that he is with us and he just wants to help us if we will
just simply turn to him.
So this past week the elders had a baptism for an old lady that
they have been teaching in a nursing home. She is in a wheelchair but
she took the biggest leap of faith and got out of that wheelchair to be
baptized this past week! It was the coolest thing to watch her go
through with that! She was so nervous but so excited and ready at the
same time. The spirit was so strong and powerful when she came up out of
that water and you could just tell she felt so good and so happy. She
knows that this is the true church and although it was hard for her to
get out of that wheelchair and get into the water... no matter how long
it took her she was going to do it cuz she had such strong faith and
such a strong desire to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be
baptized... to enter into that gate of baptism that will lead her back
to her Heavenly Father. I was thinking a lot about her life... and how
she has lived soo long without the gospel in her life. It made me kinda
sad but happy for her too! That she has found it while she was here on
earth and she is able to live it now. It just got me thinking about how
easily we can take this gospel for granted. We are all just so blessed
to have this gospel in our lives... it is so incredible and provides us
so many blessings and miracles in our lives and a closer relationship
with our Heavenly Father. That is the most important relationship that
we have and we are so blessed to be able to continually exercise our
faith in Him and to continually develop our relationship with our father
in heaven.
I know this gospel has blessed my life so much. I know that
Heavenly Father loves us all sooo much! Beyond comprehension. I know
that He sent His son Jesus Christ here on earth to die for us and atone
for our sins. And it is through him that we will be able to return
safely back to our heavenly home and i'm just so grateful that we have
that opportunity to each week be washed clean through the sacrament and
to reflect on the sacrifice that christ made for us. I''m so grateful
for this gospel. I'm so happy to be here sharing it with people, i know
the Lord is preparing people and i know i will be led to those who are
ready and prepared to accept it. We are so blessed to have this gospel
in our lives. Living it is the best thing that we can be doing in our
lives! I know it! I'm so happy to be here in Virginia. I've never been
so happy. Teaching and sharing the gospel is the best thing ever. I know
it is true! Love you all so much!! XOXO
Sister Roosendaal
The picture is us last night at family home evening with some people in our ward! They are awesome!!
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