Tuesday, October 8, 2013

September 9, 2013


Hey everyone!!

 

Hope ya'll had a great week.... we had an awesome week! There is so much work to be done in this area and we are super busy!! It is awesome!! I've never been so busy in my life. I love it. This area has so much potential and there are soooo many people here that need the gospel and they are so humble and willing to listen!! We have been finding people like crazy and referrals have literally just fallen into our lap this week, it has been amazing! There are so many people in this area that are prepared and ready to hear the gospel. We are teaching this couple... tom and chris... tom is 66 and Chris is 46 and they have a ten month old baby (ahhh) haha but they are soooo awesome! Ah I love them so much. I'm so excited for them. We taught them the plan of salvation this last week and they were blown away. They couldn't even comprehend everything we told them and they are still discovering if this is true and if it is the path for them.... but at the end tom said something pretty cool. He told us how great the message has been that we have shared with them and that they want it to be true and that they have a lot of praying to do! He told us that he could see the truth of this gospel in our faces! He could see it burning in our eyes and that he wanted to feel that same way and act on the feelings and the spirit we had brought into their home! It was really cool and a huge testimony to me and definitely increased my testimony after hearing that.

 

So this week we had a funeral for someone in our ward and we were at the church afterwards eating food and this lady came up to some members and was like "You apart of the church of jesus Christ of latter day saints?" and they were like "ya of course" and she said "Missionaries used to come over to my house but they stopped comin and I want them to come again!!" Turns out it has been 8 years since she met with missionaries and she kept telling us how she doesn't like her Baptist church because the people are hypocrites and that she wants to be a part of a church where the people are real and live what they teach and help and serve one another. So we talked to her a bit and gave her a book of Mormon and she was sooo excited! She kept saying how she was going to go home and read the whole thing and that she couldn't wait. I'm not sure she can get anymore golden... she is going to be walking herself to the font pretty soon. Ha so we get to meet with her this week and she has already made friends with a few members and she has called us every day since we met telling us what she read in the book of Mormon and how much she loves it and how much she loves us and cant wait for us to come over and teach her! I still cant believe that has happened, she is so amazing and so prepared! It is so crazy to think that those missionaries 8 whole years ago left such a lasting influence on her and they obviously planted a seed that has been growing and now that seed is ready to be harvested! I know that there are so many prepared people here and that the Lord is preparing people all over the world! It is crazy to think about all those people I have come in contact with where it hasn't worked out or they weren't prepared and to think that just them coming in contact with the missionaries is preparing them and that when they are ready someone else will come along and finish the work and will be able to do so successfully because of the impression that I leave on people. I know that we can all be examples of this gospel to those who don't have it in their lives and even though it may not seem like you are leaving an impression you really are! We are all so lucky to be apart of this gospel and to know what we know. There is no shame in living the way we do and having the standards that we do.  We are so blessed!

 

So I heard this story awhile ago and i'm sorry if I have already shared it but this sister in the mission told of an experience she had with the provo tabernacle that burnt down. She said that she would go to that tabernacle all the time and she loved it and spent lots of time there. She was really upset that it burnt down because of one little mistake of someone just leaving a light on. She didn't understand how one little mistake could cause such a beautiful building to crash to the ground. When it burnt down she was going through a really hard time in her life and she felt like her world had burned to the ground just like that building.... but after she found out they were going to build a temple in place of the tabernacle she decided that even though it felt like her life had burned to the ground.... that she could rise from the ashes and become something more and something beautiful like the temple. I have been thinking a lot about this lately just because so often things happen in our lives that can easily get us down and make us feel like we aren't worth much but I know that we all have the potential to overcome those ashes in our lives and to be able to turn them into strengths to help us recognize the potential we have and the potential that our heavenly father sees in us. He sees us as temples. He created each of us in his own image and he loves us all so much. Our worth is the same to him whether or not things are going well in our lives or if things aren't going as good. He still sees us as the same and still loves us so much. I know this to be true and I know that we all have a divine potential to become what our heavenly father sees in us. I know he loves each of you all so much and I know that we are worth more than we can ever comprehend to him.

 

The work is going so good here and I am PUMPED for this week. I'm loving the work, I love being a missionary and I am so grateful to be here! I know I am supposed to be here for a reason! I love you all have a good week! XOXO

 

Sister Roosendaal

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