Bonjour tout le monde!
C'est pas vrai! It's already November! You know what that means.....it's the month of gratitude! And boy do I sure have a lot to be grateful for. This past week I saw God's many miracles come to pass in the lives of so many of my friends here.
First I'd just like to talk a little bit about a dear inactive sister we've been working a lot with named Alda. She doesn't come to church because she lives over an hour away and has to work almost every Sunday. She has Nephi-like faith though. When we first started working with her, she was extremely sad and felt pretty lost. We figured out some ways to attend to certain needs she had, and it's made all the difference. One of those needs was the fact that she wanted to pay her tithing so badly, because she hadn't paid all year. She felt this guilt looming over her and she wanted that inner-peace knowing everything was squared away between her and the Lord. So, her daughter was able to catch a ride to stake conference last week with some friends who were in town visiting them. She brought Alda's tithing with her. They ended up getting completely lost and only managed to catch the last 5 minutes of conference, but they didn't mind at all. Her daughter was able to hand over the tithing to the bishop. That made the entire long trip well worth it for them. I noticed a real difference in Alda, as she felt that true peace that came from keeping this commandment. I'm so grateful for the commandments, which are given to us by a loving Heavenly Father as a means to be able to bless us.
Her faith and commitment in obeying the law of tithing isn't the only reason she has found more joy lately. Her faith also allowed her to be healed. She has back problems which caused her constant pain. A few weeks ago we took the elders there with us, and they gave her a priesthood blessing to help her cope with the pain and to reduce it. Well, she told us this week that ever since the blessing, she hasn't had a single pain in her back. The priesthood is real, and for those who have the faith to benefit from it's power, their lives can be much improved. I know this is true. I'm very grateful for the priesthood authority and power that has been restored to the earth.
We also saw a miracle as we were out street proselyting this week. It was pouring rain and cold, and we were trying to stop people on the street to talk to us. I actually prefer the bad weather during this, because people are so astonished that we'd actually try to stop and talk in those conditions, that they're willing to listen just out of mere curiosity. We didn't see any immediate success with those we talked to, but we knew if we just kept marching on we'd find a miracle. We had to keep showing God that He can trust us with His work, and therefore open up the windows of heaven upon us.
We were contacting as we searched for the home of an inactive family that we found on our ward list. Well, we get to the address and we see a row of townhouses. We go to each door, and they're all marked with the family's last name, and none of them matched this family's name. We were a bit discouraged and confused. But as we were walking out, we realized there was one more door on the other side that was unmarked. We decided to give it a shot and just knock on it. Lo and behold, it was indeed this family we were searching for. They let us in and told us that just the day before, they had been discussing how they hadn't seen missionaries in a long time and wondered why they didn't come by anymore. Needless to say, we fixed a RDV with them and are excited to start working with them. I'm grateful for a Father who leads and guides us by the Holy Ghost to be an answer to someone else's prayer.
Lastly, this week I saw real evidence of the battle that is raging between the adversary and the followers of Christ. It is no coincidental pattern that right as someone has found light and truth that leads them to Christ, that Satan starts trying to attack even harder. Our dear Michelle (inactive of 30 years who has made a complete comeback) received some tough news this week. Her eldest son, who is atheist, told her that if she continues coming to church, his family would never see her again. She was devastated. She couldn't understand why her son would say such a thing when he saw how much happier she has been ever since she has come back to church. And that's exactly what we had to explain to her--it doesn't make sense! Satan doesn't want her to be happy, and he certainly doesn't want her to continue coming closer to Christ. He's putting every hurtle out there to get her to fall. But this sister also has Nephi-like faith. She came to church yesterday and with teary eyes assured us that nothing could come between her and God. She knows that if she's obedient to His commandments, she will be blessed. God can't help her son's heart soften if she's not showing her faith in Him that she believes He can do it. And faith is manifested by obedience. I'm so grateful for this sister who has shown me what it means to be a witness of God at all times, in all things, and in all places.
This is a wonderful time of year to really reflect on the many blessings you have in your life. I invite you to give many prayers of thanks to our Father in Heaven this month. I hope you will look for His hand in your life each and every day, because it is there. One of the greatest blessings I have to thank my Father for right now is for these past 17 months. I have no way to express the magnitude of my gratitude that He called me to serve. It has brought me the greatest joy. It has simply changed everything for the better.
Love always,
Soeur Shields
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