I just added a lot of people to this email. Since my is private again some people asked me to send my letters, so let me know if you want off the list!
RIP President Packer. It's interesting as a missionary to hear this news/ it's not like you just read about it in your feed, someone mentioned it at church and we were like WHAT? I read his last conference talk this morning. Emphasis on the family, eternal families are all around us. The prophet and his apostles get direction from Heavenly Father. They are the ultimate tour guides on this adventure we call life.
Monday&Tuesday we had zone conference. It was at the mission home (In Zagreb, where I am) so we just took a tram ride there. We played a lot of volleyball because it was pday and ate so much of Sister Grant's good cooking. Every time we have someone feed us (which happens maybe every 3 weeks) the phrase I ate myself sick is real and we always joke that we never know where our next meal will come from *joking* of course but neither of us really like to spend our time cooking so we end up eating bread and strawberries and such. At zone conference we talked about how bad we want to hit our mission goal of 60 baptisms! We are working hard diligently as a mission to hit that.
We also talked about prayer and personal revelation. I know this is super long but I took two parts of talks dealing with to the common "I feel like God is not answering my prayers. I love these talks by Richard G. Scott> "He (God) will always hear your prayers and will invariably answer them. However, His answers will seldom come while you are on your knees praying, even when you may plead for an immediate response. Rather, He will prompt you in quiet moments when the Spirit can most effectively touch your mind and heart. Hence, you should find periods of quiet time to recognize when you are being instructed and strengthened. His pattern causes you to grow." He also said, "If you feel that God has not answered your prayers, ponder these scriptures—then carefully look for evidence in your own life of His having already answered you. .....It is vitally important to recognize that the Lord also responds a third way to prayer by withholding an answer when the prayer is offered. Why would He do that?
He is our perfect Father. He loves us beyond our capacity to understand. He knows what is best for us. He sees the end from the beginning. He wants us to act to gain needed experience:
When He answers yes, it is to give us confidence.
When He answers no, it is to prevent error.
When He withholds an answer, it is to have us grow through faith in Him, obedience to His commandments, and a willingness to act on truth. ..... We are to act.
Most often what we have chosen to do is right. He will confirm the correctness of our choices His way. That confirmation generally comes through packets of help found along the way. We discover them by being spiritually sensitive. They are like notes from a loving Father as evidence of His approval. If, in trust, we begin something which is not right, He will let us know before we have gone too far. We sense that help by recognizing troubled or uneasy feelings."
We walked past this group of three half dressed guys walking back from the lake and one whispered 'mormoni' and I was like hey! We aren't allowed to contact in the spot he stopped us at, but he stopped us, soooo. We taught them about the Book of Mormon because one said 'you believe Jesus was an American, right?' it was a good conversation. They said they'd come to church!
Now a call-to-repentance-Elder-
We had a lesson with J , an investigator from Macedonia. He loves the Bible. He is very knowledgeable in it and loves to help and serve others. At the beginning of the lesson we discussed his prayers and his thoughts about the Godhead. We read the introduction to the Book of Mormon with him and he said, "well, everything in here I agree with!" We committed him to read and pray. He is a paid religious worker for another church though, so it would be hard for him to be baptized because it would mean losing his job. But he is looking for the truth. He wants his answer from God.
We set a table on the sidewalk in front of the church on a hot day with free watermelon we cut up and lots of pamphlets and books with a sign *ASK US ABOUT MORMONS!* One guy walked past and his dog jumped up by us and he yelled 'Salt Lake City!' Another lady asked us if we worship the pope. Talked to a lot of people, taught a lot of things.
The BYU Folk Dancers Ensemble came on the 4th! They danced for us and danced with our investigators and members, everyone was all smiles. I met a girl from Hermana Callister's ward in California! That was fun to have them.
We talked to a woman on the street about the plan of salvation. She teared up as she told us that her father had passed away a year ago from cancer and that this life would be a waste if we could not see our loved ones again. We can!!! This week I studied how God and Christ will dwell in the Celestial kingdom, Christ will only visit the Terrestrial kingdom, and only the Holy Ghost in the Telestial. We also got contacted by a JW
Well, long email. I love you all. I pray for you. Glad you hear you were safe and had fun in DC fam. Gospod s vama,
Sestra Rechaerdsein
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