Obey with exactness

Hello family!!

 

We've had a good week here in Santa Barbara! A lot of our appointments fell through this week, BUT that's okay :) We are going to be meeting some awesome people this week, so that will be good! Something so special that I've come to develop here on my mission.. is the ability to recognize the spirit and the Lord's hand in this work. We couldn't do it without him. I've never had to rely on the spirit more. "If ye have not the spirit, ye shall not teach." I walk up to someone and I don't know what I want to say.. but I have the courage to open my mouth and It all falls into place because the spirit is prompting me what I need to say to that specific person!

 

We met with Ben and Natalie this week. They've been going to church since December, but it's very difficult to set up appointments with them. I've never met with them except for when we dropped of Natalie's Russian Book Of Mormon (She's Russian) and Ben is from Turkey! Well, we have been praying for the opportunity to meet with Ben and Natalie in each of our prayers, as it has been difficult to set up an appointment with them. They came to sacrament meeting and we were able to catch them and set up an appointment for a couple hours later. We didn't have as much time to prepare because it was sort of last minute, but I felt the spirit filling my mouth as to what I needed to say to best help Ben and Natalie draw closer to Christ. Ben is so ready.. he has that burning desire and he knows all of it's true. Natalie has a hard time understanding the need for authority and the restoration.. We focused on baptism and the authority to baptize. We tried to emphasize that through the Book of Mormon and prayer she can come to know if these things are true for herself.. We committed them to pray about baptism and pray as a family. We also focused on how this is how we follow Jesus Christ.. is through making covenants and promises with God. We talked about how it has blessed our life and especially our family, because we know that is so important to them! They want to raise their daughter in the church and they want her to have that foundation

We have been having a hard time getting a hold of Barbara, but we will be going by again this week. We really want to focus on how her example will influence her daughters and that will prepare Eve for baptism. It's been hard for her to attend church with her work schedule, So we want to just help her feel loved and welcomed, so that she can make it a priority. We want her to know that she is missed at church

 

We also met with Grace (a less active member). Well, the first time we went over.. she kept saying we were stupid and had some colorful language.. The next time we were over, she kept hugging us and telling us how great we were. We were soo confused because her name was on the church records, but she says she was never baptized. We found out from a member that she IS a member and she  is mentally ill, (she has schizophrenia).. so it all made sense after that haha. We will be going back over this week to do some service for her, so that will be fun!!

 

We are really trying to focus on finding new investigators.. I've been learning how important it is to place my faith in Christ, rather than in myself. And what it means to Trust in him and trust that he will place those who are prepared in our path. It's so important to take a step back and humble ourselves and especially try to see what The Lord is teaching you through your circumstances. I know that as Sister Xayadeth and I continue to obey with exactness and place all of our faith in him, we will begin to see those miracles.. We already have and I always look forward to what the next week will bring!! :)

 

Love you all!!

 

Sister James

June 9, 2014