Friday, November 29, 2013

"Stuffed with the Spirit" -Elder Dawe


Hello Family and Friends!!
 
Happy Veteran's Day! Ia m so grateful for Vetrans who preserve my freedoms. Thanks Dad for always being a great example of fighting for the cause of liberty!! How was everyones' week? Things are still great here! Last Monday we went bowling and that was fun. Don't worry I still stink at it haha. (Austin remember the song "I'm so great at bowling?"... I pretty much sang it the wholetime! haha).
 
I also learned a valuable lesson about NOT caving to peer pressure this week. So before bowling the Elders had some burger place they wanted to go to for lunch. We get there and order our food and out it comes... my burger weighed 15 ounces.... yeah almost a whole pound. I started in on it and was doing pretty good... then I hit the last quarter and was not so enthusiastic about the whole idea anymore... haha But the Elders start chanting me on... the epitome of peer pressure "Do it! Do it!" and "You're on the edge of glory Sister Miller, just finish it!".  So of course I couldn't be a "quitter" and I had to finish all my food. In the end I did consume every bite of that burger and every last fry. However the rest of the day as my stomach reminded me of my unwise choice I thought to myself "never again!". Even great people with the best of intentions can be a source of negative peer pressure. We need to remember to always look to the Lord remembering His instructions to us to guide us in EVERY aspect of our lives... ie moderation would have been a good reference here lol. (PS That receipt now hangs on my cork board with a note to not cave to peer pressure.)
 
We saw some more great miracles this week!
One day Sister Parra and I had got into a disagreement and weren't really very pleased with each other one morning, and then to top it off as we drove to our appointment on the OTHER side of town the potential investigator calls us to cancel. I pull over to the side of the road and Sister Parra consults our branch directory. She picks a family on  the list who lives near the middle of town about where we are stopped. We drive over there and we go in and teach her a lesson about prayer and the importance of prayers. As we prepare to leave and ask if there is anything we can do for her, she asks if we can have missionaries sent to bless her brother in the San Fransisco area who is in the hospital for surgery. We readily agree and aren't thinking much of it when she begins to tearfully tell us that in reality she had been praying that her brother would be all right and that Heavenly Father would grant her a sign to know that he will be by having the missionaries come over. WOW. We had never visited this member before, we hadn't had any intentions of visiting her on that day or time... Yet Heavenly Father knew how to get us there at precisely the right moment. As we walked out of the appointment and climbed into the car we recognized the miracle that we had just been privileged to be a part of and all of our feelings of contention were washed away by the bigger picture of the Lord's work and his errands for us.
 
Then on another day we didn't have a dinner appointment scheduled so we called and asked a partially less active family to feed us. They agreed. Then as the day arrived for that dinner appointment we learned from another member that a member of that family we had scheduled dinner with posted on Facebook that it was their favorite day of the week because the missionaries were coming over to dinner!! Plus while there the Elders were able to share a Book of Mormon with the non-member Grandfather who was visiting from out of town! (Oh, and did I mention the delicious food!) We truly don't know all the lives that we touch each day. I am grateful for those moments when I catch a glimpse of it!!
 
One of my favorite moments of the week was having Angie and Maria teach their older sisters the song of the wise and foolish man building houses. I taught them that primary song a few weeks ago and they were so excited to share it with Jenni and Candy! Primary songs teach such powerful and profound principles in such a simple straightforward way. I love it. I constantly find myself being reminded of them as we teach lessons (From Saturday is a Special Day to Head, Shoulder, Knee's and Toes).
 
There was an EXCELLENT Stake Fireside this weekend titled "Why I Believe". It was so charged with the spirit and just what I needed to reboost my batteries. Recent converts shared their testimonies and conversion stories, there was a primary choir, and as a missionary choir we sang "Because I Have Been Given Much". My favorite quote from the fireside was "I'm all in!". I want to always have that attitude about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am all in. That is what I covenanted when I entered into the waters of baptism. That is what kind of mood I want to apply to my mission as I strive to serve the Lord by serving his children in the Modesto California area.
 
Funny moment was being the ward chorister... How did that happen I am not sure. Waving my arm around in front of the branch during sacrament pretending I have a clue at how to direct music. But you know the great thing is the Lord doesn't call the qualified... he qualifies those he calls. (And it might have helped that most people in the branch aren't very musically inclined... haha but hey I still love them... maybe even more so for it).
 
Make it a great week! I love and miss you all!!!
 
 
Micah 6:8 "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"
 
Micah 7:7 "Therefore I will look unto the Lord ; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me."
 
Love,
Hermana Miller

No comments:

Post a Comment