So much happened on Thursday-
I was so down in the dumps and I really didn't know why. I tried to sleep off my funk at lunch but when I woke up wasn't feeling too much better. I prayed and decided that today was going to be a good day. We tried to visit some people with no luck and then we stopped to see Cindy. She told us she decided to start reading Alma from the beginning because she didn't like jumping around to read the assigned chapters we had given her to read that covered her questions about the plan of salvation. We said okay, let's read from where you left off. So we read Alma ch 2 where the Amlicites are going to battle against the Nephites and we discussed how important it was that the Nephites prepared themselves physically and spiritually for this battle, then prayed to the Lord for help and how they were able to defeat the Amlicites and the Lamanites as well. Cindy just had this awesome aha moment where she herself applied the scriptures to her own life. She said that she needed to put forth her own effort to quit smoking and not just pray to God for help. We asked her what "weapons" she could use to win her own battle against her smoking addiction and she was able to come up with some really good things. This lesson was such a break through for us. With Cindy there are so many ups and downs but Sister Pazmino and I walked away from this lesson just amazed. We said "who was that?! Cause it wasn't Cindy!". We had seen such a huge difference in her. She told us she has such a great desire to be baptized. It's just so frustrating for us because we feel that she could put forth more effort. One of the weapons she said was the Addiction Recovery Program that we've been inviting her to for months and she commited to go this weekend with us but then she didn't...
From this lesson I reaffirmed my testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon. I know that we can apply the principles in it to our lives today!
Then we visited a sister from one of our wards. She's 70 years old and was married for 48 years and then her husband just left and divorced her. She's been struggling a lot and having a really hard time but this week things had turned around for her. She testified to us of the healing power of the Savior's Atonement and she said that she knows that everything will be okay. She told us she knows that God will take care of her. She's found peace through studying the scriptures, going to the temple, attending church and reading conference talks. The spirit was so strong with this sister that Sister Pazmino and I just started crying. It was so good to see this sister in such good spirits and doing so well with a testimony so strong.
I know that the Savior knows exactly what we're going through. He's felt all our pains and our sorrows. Alma 7:11-12 11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictionsand temptations
12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loosethe bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.
I know that the Savior can succor us and strengthen us and help us to heal and press forward in our lives.
Then we got thrown another trial. We came home to grab some things for an object lesson because we were having a family home evening with our nonmember neighbors and as we walked in the house and down the hallway the floor was completely flooded and we turned on the light to see what was going on and their was water dripping out of the ceiling, the light fixtures, the fan in the bathroom and it flooded to the carpet in our bedrooms. It was so bad. We immediately ran upstairs and knocked on our neighbor's door and they had no idea what was going on. So we grabbed some buckets and bowls to catch the water and tried to mop up the mess. They later came down and said that their toilet had overflowed and flooded their bathroom so we had toilet water all over our house. We called the landlord and he had a water restoration company come out and they cut out the carpet and the ceiling and had fans running for two days. Sister Pazmino and I stayed at the Relief Society president's house in the YSA for a couple nights to get out of the noise and chaos. So bedbugs and now toilet water. It's been fun!!! Satan keeps trying to keep us from the work but we won't let him.
We worked really hard this week regardless of everything and set a record for our companionship in lessons taught with a member present and total lessons taught!!! Which was awesome! We're definitely seeing the work progress.
We know we'll continue to see miracles as we diligently serve.
I can't wait to talk to my family on Sunday! Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms! Make it a great week!
With love,
Sister Richards :)
Here's us with some YSA ward missionaries and our ward mission leader who was just released
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