I am getting settled here in Miami. The traffic here is crazy. It tests my
patience. I have become quite the freeway driver...5 lane highways are nothing
now...haha The GPS will say it is only 15 minutes away but in the end it can
easily turn into 45 minutes. We cover YSA for 2 zones so thus our area is HUGE!
We can only teach YSA...We try to harvest and contact around universities and
places where there will be a large concentration of YSA. We depend a lot on
referrals from other missionaries. With our area being huge, and exchanges we
spend a lot of time in the car. We try to make the most of it though. It gives
us a lot of time to talk which is good. I got to meet the rest of the branch on sunday and it was good. YSA is so different
then family wards. We have to be there friend first before they will trust us
and help us. This area has had a hard past with missionaries and thus they do
not trust missionaries easily. President is trusting us to build up the branch
and strengthen the relationship between members and missionaries here.
In President Richardson's email last week he
included the mormon message "The Will of God". It is amazing and I encourage
all of you to watch it. It talks about how God knows what we need to grow and
become who he wants us to be. Sister Montoya and I watched it and in all
honesty we were in tears afterwards. I swear President put it in his email just
for us. We both know that God is giving us this experience to acquire greater
humility and grow in ways we didn't know we needed to. We had an amazing comp
study with our district leader on comp unity which really helped as well. We
are communicating a lot more effectively. We are getting along so well. SO
well! Together we are powerful. Sister Montoya is such a strong individual. She
has been through so much in her life. SO MUCH!!! The more I learn about her the
more I can see why she is the way she is. I respect her so much. I love her so
much. President came down to interview one of our investigators and before he
left he asked us if we wanted to talk about it or if we had gotten things
figured out. We laughed and smiled and said we had gotten things figured out.
He smiled and said, "I hope you know you are my power companionship. You
two are the strongest." We replied, "President if that it is the case
does that mean we get to be AP's next transfer?!" haha he laughed. I love
President.
In PMG it teaches us that the Gospel improves
the quality of our lives. This is a truth that we share with investigators in
the first lesson. As I have pondered that this week I have realized that this
means so much more then what we have, or the style of life we live. Rather like
Elder Ballard put it, it refers to substance. A quality life is based on
eternal potential It is filled with love loyalty, compassion, etc. So many
times we knock on people's doors only to hear them say that God has been good
to them and they simply have everything they need. Boy are they blinded by the
precepts of man. A quality life is so much more then what we have. I love
testifying to people at the door about what a true quality life is and seeing
there eyes opened and the spirit enter there hearts and they realize something
is missing. I just love being a missionary. Please read D&C 33: 2-10, 17.
We are all among the last labours in the Lord's vinyard. Each of us. Missionary
or not. Do not be content with what you have or who you are. This is a Gospel
of change.
I love going on exchanges with our
Sisters. I had the opportunity of going with a brand new missionary only 1 week
in the field. I was so blessed to be able to go on her first fire exchange. She
was so excited. Her district leader wanted us to focus on being faith filled in
all that we do. I began by spiritually creating with her saying, "Sister
we are going to see amazing miracles on this fire exchange. We are going to
find families. Are you ready?" She smiled with excitement and off we went.
At every door and every OYM we both possessed excitement that radiated faith.
The last door we knocked on held the miracle. We knocked and a lady opened the
door just a crack. At first she turned down the prayer but we continued to
testify and invite. Finally, she agreed. She stepped outside to join us to
pray. Rather then being content with praying outside. We began to testify that
it was a blessing for her home. She didn't want to let us inside but again we
kept being lovingly persistent. Finally, she agreed. We were led inside to find
her husband and 2 kids. We all knelt and prayed. Afterwards the spirit was
evidently strong. The family accepted all our invitations-church, baptism, and
a return appointment. We testified and taught doctrine and left them with a
Book of Mormon to begin reading. Afterwards we talked about what a great
miracle that was. We could have easily left the lady with a card when she
initially rejected us. However, we were full of faith. We knew that God had
sent us to her and we weren't going to stop. Because we were bold and
persistent we were able to pray with the entire family and bless the home and
create a spiritual experience for the family. I explained that all this
happened because of our faith filled words and actions. I am so grateful to
have had this experience with her. She is committed to doing all things filled
with faith.
All in all, the work moves forward and I love
every mintute of it. Have the best week ever.
Love,
Ssiter Hartley
