This week has been super great! Filled with lots of things and busy busy busy!! That's just missionary life tho! haha :)
Alright quick little cool experience (there are always a lot, but I'll just share one) from this week. So on Thursday we took a member out with us to go and visit some people and EVERY single person we went to see fell through or wasn't home.. it was kindof frustrating but then the member we were with told us that she had a friend, Rosa, who had just recently said she wanted to start learning more about our church and we were like, well why not? Vámanos!! So we went to visit her and can I just tell you it was AWESOME!!! She told us a lot about her life and basically told us that she went to our church a little bit in the past but wasn't really in a state of mind where she wanted to listen.. she was just kindof forced to go at that point from her sister. Well now, she has come to her own realization that she wants God in her life and that she needs Him. So we talked to her a little bit about what we believe and our purpose as missionaries, and cleared up some questions she had. She is so awesome!! This experience just made me realize that this is really how God works. That just when it seems we may want to give up hope, or what we would like to be happening is not turning out, God decides to bless us in a DIFFERENT way than we would have thought!! Had those appointments not cancelled we would have never been able to meet Rosa and be able to share the gospel with her!!
Yesterday our Stake held a fireside called "Why I Believe," and we were able to hear from Terryl and Fiona Givens. It was amazing. They talked about this very thing. They talked about how when Christ in Luke 22:42 says "not my will, but thine," he is giving his Father room to move. He is stepping back--allowing Him to answer the question in another way. We must do this as well! If we have a question, we must be willing to take a step back and be willing to do what God has asked us in order for His will to happen and to receive the blessings He is waiting to pour out upon us. We may not realize these things as a blessing at first, but in the long run we are able to realize the trials and things that we go through happen for a reason, and that God gives them to us because He knows that is the only possible way for us to grow in the form that He would have us grow. At the end of their talks they opened it up to a question and answer session, which I really loved. One of the questions that was asked was always something in the back of my mind, as I am sure a lot of you have as well. The question was: "If God knows EVERYTHING, are we already pre-determined in the choices we are going to make?" I have always believed that NONE of us have been pre-destined to fail, although some of us may feel that way. But I never knew quite how to explain it, knowing that God knows everything. Here's what we came to as a conclusion--that God gave us Jesus Christ and His INFINITE Atonement. He knew we would mess up, so He made it possible for us to be able to make things right. We are ALL always going to make bad decisions, it is just the nature of the human being, and God knows it too. But how much we are going to accept and apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives is where the gift of OUR agency comes in, and it is really all up to us. So, in other words..GOD DID NOT SET ANY SINGLE ONE OF US UP TO FAIL, that is all on our part. When we fall short, it gives us an opportunity to use the gift that God has given us, and to repent for those things we have done wrong and become better. You can't get better if you are already perfect!! And that is the real purpose of this life. To STRIVE for perfection. We are all going to fall short, but those are learning experiences, and those are the things that make us strong.
I am SO grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my life, and for the opportunity I have to call upon my Heavenly Father every single day and have open conversation with Him. He is all-seeing, all-knowing. Sounds like the best source of information and advice to me!!
I love you all, and hope you have an amazing week!! Take care!!
Until next time,
Hermana Riddle :)
Me and my compa under a random kid'd umbrella that I grabbed.. haha :)
Haha..Riah told us that her new companion Hermana Christensen has already caught the "Miranda" virus. For some reason every single one of her companions catches it and starts talking like Miranda sings. Hmmm...I wonder why Riah? Cute though..it's just something that makes Mariah who she is:)
She also told us that she had the opportunity to attend the General Women's meeting at the Stake. She LOVED it! Oh how we missed having her here but while we were watching the conference it was a sweet thing to think about us doing the exact same thing at the same time:)
Well, that's all for this week. Here are a couple of other pics we received. The second one was of her district doing a reenactment of a photo that we took of cousins on the fourth of July. Pretty good I'd say:) FUN!!
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