Hello hello! :)                                                                           January 27, 2014

I'm staying in Guelph YSA! I'm super excited about that! Sister Dyer is leaving me though :( She is going to Oakville North. And my new companion will be Sister Sites. All I know about her is that she has gorgeous, dark hair and she works hard! So I'm excited to get to know her.

Austin didn't get baptized this week :( He's really going through some hard times. But soon. Keep praying for him. He's SO CLOSE! I don't think he realizes how close he is... He was working a lot this week and had family things so we didn't get to meet with him as much as we usually do. We should be meeting with him tonight though, so we'll see how that goes.

We met a guy named Dennis a few weeks ago, I cant remember if I told you about him but he's so amazing! We met him on a SUPER cold night as we were walking home in the snow. He had missed his bus so he was waiting at a bus stop. So we taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ right then at that super freezing cold bus stop :) He is from Ghana and is a first year University student. He is really Christian, so we knew that an understanding of the Apostasy and Restoration was crucial. We taught him last Monday night, and he loved it! He was a little wary when we told him at the beginning of the lesson that we would invite him to be baptized, because he was already baptized Christian, but by the end of the lesson he accepted the baptismal invitation and is working toward being baptized on the 16th of February! Then we met with him again and taught him about the Plan of Salvation. He loved that too. We use a lot of scriptures when we teach him. A LOT of scriptures because it adds another witness and validity to what we are saying. There have been times when we teach him something, then give him a scripture to read about it and he reads it then looks at us and says, "Okay. I understand. What happens next?" Hahaha. He's so cool. I'm excited to see him progress in the Gospel.

For district meeting this week Elder Hardick asked us to pick someone from the Book of Mormon and three attributes about this person that helped them to be a good missionary. I picked Jacob :) The brother of Nephi. The three attributes I picked was that he "Labored Diligently" (Jacob 1:7), He was bold (Jacob 2:11), and he kept good records (Jacob 4:2). I studied for a while about diligence. In Preach My Gospel, chapter 6 is all about Christlike attributes, and diligence is one of them. It says, "The Lord expects you to work diligently-persistently and with great effort and care...Diligence in missionary work is an expression of love for the Lord and His work." (PMG 121) So I've been really focusing on setting goals and making plans to be a more diligent servant of my Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ. I realized we need to be diligent in three ways to be fully diligent. Diligence in MIND. Diligence in ACTIONS. Diligence in WORDS. I have started memorizing hymns to be more diligent in mind. And the hymn for this week was "O Savior, Thou Who Wearest a Crown." #197 in the hymnbook. If you have time today, go look up those words! They are incredible! We sang it for the sacrament hymn yesterday at church, and I love it more and more every time I sing it.

I hope you all have a fantastic week :) Christ lives. Never forget it.

 Love and Prayers, Sister Felix

Quote of the Week: "If you want to be near Him, to feel His peace, you can do it best in His service." -President Henry B. Eyring

 

 

 

Priesthood

Hello!

This is the last week of my sixth transfer!! I'm having a hard time believing it... So next week I'll let you know what is going to happen next transfer. I've been with Sister Dyer for the past two transfers, so I don't think we'll get to stay for another transfer, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Austin's baptism got rescheduled for this coming Sunday, the 26th, so keep praying for him! He's really excited for that! And so are we! He has come so far. It's truly amazing to see the changes that happen inside of someone when they start to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's a miracle.

Sister Dyer and I had an experience this week that really strengthened my testimony of the power of the priesthood. It's amazing to see what happens when faith and the priesthood work together to produce miracles! I think my favorite part of the Restoration is the priesthood, because that is what made it all possible! I am eternally grateful for the priesthood. Without it, nothing we do on earth would be valid in heaven. So it's kind of a big deal... I studied about the priesthood this week and discovered this quote in Preach My Gospel, "Through priesthood ordinances and righteous living, we can live as families in God's presence eternally." Isn't that the best?! Priesthood ordinances and righteous living. That is the meat and potatoes of life ladies and gentleman!

Honestly, this week has been a little hard for me, but if I have learned anything, it is this: I can do hard things! And hard things are what make life worth it. If we never had to work, we would never reap anything. If we never had to struggle, we would never be strong. If we never had to question, we would never get answers. I had this thought go through my mind multiple times this week, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." And get going I will :) I am so grateful that our Father in Heaven loves us enough to let us go through hard things. He knows we can't attain Celestial Glory if we don't. So just keep going :) I love you all!

Christ lives. This I know. Have a great week!

Love and Prayers, Sister Felix

Quote of the week: "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." -Leonardo DaVinci

Tender Mercies: Above Freezing

Hello hello!                                                                                                                                                          January 13, 2014

What a beautiful week it should be! The sun is going to be out and the temperature is supposed to be above freezing! I believe in tender mercies :)

Austin is preparing to be baptized on Sunday!! I'm so excited! I can't remember how much I've told you about him, so I'll just tell you his story. We met him during what our zone called a "consecrated finding hour." One Saturday afternoon back in December we all prayed at 2:00 then went out for that hour with the faith that we would find prepared people to teach. We went tracting and knocked on the door of a college student that just rolled out of bed and wasn't very interested at all. We continued tracting the street then on the way back there was a guy shoveling the driveway of the college student house and we went over and talked with him. It wasn't an incredibly spiritual contact, just the usual introductions, testifying of Restored truth, getting his phone number, giving him a mormon.org card with our number, etc. We called him the next day and set up an appointment. That was when we realized how prepared he was! He asked why there are so many churches that teach similar doctrines and why there isn't just one way back to God. We testified that there is. Before Sister Dyer said the first vision from memory, I told him he would feel the Holy Ghost. I briefly described what it might feel like then told him we would give him a minute to think about it. After Sister Dyer finished, the spirit was so tangible it was incredible! After a few moments of silence, Austin grabbed his chest and asked, "Do you feel it right here?" I said, "Yes. That is the Holy Ghost." We then promised him that he would receive the same feeling every time he read the Book of Mormon. We set him with a baptismal date for the 19th and he was so excited about it! He was also super excited to come to church, but that was the week of the ice storm. So because church was cancelled, he watched a session and a half of General Conference! How amazing is he?! He's been to the YSA branch 3 times now and has made some true friends. The adversary knows he is getting baptized this week though, and some extremely hard things are happening in his life. So pray for him. He knows this is true. And he even told us that no matter what, he is getting baptized. Whether it is this week, or another week, it's going to happen.

As all of these hard things have been happening to him I have been praying so hard. I have been thinking a lot about helping someone develop enough faith to withstand hard things. It's hard enough to go through your own hard things! So how do you help someone else? I studied a lot about adversity and these are some of the things that I learned. Adversity comes from one of three ways. 1) SIN. Sin is a self inflicted trial and is caused by bad usage of agency. It is the consequence of one's own pride or disobedience. 2) LIFE. Why do hard things happen to good people? Because that is why we are here. Some trials are God given, and even though they are hard, these trials are meant to bless us. 3) OTHERS. Trials caused by the poor choices or hurtful words of other people are called afflictions. They are also meant to strengthen us as well. Some of these things I learned as I read about adversity in "True to the Faith" and one of the quotes that I love in there is this, "Your success and happiness, both now and in the eternities, depend largely on your responses to the difficulties of life." No matter what kind of trials we get in life, if we respond with faith and trust in our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, everything will be alright in the end. I came to the conclusion that if an investigator is reading, praying, and coming to church, they will receive the strength they need. Austin faced a temptation last night, and instead of giving in, he read his Book of Mormon. He recognizes the strength that he receives from reading and praying and it just amazes me! It's the same for all of us. So let's follow Austin's example and face trials with faith okay? :)

We had another cool experience this week. Probably one of the most powerful of my mission. We got a text at 10 as we were walking out the door one day to go work from a less active asking if we could go visit him sometime that day. This was unusual because he's been rather cold lately, so we decided to go right then. When we arrived, we found him in tears. Absolutely a mess. I have never witnessed someone so low. We talked and he expressed his feelings of darkness and said, "I need Heavenly Father again." We had him read 3 Nephi 9 where it says, "Will you not repent and come unto Me and be converted that I may heal you?" to the end of the chapter. We then promised him as representatives of Jesus Christ that if he knelt and pleaded with Heavenly Father in prayer, he would feel the calming influence of the Holy Ghost. He sat there for a minute in thought, then decided to do it. We all knelt down, and he offered the prayer. It was the sweetest, most sincere prayer. It was interesting to hear someone else say a personal prayer. Usually in a group setting, the person praying prays for general things representing the group. But in this case I heard the plea of a man in agony asking his Father in Heaven to pull him from the pit of darkness that he was sitting at the bottom of. I think the miracle factor was that he was willing to work to climb out. He had faith. The spirit was so strong!! SO strong. After his prayer ended, none of us moved for a while. That little spot where we knelt became a very sacred place in my mind.

We went on exchanges this week! Well, sort of... Sister Waldron came to our area and we worked as a trio for a day! It was a blast! We had a few other changes in our area this week. We got a lower monthly kilometer limit for the car and bus passes! Sp that day with Sister Waldron, we were on buses all day and it was so good! I have missed bus contacting. I didn't realize until that day, but I've really missed it. There is nothing more awkward, but I love it! Sister Dyer's trainer  always said, "As missionaries, we learn thrive in awkward situations!" And it's so true :)

Well I hope you all have a fantastic week! Let me know if any of you have any missionary experiences this week! I'd love to hear about them! Keep smiling because THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!

Love and Prayers,   Sister Felix

Guelph

 Isn't Guelph the cutest?! All covered in snow :) There's a lot more snow now!

Happy New Year

Hello!!                                                                                     January 6, 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR! :) I can't believe it's 2014. But I've got a whole year to get used to it, so eventually it will probably sink in. We finished the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price on New Years Eve and New Years Day. It's amazing what patterns you notice when reading the scriptures that fast in a short amount of time. The Lord truly teaches us in patterns. 

Austin came to church yesterday and was making friends with some of the branch members. He is still looking solid for baptism on the 19th of January which makes me super excited! We taught him about the Plan of Salvation this week and lots of the commandments. We brought Kate, a soon to be missionary, with us when we taught the Plan of Salvation and it was such a great lesson! Austin is so in tune with spiritual things. I learn so much from him! 

Sarah is another investigator that came to church yesterday and she is amazing too! Though she knows a little about Christianity, she doesn't have a Christian background. We spent a lot of time teaching her about the Atonement and it was extremely powerful. Seeing the Atonement with fresh eyes makes me feel incredibly blessed that I've known about it all my life. She really liked church because everyone was so welcoming and kind. I think fast and testimony meeting was really powerful for both Austin and Sarah. It's incredible how much I love these people! I wish I could describe or explain it to you. But most of the time the language of God can't be translated into the language of man.

Sister Dyer gave part of the instruction at District Meeting this week and it was so awesome! Elder Hardick, our District Leader, assigned her to talk about how faith plays a role in receiving a witness of the Spirit... Awesome right?! Just the topic gave me a lot to think about. Sister Dyer has such an incredible knowledge of the scriptures and doctrines of the gospel. That is definitely one of her strengths. Sometimes she just writes a list of scripture references about a certain topic and finds connections between them! That is kind of what she did with this topic. She talked about "Receiving, Recognizing, and Remembering" spiritual promptings. She contrasted Lamen and Lemuel with Alma the younger. They both saw angels and miracles, but what was the difference? FAITH. Receive. Recognize. Remember. So awesome. Then Sister Wanlass, another sister in our district, gave an instruction about the Holy Ghost and she shared a scripture that I've been thinking a lot about. It's a short but extremely powerful statement. "Quench not the Spirit." 1 Thessalonians 5:19. In the footnote for quench it says: extinguish, hinder, suppress. Most decisions you make as a missionary, actually most decisions in life are whether or not to follow something that the spirit just told you. I find missionary work and life is easier when we DONT QUENCH THE SPIRIT! It's so much easier to just give in to the Lord every time instead of fighting against Him. I'm so grateful for the ability and gift we have to decide to follow the spirit. Because it makes spiritual experiences so much sweeter when it's our choice to follow the Master. 

I love this work. I love being a missionary. I love my Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the opportunities presented to me because of righteous decisions. Choosing the right is actually choosing freedom. I love this gospel and the good people in this church. I love seeing people change through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That is what I love the most about being a missionary.

Love and Prayers,

Sister Felix