President and Sister Clayton are here! I'm excited to meet them on Wednesday at Mission Leadership Council. They arrived on Saturday. I don't know a lot about them, but I do know that they are called of God to be here at this time.
On Tuesday I got to go on exchanges this week with a sister that was in my district in the MTC. Her name is Sister Anderson and it was so much fun! It was an incredible time to reflect and see how we've both changed and improved in the past year.
District Meeting was incredible this week! Elder Pitre (pronounced Pete) is our district leader and he's great. He texted us these questions to ponder on and study in preparation for the meeting: What encourages you to set goal? Why? And what does the phrase 'I am a Child of God' mean to you? They seemed kind of random and unrelated, but I studied them anyway. On the drive to Woodstock that morning I read "Our Identity and Our Destiny" and this line stood out to me, "...which relationships can now continue beyond the grave and allow us, like God, to have eternal increase." The words eternal increase triggered an epiphany that connected the two seemingly unrelated questions our District Leader asked us to ponder! As missionaries we are taught to set goals and then make plans to achieve those goals. Heavenly Father is the ultimate example of setting goals and making plans to achieve goals. Moses 1:39 "For behold, this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." That is Heavenly Father's goal. Then He made plans to achieve that goal. The Plan of Salvation. This instruction from the Holy Ghost increased my desire to set righteous goals and make plans to achieve them, because everytime I do, I am learning to live a little more by this celestial law.
I can't remember if I told you about Racquel and Paul, but they are two of my favorite people on planet earth! Paul is a returning member and Racquel is his girlfriend. She is from the Philippines and she's adorable! We are currently teaching her about the church and helping her prepare for baptism. They have been to church five weeks in a row and they love it! We taught them the first half of the Plan of Salvation a few lessons ago, and finished it this week. We focused a lot on the temple in this lesson because Racquel loves the temple and has a lot of questions about it. There was a combined meeting for ward conference last week and it was all about temples, and for the closing song we sang, "Families can be together Forever" and Racquel cried. It was the sweetest thing. The thing I love most about Racquel is that she understands that the goal is not baptism, the goal is the celestial kingdom and baptism is just the gate. The first step. She and Paul are just hesitant to take that step. So pray for them. They are wonderful!
Peace was a topic of pondering for me this week. There were a few experiences we had this week that rocked the boat of peace in my heart, so it was something I was seeking. I came across John 14:27 in my studies which says,"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." One of my favorites! I made two lists: how the world offers peace and how the Savior offers peace. I found that the common theme was that the world offers peace through material things. That peace has an expiration date. Peace offered by Christ is durable and lasts as long as we are willing to nurture our faith. Peace from Christ comes through two main ways in my mind: 1) The Holy Ghost. 2) Covenants. Both things are dependent upon our self discipline to do the small things that make a big difference in our lives. Daily study & prayer and weekly church attendance. In order for Christ to give us peace we must receive it by small, deliberate actions of faith. I know this to be true because I experienced it this week.
On Saturday in Downtown Brantford there was quite an event going on! Free baptisms! We got a call from the other Brantford Sisters saying that there were pools set up, people lined up, hot dogs roasting, a guy on a microphone talking about "letting Jesus into their heart," and a band playing and it was quite a show. Initially, we thought it was kind of funny, but when Sister Balderson talked about a family that all got baptized and they were just crying tears of gratitude, it made me so sad to watch these people literally starving for the Spirit in their lives and only scratching the surface. It also made me sad that when baptism is an easy thing, people line up! But when we mention keeping the commandments and making a covenant people shy away. Why is that? I think Elder Holland nailed it when he said people want to believe in a "smooth god" that will let us live with Him with no real effort on our part. Here's the crazy part of the story, later that day we dropped by a potential investigator who wasn't there, but found a man named Dustin outside pulling three kids in a wagon. We told him we were missionaries, and he asked what that meant. We explained that we are teachers and guides to help people come unto Jesus Christ. He said, "Perfect! I just got baptized today!" He was one that had lined up and got baptized downtown earlier that afternoon. He explained that he wasn't really religious, but feels like he should get into it, so he got baptized today. We explained that we help people to prepare to be baptized by the Priesthood authority and he was intrigued. He admitted he had no idea who baptized him and what church he was baptized into, he just felt like he needed to be baptized. He likes the idea of being baptized formally, in a church, by the correct authority! So we set up a time to meet with his whole family! Stepping stones. Heavenly Father works line upon line. I've found that prepared people usually get baptized or attend other churches in preparation for them to receive the fullness of the truth. Perhaps getting baptized downtown at Harmony Square was a line Dustin needed to cross to realize he needs something more in his life.
The Church is true. I know it is. I know God lives and loves us. Have a great week!
Love and Prayers, Sister Felix
"People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."
-Mother Theresa
*Sister Hansen's scriptures are HUGE! My scriptures are the blue ones, and that's just a normal size quad. She has quotes and sticky notes and so many glue-ins that it's almost doubled the size of them :) Isn't that awesome?!
*Sushi 8 is our favorite sushi place in town. Best ever!
*I saw this license plate and about died of laughter! I love Canada!
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