This week had a ton of meetings, but it was also really good because it made me really pumped. On wednesday, we had the sisters' meeting, and I loved it! Hna Morales is the best! She talked about the virtuous woman and her role in preaching the gospel. She talked a lot about faith, and it really made me change the way I understand really what is faith. After the meeting, we joined all zone leaders and office elders, and we skyped the new president and his wife. She served a mission for 22 months! WOW! They seem like they are really excited to come here and start working. They seem stricter than Presidente Morales and Hermana Morales, but they also seem like they really love us already. It will be interesting with the change coming up next month, but all things keep going in the work of the Lord. This week we also had a zone meeting, and it was super great! The zone leaders had us set goals and make a plan for the month, then we all separated and prayed to present our goals and plans to Heavenly Father to ask for His help to reach our goals. It worked really well with some of the things Hermana Morales shared with us about faith. It really made me think about how to really pray with faith and pray specifically for help. We helped Elder Howell's and Elder Downey's investigators get married this week. It was great to see the couple's faces when they were officially married! They looked so happy! Also we found some people to teach this week, AND they went to church in the same week that we found them! I felt so happy to be there with them! Also Hermana Chavez is my favorite member of all time! If one day I am called to be Relief Society President, I want to be like her. She was saying that she was really excited to retire because then she would really have time to visit ALL the sisters in the ward and help them out when they needed it. Also she always gives us vegetables, and I really like that because sometimes the only vegetables I eat are the frozen ones I buy to add to my ramen noodles. Kind of sad.
Anyway, my unhealthly eating habits aside, I want to talk about what Hermana Morales said. She was saying that there are levels of faith: hope, initial faith (faith, but there is also room for doubt), advanced faith (when people say I know), and Certainty (when you believe and act and there is no room for doubt). She said that we need to pray with such faith that we are certain that what we are asking to come to pass is in reality already happening. She said that we need to be able to visualize this thing happening as we are praying. This was interesting when we think about this in context of my zone meeting. If we plan specifically, then we can visualize this plan happening and have greater faith, but if we don't plan specifically, then we will have a harder time. This applies not just to being a missionary, but in all decision making that we do. Heavenly Father wants us to use our brains and make a plan, then pray about the plan asking if this plan is according to His will for us. He will then answer us in His way and His timing to let us know. If our plan is not according to His will, He will let us know. If our plan is according to His will, then He will bless us as we go about fulfilling our plan. Sorry that this isn't as spiritual as the other weeks, but it's something that made me think a lot this week. It made me evaluate my work as a missionary and made me see how I can improve, so I wanted to share this with all of y'all.
I love y'all!
Hermana Stevenson
Anyway, my unhealthly eating habits aside, I want to talk about what Hermana Morales said. She was saying that there are levels of faith: hope, initial faith (faith, but there is also room for doubt), advanced faith (when people say I know), and Certainty (when you believe and act and there is no room for doubt). She said that we need to pray with such faith that we are certain that what we are asking to come to pass is in reality already happening. She said that we need to be able to visualize this thing happening as we are praying. This was interesting when we think about this in context of my zone meeting. If we plan specifically, then we can visualize this plan happening and have greater faith, but if we don't plan specifically, then we will have a harder time. This applies not just to being a missionary, but in all decision making that we do. Heavenly Father wants us to use our brains and make a plan, then pray about the plan asking if this plan is according to His will for us. He will then answer us in His way and His timing to let us know. If our plan is not according to His will, He will let us know. If our plan is according to His will, then He will bless us as we go about fulfilling our plan. Sorry that this isn't as spiritual as the other weeks, but it's something that made me think a lot this week. It made me evaluate my work as a missionary and made me see how I can improve, so I wanted to share this with all of y'all.
I love y'all!
Hermana Stevenson