Monday, July 2, 2018

"And they straightway left their nets, and followed him" (May 21, 2018)



Dear Friends and Family, 

Greetings from Minneapolis!! It has been a crazy week, but full of some really great adventures. Last Monday was crazy, I already knew I was leaving, so I was mostly packed, then Hna Davis and I left for the mission home on Monday night. It was pretty bittersweet leaving Rochester and saying goodbye to Hna Davis and everyone at church. Because we had been there for 4 months together, and it's weird to see it all end so quickly. Then transfers weren't until Thursday, so I got to be in a trio with the Richfield Hermanas, Hna Hanson and Hudman for a couple of days, and we had a blast . 

Then finally on Thursday I got to my new area, North Minneapolis with my new companion, Hna Nissinen. She is amazing! She just got out of training, and is so excited about missionary work. She is from Portland, Oregon, and she was studying Piano Performance in college , so we've already got a lot of fun duets planned, and it is so fun to be back in a Spanish ward. Yesterday, an hour before church started, we got a call from the first councilor in the bishopric that someone had cancelled and they needed me to speak in Sacrament Meeting. So I got a baptism by fire welcome back into the ward, but it went really well. I had a talk prewritten about the Plan of Salvation that I was planning on just using. We had coordination right before church with our ward mission leader, Hno Matus. And he is always so excited about missionary work, and he went off on a tangent about how the ward needs to ask us to give talks in sacrament meeting about how to do missionary work. So quickly rewrote the last half of my talk to be an inspirational message about doing missionary work, so it was a pretty crazy Sunday!!

Yesterday one of our investigators, Yeimy, had her baptismal interview and she passed, so she will be getting baptized next Sunday! She is 9, and is very excited. And it has been fun to be back in the area, and have people I didn't talk to that much remember me and be excited that I'm back. There are also quite a few people who the hermanas have fallen out of contact that we've been able to see agian, so we are getting ready for a transfer full of miracles. 

And MILAGROS! I found out last night, that one of our investigators who we were teaching in Rochester, Maria, who we found through the miracle of the broken windshield wipers. accepted the invitation to be baptized last week! 

This week I started my last 12 weeks of my mission, so I set a few goals, one being I decided to start reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish and finish before I go home, and I have been studying it for ways that the prophets receive and act on promptings of the spirit. I have truly gained a testimony the last few months that of what President Nelson taught in conference "nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, exat obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on teh words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to the temple and family history work" When we can live with purity, and be open to the promptings of the Spirit, that is when we can become instruments in the hands of God to work miracles. Last night we got to attend an event where recent converts share their conversion stories, and it has got me more motivated than ever to give it all I have. In Matthew 4:19-20 we read "And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him" Now we're not all fishermen, but likening the scriptures, our nets are those things that are holding us back our wants, our desires, our distractions, our fears, and leave it all behind. When the Savior calls, immediately dropping our nets, and following him with the faith that he will make up the difference. I hope all of you can think of something you can give up this week, one of the nets you can drop that will allow you to more fully follow the example of the Savior. 

Have a wonderful week!! 

Hermana Meredith 


1. Wheeler family! It was Alexis' birthday on Tuesday and her wish was that we came over for dinner before we got transferred. 
2. Farewell to the Rochester Trio
3. Hna Lopez
4. Sister Fletcher!!
5. North Minneapolis once again






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