Living on a Prayer...

July 07, 2020

Living on a Prayer...

...Cuz I'm HALFWAY there!

Hello my homies!

That's right... my 9 month mark (out of my 18 month mission) was this past week! To celebrate, my companion made me a chocolate cake and we got my favorite sandwich from Jersey Mikes (a classic) haha. Crazy to think that it was 9 months ago when I embarked on this crazy mission of mine!

Celebrating the 4th of July with our Bishop and his family

Well, this week was filled with talking to our fun friends who have interest in the church! I thought I would introduce you all to them, a little more this week!

The family we've been working with the most is La Familia Tapia. This family consists of a man named Juan, his wife Modesta, her sister Trinidad, and their son Alex. We have been meeting with them regularly and they say they love having us in their house. The only thing is... we are trying to help them understand WHY they love having us in their house (hint, it's the Spirit of God!! haha). We are working with them to read the Book of Mormon daily and to gain a testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith who God worked through to restore The Church of Jesus Christ back to the earth. We are meeting with them again tonight!

My absolute favorite person we have been teaching, is named Betzy. Betzy is 12 years old and so cute and very smart. She lives with her aunt who was baptized into the Church a few years ago but who hasn't actually attended church for several years. This past week when were talking with Betzy her aunt walked through the room and we asked her to help us explain the Book of Mormon to Betzy. We could tell that her aunt still knows the Book of Mormon is true and has a testimony of it but, for whatever reason, she just hasn't acted on those feelings in a long time. The cutest part was when her aunt, Tania, mentioned how she marked up (made notes in) the Book of Mormon in the past when she was reading it, and before we left Betzy told us she wanted to mark up her Book of Mormon, too! When we went back a few days later, Betzy was so excited to show us all the markings she had made as she'd been reading! We know Betzy is ready to move forward and be baptized, but our main concern is just making sure she has people to support her in her choice. Please pray for Betzy and her family!

As for some other spiritual thoughts, I wanted to share with you 6 lessons I learned from my study of the book of Enos, a book found in the Book of Mormon, which we read from everyday during the month of June (it was a mission-wide goal we had).

Lessons from the book of Enos, which is found here:

1. The way we each live the teachings of Jesus Christ and talk about them, has a great and important impact on those around us. (The two main things that influenced Enos to pray were "the words of [his] father and the joy of the saints")

2. The Faith we place in Jesus Christ has a great impact on the saving of our own souls and that of others. We must go through some strugglings in that Faith, however, before we will recognize that impact and receive answers.

3. The Lord does keep His promises and He will answer our righteous prayers, but He does so in His own time. When we submit our will to His timing, by diligently doing our part in the meantime, our souls can be at rest knowing that our prayers will be answered.

4. When we have/feel a change of heart in ourselves, we then have a greater desire to help others have/feel that same change in their own hearts.

5. The scriptures should be a cherished record that we refer to daily in our lives. This "record" was one of the most important things to Enos and he wanted to be sure it was saved for his people to read in the future.

6. Amidst a wild and "hard to understand" world, if the faithful continue forward in righteousness, we are promised Eternal rest.

The scriptures are a powerful tool that we can learn so much from if we read them every day of our lives. The Book of Mormon, for me, is a powerful source of strength and learning. I know it is the word of God and I know it can bless everyone's lives who are reading this!

Oh and as for transfers... Hermana Crane and I received word that we'll be staying here in San Clemente for another six weeks. Yay!! Love you all so much, have a great week!

Hermana Leonard