And a happy new year!
So we've had some great Christmas miracles. One of our investigators that was hanging on the backburner since November came to church twice this past week and yesterday. Yeah! Don't get your hopes up though. It's not the one that won't tell her family. But we stopped by her...and she's still...yeah. Anyway, the girl that came to church yesterday also invited us over to her house for dinner, which is a huge step. So we got to meet her mom and hopefully make some good impressions. She told us that she knows the church is true and wants to get baptized. Now, the hard part is finding a time. She wants her boyfriend to baptize her and he is out of town for who knows how long. So, we'll pray for some more miracles.
Christmas Eve we got some great service opportunties. We are going to go caroling with our district on Main street which should be fun. Then the other sisters have a baptism on Christmas! How exciting is that! Doing the Lord's work on the Lord's day, cool. It's going to be a 'white' christmas, after all. It is a 9-year old boy who is super excited.
Nothing to exciting else happened this week. The other sisters are moving in with us for the holiday weekend because their family has a ton of people coming over. So it will be a fun sleep over. We had some other investigators but they are either avoiding us or loosing interest which is the hardest one because then you feel like you did something wrong for that to happen. But it is usually because they aren't keeping their commitments.
So a Christmas on a mission is quite interesting because it kind of feels like everyday to us. We talk about Christ, think about Him, study about Him everyday. But the best part is that people we talk to are in a different mindset. Either they are really stressed out because of the holidays and cranky or they have the Christmas spirit with them and are willing to listen more than if it was a different part of the year. And another great thing about Christmas on the mission is that you aren't worrying about spending time with the family or presents and so we are more focused on trying to service on Christmas which has a great feeling to it. Because that is what Christmas is all about, the spirit of Christ.
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! The church is true and the Savior lives and loves us. So turn to him and rely upon him in every situation for "he is the way, the truth and the light."
Love, Sister Sumsion
Monday, December 20
Tuesday, December 7
"Satan is out to get me."
Hi!
This week was transfers and I'm dying in Parker! And I'm so excited about it because this place has been great. The ward is great, the bishop is great and the area is great-even though it has its challenges but what area doesn't? But the best part is that President left four sisters in Parker. Sister Staib (from MTC district-who was in a threesome with us for a week) got a new companion, Sister Hamilton who is my companion from La Junta. The bishop is so excited to have four of us still and there is plenty of work for us to do. They are living with other members but we get to see them all the time.
Remember that investigator from last email? She is awesome and Satan knows it and has been working hard on her. Two weeks ago she told us that the baptismal date we set was too soon for her so we had her pray and pick a new date to work towards. She felt really good about the 15th of December and was super excited about it. She read everything we gave her and was devouring the Book of Mormon. We did a church tour with her and she told us in the chapel that there was an overwhelming feeling there. She loved everything we taught her, she loved the feelings from the spirit, she just loved it. But good things don't come without opposition. She didn't come to church that sunday and she told her fellowshipper that she wanted to take a day off to let it all sink in (that interpets to mean "I'm nervous about coming" or "Satan is working really hard on me"). Her fellowshipper told her to take another day off but not Sunday. Satan is good and very sly and sneaky. Sometimes I want to punch him in the face but he doesn't have a face to work over. So we go over the next day after Sunday and she tells us that she is feeling rushed for baptism and that she wants to take it slow. (I hate Satan...) We pray with her and ask her to keep praying and find out if that is what God wants her to do. Well, we go over there the next day and she tells us that she is terrified to tell her parents because they won't react to it very well and she wants their support. We talk about the apostles and how they left their families for Chirst's ministry. We told her to trust in God and that everything will work out with her family in the end. But she ended up dropping the date anyway. In the end she told us that she didn't want to meet with us anymore because she wanted to take a step back and go slow (which I thought she was already doing). It is hard to see people know that it is true and know that it is a commandment from God but turn away from him because they don't have the faith to move forward. And if they aren't moving forward, they are moving backwards.
Our testimonies are like escaladers-the ones going down. We are walking up the ones going down and it takes a lot of effort but it is very possible to move forward and upward. But if we stop, then we go down. And Satan knows it all. He just has to distract us enough, either it be with good things or with bad things, that we stop moving forward or slack off and we begin to go down. Family is a good thing, school is a good thing and work is a good thing but Satan can use them to his advantage.
Well, the church is true and Satan sure makes evidence for it. Remember who you are and keep the faith!
Love, Sister Sumsion
This week was transfers and I'm dying in Parker! And I'm so excited about it because this place has been great. The ward is great, the bishop is great and the area is great-even though it has its challenges but what area doesn't? But the best part is that President left four sisters in Parker. Sister Staib (from MTC district-who was in a threesome with us for a week) got a new companion, Sister Hamilton who is my companion from La Junta. The bishop is so excited to have four of us still and there is plenty of work for us to do. They are living with other members but we get to see them all the time.
Remember that investigator from last email? She is awesome and Satan knows it and has been working hard on her. Two weeks ago she told us that the baptismal date we set was too soon for her so we had her pray and pick a new date to work towards. She felt really good about the 15th of December and was super excited about it. She read everything we gave her and was devouring the Book of Mormon. We did a church tour with her and she told us in the chapel that there was an overwhelming feeling there. She loved everything we taught her, she loved the feelings from the spirit, she just loved it. But good things don't come without opposition. She didn't come to church that sunday and she told her fellowshipper that she wanted to take a day off to let it all sink in (that interpets to mean "I'm nervous about coming" or "Satan is working really hard on me"). Her fellowshipper told her to take another day off but not Sunday. Satan is good and very sly and sneaky. Sometimes I want to punch him in the face but he doesn't have a face to work over. So we go over the next day after Sunday and she tells us that she is feeling rushed for baptism and that she wants to take it slow. (I hate Satan...) We pray with her and ask her to keep praying and find out if that is what God wants her to do. Well, we go over there the next day and she tells us that she is terrified to tell her parents because they won't react to it very well and she wants their support. We talk about the apostles and how they left their families for Chirst's ministry. We told her to trust in God and that everything will work out with her family in the end. But she ended up dropping the date anyway. In the end she told us that she didn't want to meet with us anymore because she wanted to take a step back and go slow (which I thought she was already doing). It is hard to see people know that it is true and know that it is a commandment from God but turn away from him because they don't have the faith to move forward. And if they aren't moving forward, they are moving backwards.
Our testimonies are like escaladers-the ones going down. We are walking up the ones going down and it takes a lot of effort but it is very possible to move forward and upward. But if we stop, then we go down. And Satan knows it all. He just has to distract us enough, either it be with good things or with bad things, that we stop moving forward or slack off and we begin to go down. Family is a good thing, school is a good thing and work is a good thing but Satan can use them to his advantage.
Well, the church is true and Satan sure makes evidence for it. Remember who you are and keep the faith!
Love, Sister Sumsion
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