Well, we finally caught up to your weather patterns. :) 8 degrees and snowing this morning! Brrr. Good thing I like wearing lots of layers. :)
Jacob didn't get baptized on Sunday, unfortunately. He got down in the water, tried to go all the way under, and couldn't do it. All of the sudden he was terrified of going under the water! He had never expressed such a fear before--I'm not sure what happened. It was sad and a little frustrating, but we know that he'll be baptized soon. He just needs to practice going under water. :) Pray for him!
I've heard that we might have a 5-week transfer, but not til spring/summer. So we'll see. Speaking of transfers, though, ours is next week! Crazy how quickly this transfer has flown by. And NEXT transfer, in March, we have 3 new sisters coming--2 of whom I know! Sister Karen Spong (one of my flute students from PHS!!! Awesome), and Sister Esplin, Pat's grand-daughter. Yaaaaaay!! I'm really excited about that. Small world eh. :) Also, hurray and congrats to all the newly-called missionaries you mentioned!! I'm SO excited for Emily Bean--how awesome! And I'm especially excited that Carrie Hastings is going!! I LOVE her. She will be such a great missionary! Tell Carrie and Rachel hi for me if you ever get the chance. :)
I'm so glad you liked the pictures! I wish I'd had time to label them all--sorry! They might be labelled on the back--I can't remember. If not, most of them should be identifiable from pictures on the Kirtland VC page on lds.org And I'll look for that package this week. Thanks SO much for sending it! And thank you so much for delivering those thank you notes. Sorry to everyone for taking so long to get them out!
We had interviews with President Vellinga last week--always such a highlight of my transfer. We have interviews every other transfer, so this was only my second interview ever--but I always come away from interviews feeling so so excited about missionary work. President Vellinga has a way of making you joyous and excited about every aspect of life. That's just the way he is--happy and friendly and inspiring. I love getting to serve under his leadership because he is such an amazing person and mission president. In my interview, we talked about why I love music, and what the Spirit does for us--and together we realized that the gospel is a LOT like music. Karl Paulnack (dean of the Boston Conservatory) talks about music being able to move around those big inner pieces of our hearts and souls and express thoughts and feelings that would otherwise be inexpressible. Really good music always touches my heart in a way that infuses it with light and joy--and that's also what happens when I feel the Spirit. It touches my heart in a way I can't describe--but I know that my experiences with music have taught me and prepared me to better recognize and understand when I'm feeling the Spirit. I love it. :) The structure and discipline that I've learned from so many years of practicing and learning music has helped me as a missionary as well. Learning and applying the gospel takes the same kind of discipline--the ability to practice things and improve and progress--and on and on. That was an amazing discovery for me because it helped me realize that I know how to do this more/better than I thought. The "I can do this" thought is always comforting. :)
I absolutely love what Elder Brimhall shared in your stake conference (and what a fun connection! Small world). Sometimes, when doubts or fears creep in, we find ourselves doubting core elements of our testimonies--this has happened to me before, and it was alarming and scary. But when we can find even one truth to cling to, that one truth can be the pinprick of light that we need to guide us back to a stronger faith. Smiley face. Those three things that Elder Brimhall mentioned are perfect.
It's been a little hard to find people in this cold weather--so we've turned to doing a lot of stop bys and calling through our old lists of potential and former investigators. We were promised at a recent zone conference that there are 12 people in our dead pool (those old lists of people that have been taught in the past but whom we aren't working with right now) who are just waiting to be baptized. We just need to find them! Our purpose is to preach His gospel, and we love having that opportunity to teach those very things mentioned by Elder Brimhall--but we can't teach people until we find them. :) We'll be doing a lot of finding this week. Expect miracles!
We've also been trying to contact and work with all of the less active members in the branch. There are a lot. And sometimes they don't want anything to do with the Church, which is always sad. We stopped by one family last night, though, and were finally able to find the mom at home--and made a dinner appointment for next week! Perfect.
The Edmans are leaving this week. :( We had a special fireside on Sunday where they spoke and all the sites sisters did a special musical number. I got to play my flute for that, and it was such an amazing experience. I love the Edmans so much! They are amazing. I'm excited to meet Elder and Sister Sorenson though--I'm sure they will be wonderful as well.
We always pray to meet one prepared person everyday--whether it's at sites or in our area. At sites, we aren't as busy with tours (we did get to take one this last week--with a lovely couple from Sandy, Utah. They were so great!), but we do get to be on mormon.org chat and make lots of phone calls. We're blessed with the technology to be able to make international calls through the computer--which I absolutely love. I've been able to talk to people in New Zealand, Australia, and Germany, among others--and it is so fun! There's a potential investigator in Switzerland that I'm hoping to call next week--I might be a little excited about that too. ;)
Well, time is short. Thank you for all of your love, support and prayers! I love you oodles and oodles. :)
Love,
Sister Wygant
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Miracles
This is Sister Wygant's letter of last week (9 January).
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Hi Mama!
Well. It's been a GREAT week. We have seen so many miracles this week! I'll just share a few.
One: We have a baptism scheduled!!! This is for Jacob, the 11-year old son of a returning less active member. He was originally going to be baptized in December, but some family things came up and it didn't happen. BUT we were able to set a new date for the 20th of January for his baptism, and we are so excited! He and his mom, Nancy, are so great. Jacob sometimes has a short attention span, so we get to practice having short, interactive lessons in order to teach him. It's great. :)
Two: we ended up with some extra time last night because an appointment fell through, and after finishing our backup plans, felt that we needed to go visit Sister Davis, an older widow in our branch. She is amazing and incredible, and I love her so much. When we arrived, she was just getting home from a very long day, and she was feeling very down and overwhelmed. We didn't know that when we decided to stop by, but we were able to comfort her and spend time with her--which she told us was an answer to her prayers. We were an answer to someone's prayers! I LOVE THAT. I'm so grateful that we followed that prompting to visit her, and that arrived at just the right time to comfort and uplift her. God is good. :)
Three: We went to visit a less active member yesterday but couldn't find his house...but we ended up talking to a man whose house we stopped at to ask directions, and he said we could come back and teach him. Awesome. :)
Four: We meet a guy named Kevin tracting inBurton
Five: The Nativity display is all over, packed up, and the VC is rather slow--not as many people coming in to take tours during the winter. We get to make a lot of calls though, to people that have been referred by friends who have come through. This past week I talked to someone in Australia (!!), a girl in Germany who met with missionaries while an exchange student in the states and wants to get back in contact with them (So so so awesome), and a Baptist minister in Tennessee (for 40 minutes...phew! They really know their Bible! Somewhat intimidating. But he was so nice, and we really had a great conversation), among others. I used to be so scared of making phone calls...but we've really seen so many blessings and such success as we've persevered through long lists of numbers this week. I love it. :)
Six: We had 4 investigators at church on Sunday! Jacob, Ravyn (9-year old daughter of another returning less active member --SO cute. Love her), and a couple named Ben and Barb! Ben and Barb coming to church really was a miracle. I think I told you last week about meeting them, and hoping that they would be able to come to church. And they did! The branch was so wonderful to reach out and welcome them, and they told us that they felt very comfortable there. We're going to meet with them on Saturday, and hopefully they'll come to church again!
Seven: Elder Edman (our VC director) gave me a beautiful New Year's blessing on Sunday. I absolutely love having that opportunity to start off each year/semester with a blessing from Dad--and I had been sad that I wouldn't be able to have one this year. Fortunately, the Spirit suggested I ask Elder Edman for one in Dad's absence--and although it could never be the same, I am so grateful for Elder Edman's willingness and worthiness to give me a blessing. It brought me so much comfort and strength. However, I can't wait to have another blessing from my Daddy. I love you, Da :)
Those are just a few of the great things that happened this week. I love it here. We get to see miracles every day!
You know you much I love quotes...and I've taken to acquiring favorite talks almost as quickly. :) One favorite from this week is "Remember Lot's Wife" by Elder Holland, given at a BYU devotional in January of 2009 (find it at speeches.byu.edu). It is SO great. I wish I could quote the whole thing to you, but hopefully you'll have time to look it up sometime. :) Here's just one of many favorite quotes from the talk: "When something is over and done with, when it has been repented of, when life has moved on as it should and a lot of wonderfully good things have happened since then, it is not right to go back and open up some ancient wound that the Son of God Himself died trying to heal." I love that so much. I know that our Saviour died for each and every one of us, and that because of the Restoration of the gospel, we have access to the healing and saving power of the Atonement (see "Why Do We Do Missionary Work?" by Elder Oaks, New Era Sept 2009). The Atonement is meant to be used--don't let that precious gift sit on a shelf! The quote also reminds me of a favorite Mormon Message (watch them at mormonchannel.org!). It's called Reclaimed, and you can watch it here: http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#reclaimed.
Other favorite quotes from the week:
"It may be hard to believe, but God knows your name--it's written on His hand." (from the book you sent me--I love it! Thank you!). I love his quote in particular. 1 Nephi 21:14-16 is one of my all-time favorite scriptures.
"Our net faith is what we have left to exercise after we subtract our sources of doubt and disbelief. You might ask yourselves this question: "Is my own net faith positive or negative?" If your faith exceeds your doubt and disbelief, the answer is likely positive...We do have a choice. We get what we focus on consistently." --Kevin W. Pearson, Conference April 2009. I LOVE this quote. We all have doubts and fears at some point in our lives. But what matters is that we don't let those doubts and fears outweigh our hope, faith, and love for our Savior. If we allow doubt to be the main focus of our thoughts, we are in reality doubting the ability of our Savior's Atonement to save us. Don't do that. :)
"Look like and act like what you are trying to become." I love this! The only way to change and become better at something is to go out and practice. To try and try again to emulate the quality/etc that we want to develop. God can't steer a parked car--we can't sit around waiting for progress to happen. :)
I also rediscovered the parable of the tumbleweed this week when our Zone Leaders shared it with us in Zone Training Meeting. I can't find the reference, but it goes something like this: A wealthy man is driving his nice, expensive car along a lone, dreary highway. All of the sudden, a huge obstacle rolls out into the road. He swerves to avoid hitting it, rolls his car in a ditch, and dies. A second man comes along the same road--an old farmer in his beat-up truck. He's traveled this road many times before, and when the same 'obstacle' rolls out onto the road, he just drives right through it. It breaks to pieces because it's just a huge, dry tumbleweed. Good, right? I love that. Tumbleweeds are all that Satan can throw at us. When we can recognize doubts and temptations as merely tumbleweeds, and plow right through them instead of swerving off the path of life or allowing our faith to falter, we can stay safe and keep progressing towards our goals. Of course, Satan will throw as many tumbleweeds at us as he can--but that doesn't mean we're not on the right course, or that we have to stop and panic about each one of them. Just keep going. :)
Grandma Morgan's getting married!! Yay!! Congrats!! Please pass on my love and congratulations! And thank you ever so much for explaining the Figi's mix up. I'm so grateful that both of my grandmas were so generous and loving and thought of me at Christmas time. Like you said, how ironic that they both thought of Figi's. Must be because their products are so good! :) I have indeed written to Grandma Park, several times--do you know yet whether she got my Christmas card or not?
Time is running short--I'll end here. I hope enjoy the rest of your time inHawaii
Love,
Sister Wygant
LOVE YOU. :)
PS. CES devotional with President Uchtdorf is on Sunday!! I hope you all get to watch it--we're so excited for it!!
Well. It's been a GREAT week. We have seen so many miracles this week! I'll just share a few.
One: We have a baptism scheduled!!! This is for Jacob, the 11-year old son of a returning less active member. He was originally going to be baptized in December, but some family things came up and it didn't happen. BUT we were able to set a new date for the 20th of January for his baptism, and we are so excited! He and his mom, Nancy, are so great. Jacob sometimes has a short attention span, so we get to practice having short, interactive lessons in order to teach him. It's great. :)
Two: we ended up with some extra time last night because an appointment fell through, and after finishing our backup plans, felt that we needed to go visit Sister Davis, an older widow in our branch. She is amazing and incredible, and I love her so much. When we arrived, she was just getting home from a very long day, and she was feeling very down and overwhelmed. We didn't know that when we decided to stop by, but we were able to comfort her and spend time with her--which she told us was an answer to her prayers. We were an answer to someone's prayers! I LOVE THAT. I'm so grateful that we followed that prompting to visit her, and that arrived at just the right time to comfort and uplift her. God is good. :)
Three: We went to visit a less active member yesterday but couldn't find his house...but we ended up talking to a man whose house we stopped at to ask directions, and he said we could come back and teach him. Awesome. :)
Four: We meet a guy named Kevin tracting in
Five: The Nativity display is all over, packed up, and the VC is rather slow--not as many people coming in to take tours during the winter. We get to make a lot of calls though, to people that have been referred by friends who have come through. This past week I talked to someone in Australia (!!), a girl in Germany who met with missionaries while an exchange student in the states and wants to get back in contact with them (So so so awesome), and a Baptist minister in Tennessee (for 40 minutes...phew! They really know their Bible! Somewhat intimidating. But he was so nice, and we really had a great conversation), among others. I used to be so scared of making phone calls...but we've really seen so many blessings and such success as we've persevered through long lists of numbers this week. I love it. :)
Six: We had 4 investigators at church on Sunday! Jacob, Ravyn (9-year old daughter of another returning less active member --SO cute. Love her), and a couple named Ben and Barb! Ben and Barb coming to church really was a miracle. I think I told you last week about meeting them, and hoping that they would be able to come to church. And they did! The branch was so wonderful to reach out and welcome them, and they told us that they felt very comfortable there. We're going to meet with them on Saturday, and hopefully they'll come to church again!
Seven: Elder Edman (our VC director) gave me a beautiful New Year's blessing on Sunday. I absolutely love having that opportunity to start off each year/semester with a blessing from Dad--and I had been sad that I wouldn't be able to have one this year. Fortunately, the Spirit suggested I ask Elder Edman for one in Dad's absence--and although it could never be the same, I am so grateful for Elder Edman's willingness and worthiness to give me a blessing. It brought me so much comfort and strength. However, I can't wait to have another blessing from my Daddy. I love you, Da :)
Those are just a few of the great things that happened this week. I love it here. We get to see miracles every day!
You know you much I love quotes...and I've taken to acquiring favorite talks almost as quickly. :) One favorite from this week is "Remember Lot's Wife" by Elder Holland, given at a BYU devotional in January of 2009 (find it at speeches.byu.edu). It is SO great. I wish I could quote the whole thing to you, but hopefully you'll have time to look it up sometime. :) Here's just one of many favorite quotes from the talk: "When something is over and done with, when it has been repented of, when life has moved on as it should and a lot of wonderfully good things have happened since then, it is not right to go back and open up some ancient wound that the Son of God Himself died trying to heal." I love that so much. I know that our Saviour died for each and every one of us, and that because of the Restoration of the gospel, we have access to the healing and saving power of the Atonement (see "Why Do We Do Missionary Work?" by Elder Oaks, New Era Sept 2009). The Atonement is meant to be used--don't let that precious gift sit on a shelf! The quote also reminds me of a favorite Mormon Message (watch them at mormonchannel.org!). It's called Reclaimed, and you can watch it here: http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#reclaimed.
Other favorite quotes from the week:
"It may be hard to believe, but God knows your name--it's written on His hand." (from the book you sent me--I love it! Thank you!). I love his quote in particular. 1 Nephi 21:14-16 is one of my all-time favorite scriptures.
"Our net faith is what we have left to exercise after we subtract our sources of doubt and disbelief. You might ask yourselves this question: "Is my own net faith positive or negative?" If your faith exceeds your doubt and disbelief, the answer is likely positive...We do have a choice. We get what we focus on consistently." --Kevin W. Pearson, Conference April 2009. I LOVE this quote. We all have doubts and fears at some point in our lives. But what matters is that we don't let those doubts and fears outweigh our hope, faith, and love for our Savior. If we allow doubt to be the main focus of our thoughts, we are in reality doubting the ability of our Savior's Atonement to save us. Don't do that. :)
"Look like and act like what you are trying to become." I love this! The only way to change and become better at something is to go out and practice. To try and try again to emulate the quality/etc that we want to develop. God can't steer a parked car--we can't sit around waiting for progress to happen. :)
I also rediscovered the parable of the tumbleweed this week when our Zone Leaders shared it with us in Zone Training Meeting. I can't find the reference, but it goes something like this: A wealthy man is driving his nice, expensive car along a lone, dreary highway. All of the sudden, a huge obstacle rolls out into the road. He swerves to avoid hitting it, rolls his car in a ditch, and dies. A second man comes along the same road--an old farmer in his beat-up truck. He's traveled this road many times before, and when the same 'obstacle' rolls out onto the road, he just drives right through it. It breaks to pieces because it's just a huge, dry tumbleweed. Good, right? I love that. Tumbleweeds are all that Satan can throw at us. When we can recognize doubts and temptations as merely tumbleweeds, and plow right through them instead of swerving off the path of life or allowing our faith to falter, we can stay safe and keep progressing towards our goals. Of course, Satan will throw as many tumbleweeds at us as he can--but that doesn't mean we're not on the right course, or that we have to stop and panic about each one of them. Just keep going. :)
Grandma Morgan's getting married!! Yay!! Congrats!! Please pass on my love and congratulations! And thank you ever so much for explaining the Figi's mix up. I'm so grateful that both of my grandmas were so generous and loving and thought of me at Christmas time. Like you said, how ironic that they both thought of Figi's. Must be because their products are so good! :) I have indeed written to Grandma Park, several times--do you know yet whether she got my Christmas card or not?
Time is running short--I'll end here. I hope enjoy the rest of your time in
Love,
Sister Wygant
LOVE YOU. :)
PS. CES devotional with President Uchtdorf is on Sunday!! I hope you all get to watch it--we're so excited for it!!
Happy (belated) New Year
Fans of Sister Wygant: We apologize for the delay in posting recent letters. Lisa and I have been travelling a bit and just couldn't keep up. But we're back--and you'll see several letters this week!
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Hello family!
Happy New Year! Hard to believe it's 2013 already. And hard to believe it's already been a week since I talked with you all! I'm so grateful that it worked out to Skype and that I got to talk to everybody. I honestly really needed it. I just got your letter on Monday, Mum--thank you! I definitely had a lot of other questions I wanted to ask as well--but there's never enough time. :) Someone is borrowing my memory card for my audio recorder right now, but as soon as I get it back (hopefully soon) I will record some answers to your questions. It will have to be on P-days, but I'll get it to you soonest. :)
I'm so excited and grateful for the opportunity to spend this WHOLE year serving the Lord as a missionary. :)
And it's been a great year already! For one, yesterday we received our first media referral ever! A media referral is when someone requests a missionary visit from mormon.org or calls in from an ad or billboard/etc. When that person lives in our area, we get a text with their information and a message to contact them--AWESOME. We're pretty excited about that. I have so many goals of things I want to learn and accomplish this year. I'm excited to improve and progress and become what the Lord needs me to be. True joy comes from doing what we ought to because we want to (from the Fourth Missionary by Lawrence Colbridge. One of the best talks I've ever read.) What are some of your goals and plans for the year? I'd love to hear about them.
We also got to meet with some former potentials of Sister Ellsworth's named Ben and Barb last night. We haven't been able to see them since she last taught them over the summer...but last night we stopped by and they were finally home! They let us right in and we had a great conversation. Sister Ellsworth had told me how sweet and prepared they were--and she was so right. They brought up the idea of coming to church all on their own, and told us that they really want to come on Sunday! We're pretty excited about that. They are always really busy with work, but hopefully they will get to come to church, and will find time for us to teach them again. They are both so funny, and so nice. Love them. Pray that they'll make it on Sunday! Please. :)
Speaking of people. I saw Ashley Sturgill (played flute with me in the Lyceum Rep Orchestra) at sites last week! She came through with her family to see the nativities. Small world. :) Also, Elder Hansen (my district leader) finished his mission and went home last week...but before he left we figured out that we both know Lance Sumsion! Crazy small world. :) We will definitely miss Elder Hansen--he was a great missionary and a great leader.
A favorite talk of mine from this past week is "Meekness--A dimension of True Discipleship" by Elder Maxwell (automatically great, right?) from the March 1983 Ensign. If you ever need something to read, just search things like faith, repentance, charity, etc on lds.org--a slew of wonderful talks will pop up for everything. I've found a lot of my new favorite talks that way, including this one. Elder Maxwell teaches that meekness is " vital because one cannot develop those other crucial virtues—faith, hope, and charity—without meekness." I'd say more but he says it so much better in his talk--you'll just have to read it. :)
Also, speaking of cool people! Brandon Flowers (lead singer of the Killers) came through sites the other day!! True story. We weren't there at the time but we heard about it...how cool is that? He's a member and has a video on mormon.org...but to actually have him come to Kirtland was great. Good choice, Brandon. :)
We have new scripture-based themes for each transfer, and this transfer's theme is John 15:11-13, which includes one of my all-time favorite scriptures. Verse 13: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Written next to that verse in my scriptures I simply have "Heather". That's the scripture that they put with her photo on the banner made for the AF marching band back in 2009 when she passed away. I've loved that scripture and her example ever since. I'm so grateful for that experience and connection because Heather has always been one of my heroes and a great example to me. And now, with those verses as our transfer theme, I have the great opportunity to emulate her and look to her example in everything that I do as a missionary. There are no coincidences. :)
Another realization I had recently: The section containing the scripture I chose for my missionary plaque (D&C 84:88) was given in Kirtland--in the Whitney Store, as a matter of fact. Every time we take a tour, I have the opportunity to stand in the place where that revelation that has brought me such comfort and strength was given. I think that's amazing. Again, there are no coincidences. I know I was meant to be here!
A favorite scripture from recent studies: 2 Nephi 6:13 " Wherefore, they that fight against Zion and the covenant people of the Lord shall lick up the dust of their feet; and the people of the Lord shall not be aashamed. For the people of the Lord are they who bwait for him; for they still wait for the coming of the Messiah." That verse really taught me about patience, especially in relation to our work with investigators. There are some people that I know are prepared, and I can tell that their hearts are soft and ready to receive the gospel--but it might take them awhile to get to the point where they are ready to be baptized. And that's perfectly fine. Those who are humble and accepting of our message, even if they are very far off the strait and narrow and have to make many life changes before the accept baptism, are more prepared than someone who is already living a good life but feels content and doesn't want more. Those prepared elect are those whom we have been called to find and teach. And if it means being patient with them and with the Lord's timing as they progress bit by bit, I'm perfectly okay with that. I hope that makes sense. It did in my head. :)
Alright, I'm almost out of time, so I'm going to end here and send some photos. Love you!!!!!
Love, hugs, and handshakes,
Sister Lyndsay Wygant
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Hello family!
Happy New Year! Hard to believe it's 2013 already. And hard to believe it's already been a week since I talked with you all! I'm so grateful that it worked out to Skype and that I got to talk to everybody. I honestly really needed it. I just got your letter on Monday, Mum--thank you! I definitely had a lot of other questions I wanted to ask as well--but there's never enough time. :) Someone is borrowing my memory card for my audio recorder right now, but as soon as I get it back (hopefully soon) I will record some answers to your questions. It will have to be on P-days, but I'll get it to you soonest. :)
I'm so excited and grateful for the opportunity to spend this WHOLE year serving the Lord as a missionary. :)
And it's been a great year already! For one, yesterday we received our first media referral ever! A media referral is when someone requests a missionary visit from mormon.org or calls in from an ad or billboard/etc. When that person lives in our area, we get a text with their information and a message to contact them--AWESOME. We're pretty excited about that. I have so many goals of things I want to learn and accomplish this year. I'm excited to improve and progress and become what the Lord needs me to be. True joy comes from doing what we ought to because we want to (from the Fourth Missionary by Lawrence Colbridge. One of the best talks I've ever read.) What are some of your goals and plans for the year? I'd love to hear about them.
We also got to meet with some former potentials of Sister Ellsworth's named Ben and Barb last night. We haven't been able to see them since she last taught them over the summer...but last night we stopped by and they were finally home! They let us right in and we had a great conversation. Sister Ellsworth had told me how sweet and prepared they were--and she was so right. They brought up the idea of coming to church all on their own, and told us that they really want to come on Sunday! We're pretty excited about that. They are always really busy with work, but hopefully they will get to come to church, and will find time for us to teach them again. They are both so funny, and so nice. Love them. Pray that they'll make it on Sunday! Please. :)
Speaking of people. I saw Ashley Sturgill (played flute with me in the Lyceum Rep Orchestra) at sites last week! She came through with her family to see the nativities. Small world. :) Also, Elder Hansen (my district leader) finished his mission and went home last week...but before he left we figured out that we both know Lance Sumsion! Crazy small world. :) We will definitely miss Elder Hansen--he was a great missionary and a great leader.
A favorite talk of mine from this past week is "Meekness--A dimension of True Discipleship" by Elder Maxwell (automatically great, right?) from the March 1983 Ensign. If you ever need something to read, just search things like faith, repentance, charity, etc on lds.org--a slew of wonderful talks will pop up for everything. I've found a lot of my new favorite talks that way, including this one. Elder Maxwell teaches that meekness is " vital because one cannot develop those other crucial virtues—faith, hope, and charity—without meekness." I'd say more but he says it so much better in his talk--you'll just have to read it. :)
Also, speaking of cool people! Brandon Flowers (lead singer of the Killers) came through sites the other day!! True story. We weren't there at the time but we heard about it...how cool is that? He's a member and has a video on mormon.org...but to actually have him come to Kirtland was great. Good choice, Brandon. :)
We have new scripture-based themes for each transfer, and this transfer's theme is John 15:11-13, which includes one of my all-time favorite scriptures. Verse 13: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Written next to that verse in my scriptures I simply have "Heather". That's the scripture that they put with her photo on the banner made for the AF marching band back in 2009 when she passed away. I've loved that scripture and her example ever since. I'm so grateful for that experience and connection because Heather has always been one of my heroes and a great example to me. And now, with those verses as our transfer theme, I have the great opportunity to emulate her and look to her example in everything that I do as a missionary. There are no coincidences. :)
Another realization I had recently: The section containing the scripture I chose for my missionary plaque (D&C 84:88) was given in Kirtland--in the Whitney Store, as a matter of fact. Every time we take a tour, I have the opportunity to stand in the place where that revelation that has brought me such comfort and strength was given. I think that's amazing. Again, there are no coincidences. I know I was meant to be here!
A favorite scripture from recent studies: 2 Nephi 6:13 " Wherefore, they that fight against Zion and the covenant people of the Lord shall lick up the dust of their feet; and the people of the Lord shall not be aashamed. For the people of the Lord are they who bwait for him; for they still wait for the coming of the Messiah." That verse really taught me about patience, especially in relation to our work with investigators. There are some people that I know are prepared, and I can tell that their hearts are soft and ready to receive the gospel--but it might take them awhile to get to the point where they are ready to be baptized. And that's perfectly fine. Those who are humble and accepting of our message, even if they are very far off the strait and narrow and have to make many life changes before the accept baptism, are more prepared than someone who is already living a good life but feels content and doesn't want more. Those prepared elect are those whom we have been called to find and teach. And if it means being patient with them and with the Lord's timing as they progress bit by bit, I'm perfectly okay with that. I hope that makes sense. It did in my head. :)
Alright, I'm almost out of time, so I'm going to end here and send some photos. Love you!!!!!
Love, hugs, and handshakes,
Sister Lyndsay Wygant
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