Courage isnt something that just chill's inside us waiting for an opportunity to showcase itself. In most cases courage runs from us!

Hey mom and dad! 

 

Honestly this week went by so fast I can hardly remember what happened! All the days seem to blend together. It was really good though!

 

On Wednesday we went to zone conference and they challenged us to invite everyone we teach to be baptized. Even if we just barely meet them. Our zone leaders are awesome. They get me so pumped to share the good news of the gospel. So sister Lawson and I have been doing that and we committed someone to baptism! So now we have six people preparing to make a covenant to follow their Savior Jesus Christ. It's awesome how powerful it can be to invite people. When we're bold, Heavenly Father makes things happen. I've realized too that when we are bold in inviting it shows people how important this message is and reminds them that they've already chosen this plan. We all chose this gospel long before we came to Earth. That's why I know that no one here is a lost cause.

 

 Anyways we had an awesome girl drop us this week which was so tough because she seemed so prepared! But I know that she will find her way back to the gospel. We spent a lot of time tracting this week and met some awesome people! This one woman told me that our church is not of God because God wouldn't ask people to leave their families. So I got to pull out the family picture I have in my scriptures and show her the people I love more than life. I told her about each one of you and how much I love and miss you all. I then told her that I left my family for eighteen months so that others could be with theirs for eternity. We ended up teaching her the entire plan of salvation! It was so awesome and the spirit was almost tangible! Her heart was softened quite a bit and I ended up talking to her for half an hour while sister Lawson was on the phone with our relief society president. She's a talker haha. But when I invited her to be baptized she said no and asked me to leave. But, a seed was planted so I'm not discouraged. In fact, I'm the opposite!

 

All throughout the Book of Mormon it says that someone "took courage."
I've been thinking about that a lot lately. Courage isn't something that just chills inside us waiting for an opportunity to showcase itself. In most cases, courage runs from us! It flees when we most need it. Especially in missionary work, I have learned that courage is something we have to take! Just like when the game is on the line, victory doesn't just walk it's pretty little self over to us and sit on our laps. We're working and fighting and chasing victory every second the clock is running. Courage is just the same. Many of us are downright afraid to share the gospel, myself included. But we need to remember that this is God's "work and glory." He wants us to share it.
He needs us to share it. So step up, take courage, and give someone this gospel, which is most precious of all gifts. I love it! I have put courage to practice by talking to everyone and I've seen God use my efforts. 

 

We saw a woman walking her dog so we stopped tracting and talked to her. After some good conversation we found out that she was a member but she hadn't come to church in over thirty years! So we invited her to come Sunday and she did! I could feel Gods love for this woman. It just goes to show that He is constantly reaching out to us, yearning for us to come unto Him. He put us in her path to help her come back and I am so grateful for that.

 

Anyways, happy valentines day! Mine was so good! The young women came over and decorated our walls with pictures of themselves so now we look ultra creepy. They also gave us flowers and candy which is such a struggle because I'm on a sugar fast! I have been almost my whole mission! A couple of investigators have been working to quit smoking and it's been really hard for them. So we decided we would quit sugar to support them. They make sure we're not slipping, we make sure they aren't. It's awesome but so hard! Especially because I love candy and it's the holidays!
I'm dying! But, it's worth it. And I've lost weight so win win.

 

So one last story. We have two sets of missionaries in our ward, elders and sisters. Well it was elder ogdens birthday on Saturday and sister Lawson and I wanted to get him some doughnuts. All the beehives in the ward are in love with him and so we pretended it was from them!. We wrote that it was really us on the bottom so he didn't find out till the end. He was so creeped out but he laughed really hard when he found out it was us. This week was just awesome. I love this gospel so much and I know it's true. Work hard, pray hard! I love you!