Dearest Family and Friends,
How are you all doing!?
This was an amazing week! The Lord is blessing us and the people here so much. He is always, but I think I sometimes slow to realize this, or I don't recognize the blessings because they are not the way or at the time I want them. It is true what every missionary says, about how all the hard times are made up by the good times. There are a lot of disappointing times and times that are not fun, but there also times that are absolutely incredible! That's the way it was for us this week. I feel like the Lord is truly molding me into the person and missionary He wants me to be. I am so grateful for Him, and grateful for the hard times that He does give me. I'm grateful that He doesn't tell me exaclty how to do everything, but that He lets me work and act. I know that He never leaves us, but He has to let us learn and grow becuase He loves us.
This week, a member told us about how in the scriptures, Christ almost always came to the people in the 4th watch. I am not going to explain this poorly, but she described how in Israel, there are 4 watches, or sections of time. Christ always came to render aid and succor the people, but it was normally in the 4th watch. I have seen this in my own life and in this work. The past two weeks were really hard at times, and we felt like we were working so hard but not seeing any results. Almost all of our investigators dropped us, and it felt like we weren't accomplishing anything. I was wondering what I was doing wrong and feeling frustrated and discouraged. We continued to work though, and we have already seen so many tender mercies.
Also, I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live. We met with a man twice this week who is still trying to figure out if there is a God and if Jesus Christ was His Son. He feels stuck and is trying to figure out how to have a relationship with God and know if He is there. As we met with him, I realized that I know without a doubt that They live. It is one of those things that I have always known, but for someone it really hit me this week. I know that God lives. I know that Jesus Christ is His Son. That just makes me so happy and I want to tell it everyone. I want to say it over and over again. I love the scripture in Romans 8:16 how the Spirit bears witness with our Spirits that we are the children of God. While I have not seen God in this life, my Spirit knows that He is there and that I am His daughter. So many people don't have that knowledge, and they are seeking it. I feel so blessed, and I want to give my Heavenly Father my everything and tell this to everyone! I want you all to know and feel that too!
Here are some quick highlights from this past week:
*Robert - I mentioned Robert last week, but we had another lesson with him on Saturday night at a member's home. He is keeping his commitments, and doing everything he can to know if this is true. He was mugged in January and the people who did so, hit him with a metal rod. He suffered a brain injury, and now struggles with retention and processing. He is so sweet though and so good! He is an older man who has devoted his whole life to the military, so he has never had a wife or children. He still doesn't understand why baptism is so important, but we are meeting with him again tonight and are planning to teach about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
*Sandra - We had a lesson with Sandra yesterday, and it was good! She loves to talk a lot and sometimes it is still hard to teach anything, but the Spirit was really strong during the lesson and I feel like she is progressing a lot!
*Rob - He is a less active that the missionaries have been working with for a while. He just seems stuck and doesn't know if he wants to become a full fledged Mormon. Last night we all decided that we are going to read the Book of Mormon with him, from start to finish, because he feels like he really needs to start doing this. He also is making a lot of progress, and our lesson last night helped us greatly in understanding his needs.
*Jan - We are teaching Jan again!! She still has the shingles but is not contagious! She is doing so great, and we also saw a lot of progress with her this week. The only thing holding her back form baptism is that she is afraid of offending God, since she was already baptized with her husband and she felt like He was pleased with her for being baptized. We love her so much!
*Rain - It poured off and on almost every day this week and it was so much fun! The rain gear you sent while I was in the MTC was a tender mercy Mom!! It was crazy, but so great!!
Love you all so much!!!
Love,
Sister Akin
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