Chère famille,
I can't believe that this Thursday it will be one year since having entered the MTC!!! It goes too fast! With the new year and also realizing how much time I have left I have really been thinking about what things I can change and do better. Soeur Creager was very sick this last week and in bed almost every day so it gave me a lot of time to study and write in my journal (I'll admit I'm excited to get back outside though.) It helped me really reflect though and see where I'm at at the moment. Yesterday I went to church with the question of what I can do to be more motivated to constantly talk to people. I listened to all of the talks and lessons at church, but then my full response came as I was falling asleep; the spirit reminded me of a part of my partriarchal blessing, so this morning I studied it and I realized that LOVE is the motive! Love for Heavenly Father, love for the people here and love for myself. At every moment with every action or choice that I make and need to think, "Will this show Heavenly Father that I love him? Would this make Heavenly Father happy? What would he have me do?" I re-read a talk that President Ulicny shared with me at my setting apart that talks about love being the motive and Sister Bateman shared scriptures quoting:
John 3:16 ¶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
I know that if I go about every day of my mission that I have left, being motivated by my love for my Heavenly Father I will make the best decisions and be happy and help bring others to taste of his love.
We were able to have another lesson this week with Jayaraj. It went really well and the spirit was so strong. We taught him the third lesson, but especially focused on the gift of the Holy Ghost and being worthy of Him by repenting of our sins and taking the sacrament each week. Jayaraj seemed to realize better why we come to church and was supposed to come but sadly didn't. (We called to find out if everything is ok, but he hasn't responded yet). He also wants to prepare to receive the priesthood.
On Saturday we had a great lesson with Isabelle! The amie whose husband is an inactive member. We also planned on teacher her the third lesson to help her realize the blessings of baptism; however, the first half hour we were there did not go as hoped. We followed up on her Book of Mormon reading and she has not read she we last saw her a month and a half ago :-/. We talked about how she could find or make time, but she used all sorts of excuses then while we were talking her daughters kept running in and out and her phone rang two different times, so she walked out to talk on her phone. We looked at each other and then at Soeur Dubaut and we weren't sure what to do. We prayed in our hearts and when Isabelle came back she was somewhat agitated and the spirit really wasn't there, so we told her we didn't want to take too much more time but that we wanted to share a scripture with her. We opened up to 2 Nephi 32:3-5 and asked her to look for the blessings that come from the gift of the Holy Ghost. After she read the scriptures it was totally silent, she sat and looked over the scriptures again and pointed out how the Holy Ghost can tell us all things we should do. We then each testified to her of the blessings that come from having the Holy Ghost. Soeur Creager then followed the spirit and said what I was too nervous to bring up...She told Isabelle that we respected the promise she has made with her father, but we are only here to help add the faith that she already has and it is only by being baptized by the proper authority that we can have the gift of the Holy Ghost, a member of the Godhead as our constant companion. She told her that the gospel will only bring her more blessings and we're here because we want to help her realize that and partake of those blessings. We recommitted Isabelle to read the Book of Mormon and asked her if she will find time to read it. She said yes and then she fixed a RDV with us for this next Thursday! Usually she'll only see us about every two weeks. I know that she felt the spirit and prehaps she recognizes now that it's something she wants. We pray that she will read before Thursday. After the lesson even Soeur Dubaut said that something amazing happened and a change came over Isabelle. I know that there is so much power in the scriptures and in bearing testimony!
Frère Dubaut also came to church on Sunday! For all three meetings! He used to only come every once in a while and only for sacrament meeting, but for the past few weeks he's been coming to all three hours! It's been neat to see him change too! He's done so much for Soeur Creager and I since we arrived.
The members here are wonderful! I love serving in Colmar! I love being a servant of the Lord! And I'm excited to find more people who are prepared to accept the gospel!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
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