Greetings from Tennessee!
This week in Bartlett:
We have started teaching Mario during his break at work. It's great! Communication on both sides is improving so much, and we can almost understand everything he says! And he has shared his testimony with us a couple times, it is so sweet! And he and Henry both came to General Conference. You have to have a special receiver to get the ASL channel, and our building doesn't have it yet, so they watched on my iPad. It was sweet to see them sharing the iPad and becoming friends. I can't believe we've only been here a month and have 2 deaf people consistently attending. Our mission president was definitely inspired to put us here. The Lord knows what He is doing.
There is an RM here who served in Salt Lake in the stake right next to ours, and yesterday he had us teach his friend Lauren. She is very open and ready to read the BOM and come to church. She thinks it is ridiculous how much people persecute and mock Mormons. She also thinks missions are the coolest thing ever! Her friend said, "Well, if you get baptized you can go on one!" That would be awesome. Lauren is way cool, I am excited to keep teaching her.
This week I have been pondering the word "dedicated." It all started with this from Elder Kevin Pearson in his talk "Stay by the tree":
"Several years ago, Sister Pearson and I were called to preside over the Washington Tacoma Mission. The call was a complete surprise. With some trepidation I met with the chairman and the CEO of the company where I was employed and informed them of my mission call. They were visibly upset with my decision to leave the firm. “When did you make this decision, and why didn’t you discuss it with us earlier?” they demanded. In a moment of clarity, a profound answer came into my mind. I said, “I made this decision as a 19-year-old boy, when I made sacred covenants with God in the temple to follow the Savior. I’ve built my entire life on those covenants, and I fully intend to keep them now.' "
So I've been thinking about that, then I read how Nephi prayed in 1 Nephi 2 to know if he should follow his dad, if he should obey the Lord. The answer he got was "yes."Then the next chapter he is just willing to do whatever the Lord wants. Why? Because he already was dedicated to the Lord.
Then in conference they kept saying how the apostles who passed away were dedicated to the Lord, and are even continuing the work on the other side. It really hit me that God's whole purpose is to bring about the salvation of His children. We must be dedicated to helping the Lord in that cause. It doesn't end with a mission. Whatever my role is, as a sister, daughter, friend, roommate, visiting teacher, mother, wife, etc, I must be dedicated to the Lord and be an instrument in His hands to help in the cause of salvation. And the work of salvation doesn't even end with this life! I want to be dedicated to the Lord for eternity, and to be able to say, "Sweet is the work." I know this is the Lord's work and if we give our will to Him, he will turn us into what He wants to become. I want to be dedicated to doing whatever He wants me to do!
Love you all, God speed!
Sister Nielsen
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| Eating some Southern food between sessions with Sisters Thomas, Bryce, Jones, and Mart. |
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| Had some car issues. The car refused to go into park, so we had to put on the park brake. The keys refused to come out of course though. Fun times! We didn't let it interrupt our conference watching though! |
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