Everyone! I am so excited to share with everyone what I learned this week! Like I mentioned last week, I had been having a bit of a struggle learning to truly enjoy missionary work. But I think I figured something out that, for me, is key to my happiness! This whole week, I've been trying really hard to not get stressed out by things that are out of my control. The other day, a ward member asked for our help with something. We ended up having to change a lot of our plans to help her and ended up missing a lesson with someone! But instead of being totally stressed out by it and getting frustrated, I decided to realize that the Lord's plans are far greater that what I have planned (Avery and I know this all too well!...a long lived weakness that we share that I feel like I am constantly trying to overcome! haha) Yes! Make goals! Make plans! BUT...if those plans end up falling through by ways that are out of your control, don't sweat it! Everything will work out so much better than the plans you had set! The Lord will make sure of it! If you're doing your best, and doing everything you can, the Lord really will make up the difference. So with that grocery store example: I did all I could...we weren't dilly dallying and were trying to rearrange our meetings. Our plans did not go according to plan...but because we did all we could, the Lord ended up giving us a referal from this member and now we have a stronger relationship and trust with her because of this experience. This week I just gave it my all WITH an understanding that sometimes I can't control the outcome of things...As opposed to previous weeks where I gave it my all and beat myself up or got frustrated with the things that I can't control. President Neilson in his letter to me today wrote about happiness and said: "You won't hear the crowds cheer, but in the quiet of your heart you will know the Lord is pleased."
Something amazing that happened this week was during a train ride to Katowice the night before a Missionary Leadership Meeting that Sister Bezdjian got to go to in Warsaw. Before the train ride, we ended up not having enough time to buy tickets because the line was so long to buy tickets! The information lady said we could buy tickets on the train with a credit card, so we got on the train about 5 minutes before we left...cutting it close, yes.. but (like I was trying to focus on...everything happens for a reason). We got on the train and by the time the ticket lady got to us so we could buy tickets, we were already about 45 minutes away from Wrocław....and she told us that we could not buy tickets with a credit card! We almost started panicking! But a lady sitting next to us offered to lend us 50zł!!! She said she trusted us to pay her back later next week! As a thank you, we gave her a Book of Mormon :) It was just so amazing to see that people really are innately good...at least that's my theory! It was so amazing to see how the Lord puts people in our path to help us along the way!
Something amazing that happened this week was during a train ride to Katowice the night before a Missionary Leadership Meeting that Sister Bezdjian got to go to in Warsaw. Before the train ride, we ended up not having enough time to buy tickets because the line was so long to buy tickets! The information lady said we could buy tickets on the train with a credit card, so we got on the train about 5 minutes before we left...cutting it close, yes.. but (like I was trying to focus on...everything happens for a reason). We got on the train and by the time the ticket lady got to us so we could buy tickets, we were already about 45 minutes away from Wrocław....and she told us that we could not buy tickets with a credit card! We almost started panicking! But a lady sitting next to us offered to lend us 50zł!!! She said she trusted us to pay her back later next week! As a thank you, we gave her a Book of Mormon :) It was just so amazing to see that people really are innately good...at least that's my theory! It was so amazing to see how the Lord puts people in our path to help us along the way!
This week, I my personal Book of Mormon reading, I was reading in Mosiah chapter 26...Here Alma has been given a new calling! He was thrown into a situation that he didn't know what to do. He was the head of the church and had to make important decisions but didn't know what to do. So he went to his friend Mosiah...who told him pretty much "this is your calling, not mine...so you are the one who has the responsibility"...So Alma prays to the Lord with all his heart to know what he should do...and of course, the Lord answers him! from this experience and experiences following, Alma learns how to magnify his calling...despite his intial fear and discouragement about it! verse 38-39 says how: be diligent, teach always (not just in times that your responsibilities require, but at all times!), love and serve always, always strive to improve yourself, pray always, and be grateful ALWAYS! Even be grateful for things that aren't necessarily going your way...So I don't know if anyone reading this has a new job, responsibility, or calling...but I hope this helps someone know that despite fear that come with new responsibilities, we can magnify whatever we are doing by doing these things!
There were so many funny moments this week! Which is another thing that I believe contributed to my happiness! I had forgotten that things were funny! The fact that an investigator's dog thought my arm was a chew toy! I was doing all I could to fight back screams of terror (anyone who knows me know I have a tiny phobia of dogs) and trying not to die laughing!!! Another hilarious thing was that an older less active lady that we visit a couple times a week practically performed a medical operation on herself during our lesson with her! Jabbing needles into her self, throwing back all sorts of meds! Again...fighting back tears of laughter! I had forgotten that small things like that are funny! People always say: "find joy in the journey!"...Kate... :)... and I realized that this is a way I find joy in the journey! Laughing! Anyone out there, having a hard time, notice the funny things in life and you'll be a whole lot happier! I have a testimony of that now!
I love the Lord! I can literally feel Him holding me up everyday! I wouldn't be able to do any of this were it not for Him!
I love all of you! I hope summer is treating you all well (except for August and Carli and Erika, since it's winter in Chile and Peru!)
Love,
Sister Kendall Blake!
"what a beautiful place I live in!"
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