Wow! Sounds like everyone`s doing great! Yes,
Sister Scheffler and I are in the same zone still and I`ll see her on
Wednesday! I always look forward to seeing her. We have such a good time
together! And Sister Hall is awesome. We`re doing good, just working hard to
find those that are ready to hear the gospel. We didn`t teach as many lessons
as we wanted to this week, but we did do our best every day. We`ve both been
thinking about our purpose lately which is, `...to invite others to come unto
Christ...` so whenever we are streeting or housing we always start by saying,
`How would Christ do this? What would Jesus do differently?` and we can usually
always come up with some pretty creative ideas. Friday night we were walking up
and down this really busy street between 2 malls where thousands of people go
shopping. Most people are really happy to talk to us because we`re both
Americans. They are either excited we`re in their country, or feel bad for us
so they talk to us. But we stopped at this traffic light and this little
grandma looked over at me. Anytime anyone looks at me, I always start a
conversation with them. There are just too many people to talk to in a city
like ours, so whoever looks at me first becomes my focus…target…haha. Plus, she
asked where I was from. I started introducing myself when the wind picked up
and blew my hair off my tag.
The lady saw Christ`s
name on my tag and a stunned look crossed her face. Then all of a sudden she
picked up her stuff and started walking away from Sister Hall and me. I started
to go after her, but she wanted nothing to do with us and I didn`t want to freak
her out. I just think it`s so sad how much people dislike Christ and they don`t
even know Him.
Recently, our whole
mission has been trying focus more on Christ. I was reading in D&C 19:1-4
`...I shall pass upon the inhabitants thereof, judging every man according to
his works and the deeds which he hath done.` I thought about how interesting it
was that everywhere in the scriptures Christ always invites us to take His name
upon us, and in this scripture He says we will be judged according to OUR works
and the deeds that WE have done. Those works are in OUR names, not Christ`s.
But once we are baptized and make covenants to take His name upon us, our works
are His works. The next verse says, `And surely every man must repent or
suffer, for I God, am endless.` So we have 2 choices -- Repentance: Changing
our ways to be God`s ways (or taking on Christ`s name) which leads us to
Eternal Life; or Suffer: Thinking our ways are better than God`s (or only
taking our own names) which leads us eternal misery. I know these
words may seem harsh, but that`s exactly why Christ came to this earth and
submitted to the Father`s will -- to suffer for all that we do in OUR names. He
suffered, so that if we choose to repent and take His name upon us, we
don`t have to suffer.
Yeah it`s pretty
rough trying to get people to understand why Christ`s name is bigger than ours
on our tags. Some people have told me `Oh, that`s why you`re so nice` or `You
have a kind atmosphere` (literal translation) after they notice our tags. But regardless
of people`s reactions to His name on our tags, we love Him for whom we labor,
and we labor because He (and we!) love these people.
Speaking of those we
love, our investigators are AWESOME! We got 2 new Tagalog-speaking investigators
that we`re meeting with tonight. Thank goodness their English is understandable
because Tagalog is pretty impossible.
The weather has been surprisingly nice lately. It`s supposed to rain
on Thursday. When it rains here, it literally rains cats and dogs. I am NOT
looking forward to it, but we get to wear pants when it rains, so that`s good.
Later this week, we`ll be seeing Elder Whiting at our mission tour. I can`t
wait to tell you about it next week!
Hope you all have an
awesome week! It should be getting warmer in Utah now, right? Boys, keep
training hard. Football season will get here faster than you think. And keep
being good to Mom and Dad. We were riding past a park the other day and a bunch
of high school boys were playing rugby. They were probably all around Houston`s
age. I wanted to play! They reminded me so much of Houst. I miss that boy.
Have a great week!
Love you all!
Love always,
Sister Heimuli
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