So this week was a week richly blessed with love from Above. I am coming to realize more what it means to rely on the Spirit. We had some really good teaching opportunities this week. Some I feel like I did pretty well relying on the Spirit and my companions. Others...well I've never been really good at being a team player. I'm still working on that.

We had a district goal to get 6 people to church in our district. We managed to get 2 BUT those 2 were in our wards. Now I'm not saying this to brag about how awesome sisters are, but I want to explain how that was brought to pass. It begins Saturday.

Saturday: We have our usual visiting people with very few home and no returned calls from any investigators. We get to Saturday night and our district leader kindly reminds us to have two investigators at church. The next thing he says is, "this will help us exercise our faith by reaching this goal." That little sentence got me thinking. Of course! These people aren't just going to come to church because of anything I or my companions have said. They will come because the Spirit has touched their hearts and they have that desire to at least learn more.

We have our daily planning with some discussion of two very weak possibilities of people coming to church. When we close, I knelt down and offered possibly the mightiest prayer I have offered yet in my young life. I told Heavenly Father that I knew that these people would only come if He helped us. They won't listen to us as people. I bore my testimony in my prayer and pleaded for heaven's aid to get investigators to church. Then, fully exhausted and a little sad that it WAS so difficult to get people to church, I read some pages of Jesus the Christ then went to bed.

Sunday: We got up and got ready for the day. We went to our ward council meeting and got a lot discussed regarding missionary work. Yay!!!

We went to sacrament meeting in the family ward first. Since we do not have any investigators in the family ward yet, no one came. At the end of sacrament meeting, a lady visiting from Utah came and said, "You need to teach my nephew. Have you met him yet?" Then, without waiting for our reply, went and fetched her nephew and told him to set up a time to meet with us. Investigator #1

We went to sacrament meeting in the single's ward. The investigators we invited either didn't reply OR said they can't meet with us anymore. x.X <-death face  So we go in and find a lot of less-active people who haven't been to church in months, going on almost years! Yay!! We talked to them and set up times to meet with them to help them stay on track with this new desire they have to be active when we turn around and one of our new investigators walks in the door with her boyfriend and his sister and her boyfriend!! This particular girl told us flat out she would NOT be attending church because she would be busy. But she came!!! Then we invited her and her boyfriend to a baptism that evening and they accepted! Wahoo!! Investigator #2

Moral of this story, neither one of these people would have come by our efforts alone. We prayed and worked and prayed some more and the Lord did the rest. We now have teaching appointments with these people again. This means they are opening their hearts to the opportunities of the spirit to touch their hearts. :D

Another experience that I know you all will get a kick out of. Sister Fielding is learning how to say, "no really, I'm full. If you give me any more food, I just might puke. I think that would be more offensive than not taking another plate. But I love you! :D" Ouch!! I barely fit into my "baggy" jeans now! Who knew that I could gain weight? I didn't! Then we try to walk (mostly because we run out of miles) and the car coordinator person tells us to get back into our car. They don't want sisters walking. Now I'm grateful for the consideration of our delicate natures, but if I don't get more exercise than I'm getting now, it won't be pretty! Maybe I'm just vain. Maybe I should just not worry about it. I dunno.

I love being a missionary. I love knowing that I am truly sacrificing to serve my God. I know my Savior lives. I know that His Atoning Sacrifice is real. I know the gospel is true. I have known it all my life in varying degrees but even more now that it is all I eat, drink, and sleep. I know, without a shadow of doubt, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Through him, the Church of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth. President Thomas S. Monson is the prophet today. Through him, Christ guides this church and His people to live with our Father in Heaven again. He can do His work, but He lets us help because He knows it will bring blessings. It's like a father teaching his son how to fix a car or a mother teaching her daughter how to cook. The parent doesn't need help fixing the car or cooking, but allowing their son or daughter to participate gives them the opportunity to learn and develop those skills for later in life.

I love you Mom! I love you people who read the blog. Thank you for your continuous prayers. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve here at this time. I recommend this to EVERYONE!!

Love,

Sister Shavonne Fielding