On Diamonds and Families

Hello Everyone!

My lesson learned this week. You must prepare for everything! Even, no especially, miracles. 

This week started out with sister Chen and I trying our best to find new investigators hours and hours of tracking and street contacting and trying to figure out the best way to help our investigators and members. How do you help someone develop desire? You really can't. The Holy Ghost can though. But the Holy Ghost doesn't teach for you, He doesn't knock on doors for you, He doesn't talk to people for you, He doesn't study for you. In short, He won't do anything for you that you can reasonably do for your self... But what you can do He will be there with you for. He will make preparation a spiritual experience, He will make the doors knocked on the one's you are searching for, and He will soft the hearts of those who hear your words. 

I should probably put the declaimer on this that it was not nearly as easy to learn this lesson as I am making it sound as I type it out. 

This week was rough around the edges but there's a reason they call it diamonds in the rough. We did find a new investigator who we have high hopes for. We did manage to have a good lesson with Brother Tian, We even had an investigator a church this week and got one of our returning members to bear her testimony at a fireside. The success from our preparation was there. But it was the in between moments where we learned that we can be preparing more. It was the moments where I heard people talk about how they were prepared as they came into church and it was listening at district meeting and thinking about the fact that I knew exactly how to help because of lessons my family had taught me. It was being able to bear testimony that when you pray together as a couple your children will see and will feel of your love, my mind flashing back to all the times I'd go to my parents room only to find them kneeling together in prayer. 

The mission is pushing really hard on temples and families right now. (In president Clayton's words. "We are finding the lost sheep.... and then encouraging them to have lambies!") And through it all I have found that there was so much in my life that was preparing me for my mission. Personal Progress, Drivers Ed, family home evening, making friends, even computer programming. So many things came together to prepare me to help prepare others. But the biggest most important thing that has helped me prepare is my family. The testimonies continuously born, the extended family's love, the hugs, and the love. This church is about hope and the greatest hope I have ever found is in my family. 

We'll keep moving forward and hopefully by nest week we'll be able to report we were able to help more people come unto Christ... though the love they feel from their families. 

Lots of Love,

-Sister Skinner