Week 50

Dearly beloved...

This weeks zipped by! Everything happens so fast, sometimes I don't even have time to process it. I feel like I'm writing and email and the next day all of the sudden I'm writing another one! Time is crazy. Well, we dropped a few investigators this last week, which is never fun. But it was still a great week! :) Saw some awesome miracles, worked hard, and laughed the whole while through. I have loved serving with Sister Lykins because we joke around with eachother and have so much fun. It makes the hard times a lot more bearable when you can laugh about it with someone! I don't know who this quote is actually from, I've just heard it from other missionaries, but someone wise once said, "If you're not having fun on your mission, you're not doing it right!" TRUTH!

Jeong Sung Kyong made some great progress this week... Man we saw miracles. On wednesday after a lesson with her, she wanted to buy us some hot chocolate because it was a cold day. So we went to the cafe with her, and as she was starting to order, she turned to Sister Lykins and I and said "I'm sorry.. I want coffee." We kind of just looked at each other and back at her with faces of defeat.. Haha the lady ringing us up was so confused.. She was like "Why don't you order them hot chocolate and you can get coffee??" She went on to explain that she had made a promise to us to try to stop drinking coffee.. and after that she said "Okay! 3 hot chocolates." It was such a miracle... she loves coffee so much, and hasn't made much of an effort with trying to stop drinking it. Afterwards Sister Lykins and I did a little happy dance, we were so excited! Little decisions like that are what are going to strengthen her testimony of this gospel.

 Yesterday she came to church. In the first few minutes of our gospel doctrine class she ran out of the room because she recieved a phone call from one of the members of her church asking where she was... So she came back in and told me that she would be leaving early to attend her other church. I told her that sacrament was the most important part of the meeting. She said she was sorry but that she had to go because she has responsibilities there, and that she would come back afterwards for lunch. I was so heartbroken, but I didn't know what else I could say in that moment to her to make her stay. So I decided to say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help her recognize that she needed to stay. About 15 minutes later she turned to me during the lesson and whispered in my ear "I am not going. I will stay here." In that moment, I knew that God answered my prayer. Sister Lykins, who wasn't sitting right by us didn't know exactly what was going on, but she heard her say something about her church, so she was praying in her heart that everything would work out as well. I know that God heard our prayers. I know that in that moment she recognized she was where she needed to be. She is reading the Book of Mormon every day, and she loves it. We realized this week that as she does that, she has more strength to overcome her weaknesses, over anything else we can say to her. We read in Preach my Gospel over and over again, this is what brings change more than anything else. And we are seeing that change.

"And it came to pass that He commanded the multitude that they should cease to pray, and also his disciples.. And he commanded them that they should not cease to pray in their hearts." 3 Nephi 20:1. I read this scripture this morning, and with my experience from yesterday, this was a good reminder to me of why we Jesus asks us to have a prayer in our heart always. We need to always keep a prayer in our heart because when we do, we are more in tune to the spirit. We recognized answers to our prayers more easily. We can feel God's more frequently. I have felt that this is true without a doubt, especially this past transfer with Revelation through prayer being our mission focus. I have learned so much. I've truly come to recognize how personal our relationships with our Heavenly Father can be. 

I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. It has brought me more happiness than anything else ever has or ever will. Hope you all have a 'chincha' (really) great week.

Sister Holmes

홈스 자매

Selfie of the week. This is what happens when my comp. goes to the bathroom during our weekly planning session.

I've been out awhile.