I hope you've all had a nice week! Well, winter is officially back in Canada. I think the snow has left the west and has now settled in the east, because we got dumped on yesterday! We got almost one foot of snow! It's also been freezing cold and windy, which ya gotta love. It was almost -20 C the other day with the wind chill. We also had an ice storm earlier this week, which we got caught in. We were walking back from the library when it started. By the time we got home, we had ice in our hair, on our coats (they made crunching sounds whenever we moved), our feet were soaking wet, and we were freezing, haha. Ice storms are kind of cool though because once they're finished, the trees will creak and groan in the wind. It sounds really cool, but you really start praying that the branches won't fall off and land on your head. ;)
We had zone conference on Wednesday. We talked a lot about the Sacrament and the role that it should play in our lives. One thing that really stood out to me is that we should be repenting and applying the Gospel of Jesus Christ to our lives throughout the week, so that when Sunday rolls around, we're very prepared to partake of the Sacrament and we can spend the Sacrament portion of the meeting focused on the Saviour. They also said that sometimes, people can change their lives without the help of the Saviour, but this is not repentance; it's just willpower. True repentance requires the Saviour's help. I've been thinking about that a lot the last few days, and it really shows how important it is to have the Saviour in our lives. We can't repent without Him.
After zone conference, we went on exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders. I stayed in Oshawa with Sister Santaluoto. She's from Finland! :) It was a really great exchange. We talked to a lot of people and learned a lot from each other.
One of our coolest miracles this week was on Saturday. Our mission president has established some standards of excellence to help us work hard and increase our faith. Our standards are 3 new investigators, 2 investigators at church, and 1 baptism every two months (3-2-1). So at the beginning of the transfer, we were sometimes getting one at church and one new, but that's about it. So we set the goal that by the end of this transfer, we want to be at the point where we're hitting standards. Last week, we found one new investigator, and one of our investigators came to church. This week, we wanted to bump it up to two new investigators. So Saturday rolled around and we were still sitting at 0. We've developed the habit of fasting once a week for our area/people, so we began our fast and went to work. We were so blessed to find two new investigators by the end of the day! It's like goal setting, planning, fasting, prayer, and diligence work or something! Haha. :)
On Saturday night, one of the bishopric counselors texted us and asked if we could fill in for one of the speakers who had cancelled last minute. So we said sure, and then completely forgot about it until early Sunday morning when we were sitting in our ward council meeting. Right after ward council, we have a missionary coordination meeting, and then church starts, so it left us with no time to prepare a talk, haha. Let's just say we were slightly stressed out. So as Sacrament Meeting began, we were flipping through our scriptures like crazy to try to find something to share. It kind of reminded me of cramming for calculus tests, haha. We wanted to be sure that we didn't talk on the same thing, so I said I was doing prayer, and Sister Barrow said that she was doing faith. But as I searched, I felt like I needed to speak on the Saviour instead. So Sister Barrow went first, and she obviously must have had the same prompting, because she got up and spoke on the exact same thing, haha. Luckily, we picked different scriptures though. I shared a scripture from Luke 22: 39-44. "And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and he sweat as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." These verses have never stood out so powerfully to me before. As I read the verse that says "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me;" I had to stop here in the middle of the verse. I really felt the Spirit as I read, and I couldn't continue. It took me awhile before I could get the rest out, "nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." I am so grateful for that last phrase. The Saviour was in so much pain and agony as he took or trials, sins, sorrows, and weaknesses upon Himself one by one that he didn't want to continue. But because He loved us so much, he said, "nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." That last phrase makes all the difference to me! I am so grateful for my Saviour.
Oh, one more thing...I HIT MY YEAR MARK! We had a party to celebrate, haha. I can't believe how fast time goes!
Love you!
Sister Dille
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