Hualien - Week 38 - Heavenly Father's Family

Yesterday morning, my wonderful companion, Sister Lee and I were doing 12 Weeks, a thirty-minute portion of our day where the trainer and trainee learn together from a booklet, read Preach My Gospel and watch associated videos, practice teaching, fun stuff like that. I love 12 weeks; it's just like a little extra companion study where we can share our thoughts and impressions, uplift one another, and receive inspiration on how we can help the people we are teaching. 

We were practicing in "Teach People, Not Lessons"--how to resolve the concerns of those we are teaching--and I was taking on the role of one of our friends. Her name is Sister Xu, she is a single mom of a young son. We set a baptismal date with her for the end of July, but she is struggling to keep commitments such as reading the Book of Mormon every day, and she doesn't think that she can keep the commandments for the rest of her life. As we teach her, she is usually distracted by her son and therefore inhibited in recognizing the influence of the Holy Ghost. So my companion and I really pondered this week what Sister Xu needs to feel, know, and do to become converted. Since Sister Xu's son is everything to her, we felt that we want to emphasize that following Jesus Christ can allow us to receive the promise of forever families. So during 12 weeks, Sister Lee practiced to resolve Sister Xu's concerns by listening and asking inspired questions and teaching from the Families and Temples pamphlet.

In order to answer one of my questions, Sister Lee directed me to read these words from the pamphlet aloud: 

"Many individuals look at their current family circumstances and

wonder how they will be able to receive the blessing of an eternal

family. God, your Heavenly Father, is aware of your concerns, and

He knows and loves your family. All families face challenges and

none are perfect, but the gospel of Jesus Christ can heal and help

each of us. As families faithfully strive to live the gospel, they can

resolve misunderstandings, contentions, and challenges. All of the

imperfections and injustices of this life can be overcome through

the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

"God has promised that the blessings of marriage, family, and

eternal life will be made available to all of His children who faithfully

accept and follow His plan of happiness. Your responsibility is to

have faith in this promise and follow the example of Jesus Christ."

It could have been the powerful influence of Spirit in the room, or that I love Sister Xu so much and desire her happiness and salvation. It could have been that reading those words pricked my heart as I thought about my own family, or it could have been that I am full of gratitude that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to make eternal families possible. It was probably a mixture of all of those, because as I started to read the words out loud, I began to weep. 

I used to cry a lot before the mission, but it often had something to do with turning inward, feeling stressed, or feeling bad about myself. Since being on a mission, I feel like my heart has opened and I no longer care or worry about things that used to bother me. All I want to do is invite and help others come unto Christ. Even though many people choose not to listen to us, or choose to stop meeting with us, or choose at the last minute to not get baptized, and it's really sad for us to see, my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been set on fire. I know it's true. And we are blessed to find and teach many who do come to know it's true!

I feel like my capacity to love people has expanded. We grow to love and we learn to care about people more, and we try to follow the Savior. That is a blessing in and of itself. 

Along with eternal families, Sister Lee and I have been receiving impressions to use family history as a way to find and teach people who are prepared to receive the restored gospel! We already met a cool lady in a Family Mart who had no interest in the gospel when we first started talking to her, but once we brought up family history, she go super excited and set up with us for this week to learn more! Wahoo! 

I invite you all this week to go to familysearch.org and start (or continue to do) some of your own family history work! There are some pretty special promised blessings involved. You guys are the best, you are my family, I loooooovvvvveeeee you all.

Get inspired about family history and temple work: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/family-history-and-temple-work-sealing-and-healing?lang=eng

----------------------------------------------------------------