Transfer 6 week 4

Funny/Favorite moments of the week:

-Christus got closed down for a short time because of a suspicious package. Well come to find out this suspicious package was a box left by a youth conference group that wrote their sins on slips of paper and left it at the feet of the Savior... 

-Mr.Darcy works at Deseret Book!! Seriously, he does.

-FINALLY saw Elder Jake Kelly on the Square! And best part is, found out he's serving in a Swahili branch! 

-Well... I'm sunburnt. But the funny part is, all the islander sisters are in awe because they've never seen a sunburn before!

-Sister Rangel passed off for tours, so we got to go eat at the lion house!!

-Saw Cooper Brown and his family at Temple Square! They are even more of giants than I remembered...

-Bore my testimony to a guy that was a South Salem Saxon, and his non-member friend who was a HUGE black guy. Come to find out, this guy played football for the Pittsburgh Steelers! 

-Got to listen to John Bytheway this morning at an awesome Youth Conference!

Well this week was full of exciting things, and that was the best way I could summarize a lot of it up.

I want to tell you about one of my favorite investigators we have right now. Every time we talk to her, I am more humbled. She has not had an easy life on any degree! She was raised in foster care until she was 18 years old. Shortly after she turned to stripping to get money. But her money often went to buying her next source of drugs. She got to a point in her life where she would wake up in the morning only to smoke weed so she could pass out again. One day, she woke up and realized she had been passed out for 4 days. So her friend and her decided to take a road trip, and ended up at Temple Square! Here they felt more love and peace than they had ever felt before in their life! They were overcome by how friendly and loving everyone was, especially the sister missionaries! That night, she went home and looked at her suitcase and decided to get rid of everything that was immodest. She decided to stop doing drugs! And she decided she wanted to join the church. We were the lucky missionaries that met her at Temple Square, and she often tells us how much we have changed her life. But I know that she has change my life more than she could ever imagine! Her willingness to do anything to feel the spirit in her life is inspiring! She has already made so many changes in just this short time, and I am so proud of her! Each time we call her, I can see the atonement of Jesus Christ working in her life. And that is why I am on a mission. Not to teach people who are perfect. But to help imperfect people find happiness through the atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that this investigator and I will stay friends forever, because of how much she has impacted my life. I am forever grateful!

Lately I have been praying so hard to feel the spirit more strongly, because at times I feel so numb to the spirit. Trying to discern whether something was actually by the spirit, or by coincidence. I don't feel anything super special, so how could it be the spirit? I even recently had a friend write me who is doubting the truthfulness of the church because they can't feel the spirit anymore. And I thought, "How can I help them to understand how the spirit speaks if I myself don't exactly know?" I spent a lot of time on my knees, not only to recognize the spirit, but to feel comfort in whatever lies ahead, both on and after my mission. And my prayers were answered countless times. Last Saturday and Sunday, almost every person we talked to (which is a lot) said something that has addressed either one or both of my concerns without realizing it. Everyone assured me that they could feel the spirit with me, and that my mission is going to bless every aspect of my life. And that I need not to worry about what happens after, because it is all according to the Lords will and plan. These people don't realize it, but they were being used as an instrument in the Lords hands to help one of his missionaries. They were prepared to be used in the Lords hands to bless the lives of others, and they followed to promptings of the spirit. Even though they may have not felt that! Because I realize now that I have become so used to feeling the spirit all the time, that I had lost my recognition of it. And that is something I never want to feel again. It is so lonely to feel disconnected from God. But God always speaks to us, we just have to be willing and ready to listen.

This email has turned out a lot longer than anticipated. But I'm off to our zone activity at one of our senior couples house, where we will have a BBQ and watch a slideshow of pictures of their many missions to Africa! Excited to see the pictures of Uganda, where one of my friends Wesley is serving. Should be a great day! I love you all, and hope that you have an amazing week.

Love,
Sister Brock