Holy cow. My testimony of Joseph Smith is burning brightly. We watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration twice this week and my goodness. I just can't believe all of the sacrifices Latter Day Saints went through to pave the way for religious freedom for us. It especially stood out to me how much Emma Smith went through. Moral of the story: I just decided I have the easiest life in the whole world and whenever I forget that, someone just needs to give me a kick in the pants and tell me an Emma Smith story. She is my hero. Ah. Why would someone go through all of that for a church? There is no possible way that this can't be true.
Lucy realized that too this week. She has been kinda a stinker lately where she wants to change her life, but doesn't want to make it a priority. Then this week as we were teaching her all about Jesus Christ and what he did for us in relation to overcoming the fall, she literally got up out of her chair and started pacing back and forth saying "oh my gosh I get it now. This makes so much sense! This is true. Ah this is so true. I can't go to France. I just can't. " Then we started laughing just because we were so surprised. "No I am serious!! Why didn't you tell me this before?" I really don't know how to describe it to you but you could just literally see a physical change in her. She chose a date that she would get baptized on a few weeks ago and sadly now she is moving to France. (but hey Rex maybe you can teach her? ;) hehe jk but really.) We are going to get her all
hooked up with the missionaries over there and those missionaries are going to have to throw a party or something. Cause they are getting one of my favorite people ever to teach. Ah.
We threw a few parties ourselves this week. Goodbye parties that is because literally like everyone we teach decided to move away at one time. But that's okay because then we just get to share the love with more missionaries AND still have time to teach new people. Perfect plan right? I really am going to miss them so much though. This whole missionary thing just opens a whole new side of my heart that I didn't even know was there. People are the best. The study of Doctrine is coming along great and people have been saying they legitimately have been noticing a difference (ah. Maybe it's the glow? hehe)
I think I have this concept in my mind that prepared people are the people that you just show up on their front porch, tell them you are a missionary, they let you in right away and two weeks later they have completely turned around and changed their life. And you know I think there might legitimately be people like that, but for the most part if someone showed up on my doorstep and said "hi I'm a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.." I would probably slam the door in their face before they had a chance to say anything else as well. There are people searching for the truth they just don't know where to find it. And after studying the apostasy and how truths were changed for the last week I could literally see it right in front of my eyes. People are SO close to the truth they are just missing a tiny little piece of it. We have to show them that they are prepared for this. That they want this. That they can see how it has changed their life. That we love them. That we love this message and they want it. To listen to what they are saying and then add more to it. And when we did that? We found prepared people. People who originally said no who we soon found out they had found a Book of Mormon in a hotel and took it home and have been reading it or who saw because of him on Facebook or who are searching for the answers to soul searching questions.
The gospel really is for every single person. Even if they don't realize it right off the bat. And people ARE prepared. Even in Germany. Even Germans. Ah. I love Germany.
xoxoxo
s. heywood
4 transfers 4 the win.
Seriously just molding to this ward. I feel like I am losing one of my friends. Weird huh? So long Wernu. Show em how it's done in good ol' Australia. Welcome to the mission ranks.
Self proclaimed models.
The messy hair look is now becoming a norm.
Annielyn. Isn't she the cutest?
