Thanks for your prayers, emails, and love!!! I know that Heavenly Father has blessed me so much to have such a strong family and that I can feel strengthened by all of you each day. In a blessing I received a few weeks ago I was told that I would have enough love and support to be able to carry on with my work. A lot of this love and support comes when I think of all of you and how much you care about me. Thank you so much for that support! This time of my life is full of growth and learning and I'm so grateful I get to share how the Lord has blessed me and strengthened me. I have a front row seat to be able to see the Atonement working in others' lives (and in my own life) and I get to share my view with you!
This week has been full of struggles, miracles, and growth. The best part is that my testimony is stronger now than it was a week ago. The Lord is teaching my line upon line, little by little. I learned in a new missionary handbook that having significant stress and not enough resources can make a missionary doubt his testimony and wonder why he's on a mission. I have felt a little bit of that lately and it has weighed on my mind because in some ways I feel like I was stronger before my mission (before my mind was scrambled all the time). Now I know that the Lord is just helping me grow in other ways. My testimony will be even stronger after this because it's being tested and opposed day after day. As I trust in Heavenly Father and listen to the Holy Ghost, I can recognize that my testimony is strong enough and I am becoming stronger because of this opposition. I really am becoming the biggest convert of my mission.
My testimony of Heavenly Father's love has grown this week. Sister Jenkins called us and asked if we would come talk to her because she was worried about how Sister Snyder was acting at our get-together on Monday. (This is how Sister Snyder is...her face naturally looks kinda angry and she doesn't like to be super close to other people... even when she's not upset or anything). Well she she talked to me too and I asked her how I could feel Heavenly Father's love more in my life. She told me to study love in the scriptures and focus on when Heavenly Father shows love to His children and when they show it to Him. She also told me to just be more aware of it in my life and in the work. Being with her strengthened me so much! I could feel her love and the love of President Jenkins.
I have tried to do as she said and I keep saying to myself the words that Dad tells me, "You are a very special daughter." I feel His love more fully and all around me now! I know that He loves me and sent His Son to suffer and die for me. This is why I'm on a mission. My Savior has given me the gift of the Atonement and I want to share that with everyone! I can't keep it to myself. It is such a privilege to represent Christ and invite others to come unto Him. It brings me so much joy to see others do this because I know that Heavenly Father loves them just as much as He loves me.
It brings me just as much joy to see someone who was inactive to come to church as it is for someone to be baptized into the church... one example of this is the Hutchinson family. They were baptized three years ago and stopped coming to church. They were drinking tea and Brother Hutchinson started smoking again. We met with them and challenged them to read the Book of Mormon as a family together each night and because they started doing this, they are coming to church, started following the word of wisdom, and now Sister Hutchinson has a temple recommend!! We've been meeting with them every week and it has been amazing to see the change in their family. They love the gospel now!
This week we met an amazing guy named Frank. He was a referral we received by text-message and he's super prepared! He came to church and hopefully we'll be able to set a baptismal date with him tomorrow. He is willing to do anything for the Gospel and he knows he needs it. I'm grateful for this miracle!
It has gotten a little cooler here... most days are below 100 degrees now. It's amazing how cool 90 degrees feels to me now. After Halloween is when it really cools down, I've heard. I'm grateful for a car! It has wonderful air conditioning. We have a white Toyota Corolla, by the way. We got to play soccer the other day for zone sports! It was a little boring because no one else knows how to pass very well, but it was still fun. I was really sore after that! The sunrises and sunsets are amazing here!!! I'm astounded by them and I can't figure out why they're so beautiful.
Another miracle we had was that we were protected the other day when we were driving in the car... Sister Snyder was trying to turn around by doing a U turn and she didn't see a curb. We were going about 30 miles per hour and went up and over the entire curb. It sounded terrible and the car jerked a lot. We got out and looked at the car and there was no damage. We were pretty shaken, because it could have been a lot worse. We could have had another car hit us going the other way (it was a busy road) or the car could have gone out of control. I know that the Lord is protecting me and it's amazing to see how He does it.
We have a really sketchy apartment area where people do drugs and lots of other bad things go on, but we have been kept safe. The people there are super humble and open to talk, but not many of them are prepared to keep commitments. One awesome guy we met is named Brett. He's in a wheelchair and has lots of tattoos, but he has a really bright smile. He was really nice and we thought he would be a new investigator, but it turns out that he's already a member of the church. We found him a ride to church yesterday and he came! He reminds me of Dad because of how happy and optimistic he is, even though his life has been really hard. They have bedbugs and cockroaches in those apartments. A lot of the men there think we're really attractive because they're not used to women who wear nice clothes or do their hair. It's an adventure every time we go over there!
I am amazed to see how the Lord is using me as an instrument. It's not really anything that I do that makes these miracles happen and allows others to partake of the blessings of the gospel. I am just here doing my best and I try to do what the Lord wants and He's the one that makes everything happen. I get to be a part of bringing souls to Christ! It's an amazing feeling.
This Gospel is true. The Doctrine of Christ is the center of all we teach, learn, and aim for in the Church. Read 2 Nephi 31 and 3 Nephi 27 about the Doctrine of Christ and you'll see these principles are everywhere in the scriptures. The Atonement is the reason we do everything in the Gospel. I am so grateful for it and so grateful I can be an instrument in sharing it with others!
This work is hard, but so worth it! My struggles won't even matter later on... I'll only remember the miracles and blessings. I love you all! Thanks for all you do! Keep praying for me...this is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.
Here's a great quote from Dad and Elder Holland
It is the plain and very sobering truth that before great moments, certainly before great spiritual moments, there can come adversity, opposition, and darkness. Life has some of those moments for us, and occasionally they come just as we are approaching an important decision or a significant step in our life.There is great opposition to this work, but it will move forward. I love you!!!
Love, Sister Sallstrom
Hurrah for Isreal :)
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