Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus

Hey y'all!

I hope y'all had a wonderful week :)

My week was definitely one of my favorites yet! Sister Stacey never seizes to amaze me, I feel so privileged to be her companion! Her drive to work hard, her love for God's children, and humility inspire me. This week we had the opportunity to teach the Gospel Principles class on Sunday and to exercise our faith in the Lord because nearly all of our appointments were rescheduled. 

Last week we focused on bettering our teaching skills. Funny enough, our district leader called us on Sunday and invited me to train the other missionaries on that subject during District Council. (Which really lifted my spirit because I LOVE to give trainings). Not to mention I love this chapter in Preach My Gospel. I don't exactly remember what I said, but thankfully our senior missionaries wrote about it in their weekly. 

"As usual, our District Council was another example of the spiritual blessings that so regularly come our way. Sister Morrill gave inspired instruction on how to begin teaching (and this can apply in ANY teaching situation) with these four points.

1. Pray for the Spirit and a spirit of understanding.
2. Without assuming anything, ask inspired and pertinent questions.
3. Carefully listen to the answers to those questions in order to discern by the Spirit where to go next in the lesson. Listen completely, with heart, eyes, ears, and undivided attention (Remember Ting)
4. Now, you are ready to teach the principle

She asked us to read Alma 22 to see how Aaron taught the father of King Lamoni. In doing so, I was reminded of the king’s question and response to Aaron’s teaching, when he said,

“Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy.”"

But I want to brag about Sister Stacey and the incredible missionary she is. Last week she was feeling out of touch with the Spirit and struggling to understand what she could do. While we were in our companionship study, we were planning for the people we would be seeing and our Sunday school class. Sister Stacey loves to plan everything out and write it all down because she is awesome and organized. Unfortunately for her, she has a trainer who is a light planner. She pointed out that she doesn't feel like she can trust God enough to stand in-front of people without specific and detailed plans. It didn't occur to me to associate her planning with lack of trust. However, her comment resurfaced an experience I had well suppressed, and can now appreciate because it taught me to rely on God.

When I first decided to serve a mission, I had come home for a weekend and a return missionary in my ward had as well. She wanted to share her experience, but had to fly to Utah before Sunday. So she spoke one night to those who wanted to attend (many decided to come). To my surprise, I was invited to briefly (maybe 10 minutes) speak on what had led me to my decision and how the youth can begin to prepare to serve. That was the first time I had spoken in church and I was terrified, but I agreed and wrote out my entire talk and went over it probably 5 dozen times. I even dragged the youngest daughter of one of my favorite families into it by reciting it to her and asking for feedback. So after all of that work, I got to the church and right before I was about to speak, my former Bishop approached me and greeted me. He was curious what I was holding and when I told him it was my talk, he sort of just looked at me. With all of the love in the world, he then invited me not to use the paper but to speak straight from my heart. As you can imagine I wanted to run out the door. I considered his suggestion. After I mentally convinced myself to stay, prayed desperately for the strength and confidence I needed, I stood and spoke from my heart. It felt incredible, I was terrified, but there is no greater feeling than to put all your hope and trust in Jesus Christ. He will always provide for each and every one of us if we let Him. 

With that experience in mind, I invited Sister Stacey to do the same. She struggled with the idea and wasn't sure. On Sunday, while we were teaching Sister Stacey not only didn't use her notes, but she didn't even use the book that we teach out of! I was astounded, she put all of her trust in the Spirit that she would know what to say and when to say it! The Spirit was so strong in our class and I believe that everyone in that room had learned through the Spirit, because the Spirit is the ultimate teacher. 

Later that night, we felt impressed to see someone who was not home. We walked around for a bit and got back in the car. We drove for a minute and when we realized we did not have a destination we pulled over and prayed for God's direction. After all, this is His work :) Sister Stacey looked around and said "What about that one?". We got out where we pulled over and to our left & right we saw a "no trespassing" sign. So we tried the trailer next door. The man outside asked us to visit his wife inside, so we went and someone else had answered. His wife was busy, but we spoke with the woman at the door and she opened up a lot to us about her relationship with God. We left her with a copy of the Book of Mormon after sharing a scripture with her, and invited her to read it. She was so excited and she invited us back the following Sunday! 

Last night, Sister Stacey kept thinking about a woman she had entered into our area book. She had been taught by missionaries for over 9 years! She sounded incredible, so we headed over to see her. When we got there it felt as if she was a long lost friend. She invited us in and shared with us a little about her life. She has read up to Helaman 7 in the Book of Mormon, has the current Ensign and was well into an article, and she told us how she was just thinking about the LDS church on Sunday. She told us she used to attend all the time, and was wondering what would happen if she just showed up last week. Y'all she is so amazing. We invited her to our annual pool party on Saturday and she is super excited :)

Needless to say, miracles occur when we place our faith in God. There is quite a difference between having faith and having faith in Jesus Christ. If you have not experienced the difference, I invite you to ponder what that means to you and turn to God for a better understanding. 

I love y'all! I am grateful for our Father in Heaven who knows us perfectly. Have an awesome week!

Sister Morrill

Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."