Hello to all of you! How are you all doing? I hope you are doing well. I really do! Life is a JOY. Right!? Don't you all see it and feel it every single day. Even if it's a bad day, God somehow manages to make sure that something happens, even if it is something little, "tender mercy", to remind us that He is there, He is real. He loves us. He is aware of us. I had the most AMAZING study with President. Ashton this morning! I am so thankful to be able to study with him every week! It is a revelatory experience each time. And this morning was no exception to that! We were studying the enabling power of the Atonement. What does "enable" mean? To give power, to make able, to authorize, to make possible. We started off by reading in Moroni 10: 30-33 in The Book of Mormon. We discussed how in the pre-existence each one of us had PERFECT faith. Think about that. Perfect faith. Pretty neat, right? But then we came to earth... and guess what? We don't have perfect faith. At least I know that I don't. Not even close. So when we came to earth we "put on weakness" essentially. Why? Because when we are weak, we rely on God, we humble ourselves, and this is how He can bless us with miracles in our lives. In our weaknesses is how we truly become strong. As we rely on the enabling power of the Atonement. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Ether 12:27. In Matthew 5:48 we read "be ye therefore perfect". How is this possible. Because I am not perfect. Far from it. That's where the Atonement comes in. That's where grace comes in. Link it back to Moroni 10: 32. We obtain grace by realizing/identifying our weaknesses and then humbly asking God to give us the spiritual gifts that will allow us to overcome those weaknesses. (spiritual gifts are divine attributes of the Savior that are gifted/given to us by the Holy Ghost). We must be an active participant in this process. Ether 5:5. So if we love God with all our might, mind and strength, THEN is His grace sufficient. The Savior's grace is complete. It fulfills all weaknesses. God has provided us with other sources of strength to overcome weaknesses. But the ultimate source must always and forever be turning to God for support. I have believed most of these things my whole life. But today, it became real. Today it became something that I know. It became a part of me. Missions are designed to bring out your weaknesses. They are designed to make you feel weak and inadequate. I have never felt adequate or strong on my mission. But I have felt God's love and I have felt the sustaining power of the grace of the Savior's Atonement so many times. And that is what has made me strong. That is what has helped me through it all.
We had dinner with the Thomas family last week and afterwards we taught a lesson on service in the home. We had the girls come up with a list of things they could do in the house for "secret service" the upcoming week. One of the ideas was the "do the dishes". Sally, who is 9, did not like this one. She HATES doing the dishes. And she was sure to make it known that she had better NOT get the dishes one. So we put the "secret service" ideas into a hat and had the girls draw out their service one by one. And then had to keep it a secret. Sally went last. And sure enough, as she opened her paper, a big gasp and sign and groan of "NO WAY" came out of her mouth. We all couldn't help but laughing. She got the dishes one. We were all trying to help her and encourage her to wash the dishes and telling her that sometimes we have to do things that God doesn't want us to do and how we have to follow the Savior's example. The next thing Sally said was, "the Savior didn't have to wash dishes". Then her uncle said "the Savior washed his apostles feet". And then he went on to say "you can wash my feet". It was hilarious! We were all laughing so hard, but also trying not to laugh because she was in SO MUCH distress over the dishes! Sweet little girl! :) I LOVE her!
We met with our investigator Tiffany this week. She dropped us. Hard core. I can't even begin to explain how much despair you feel after a lesson like that. You just feel so sad for them. You are sad that they are missing out on SO MANY blessings and SO MUCH joy that they don't even know exists. And you feel so helpless. You try to say everything that you possibly can to help them and to solve their concerns and doubts, but sometimes you just can't say anything. It was tough. There were tears from all of us. But I KNOW that she knows the church is true. She does. She is just facing a lot of outside pressures that are clouding her ability to discern for herself what really matters. It's hard to see. But I know that someday she will join the church. I know this isn't the end. I know that God will continue to bless her life and help her to sustain her faith and her testimony. Because she is amazing. She is God's daughter and He will never give up on her.
I went on exchanges with Hermana Ricks and Hermana Steenblik this week! SO FUN! These sisters are a DYNAMIC DUO! We had the most amazing day in the world. We taught TONS of people (and even though it was is Spanish, the SPIRIT was real and I could feel that). We did have a lesson in English. With Jocelyn. What a special experience that was. A very young single mom of 3 kids. She just moved out of living with her boyfriend of 8 years and is facing lots of challenges right now. We taught her of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I have never felt so much charity of somebody I didn't know. I felt that pure love of Christ like I have never felt it before for a stranger. The Spirit was so strong in that lesson. There were tears in my eyes as I testified of the love that God has for her. And I testified with power because I knew it was true. I could feel how much God loves her. It was incredible! The other miracle with Jocelyn was that her little girl was very sick when we got there. She looked so sick. She has had the stomach flu for almost a week. There was a member that lived in the apartment complex and he came right over and gave her a blessing. We saw Jocelyn and her kids that night at the church (just an hour later) and her little girl was all better. She looked like a different child than what we had seen an hour before. It was a miracle. The power of God is real. The Priesthood is real and it has been restored to the earth today and we do still see miracles in this day and age.
We went to try a potential investigator last night. The Spanish elders told us to stop by. The lady was very sweet and kind to us and we talked with her for quite a while. About halfway through our conversation she told us that she had been abducted for 6 months last year. It was quite the crazy story! I love people so much! They just make you happy! They make it easy to laugh and find joy in life!
The other morning, we woke up. We went running. We ate breakfast. We got ready for the day. Did the typical routine. As I kneeled down to pray before beginning my personal study, I looked out the window and saw something on the hood of our car. To my surprise it was our Area Book! HAHAHA! It had been out there ALL NIGHT long. We laughed and laughed and laughed and then went and got it. :) So hilarious!
Some highlights of zone conference this past week
- We get knowledge (revelation from studying the scriptures) when we are willing to be accountable to it
- Joseph Smith received so much revelation because he asked questions
- When we memorize scripture verses, we can ponder on them and it creates a vision for us to learn from
- If we could pull back the veil for a second, we would all see angles surrounding us and we we most likely recognize many of them
- There's no safety except with God
- Happiness is very much tied to pursuing your dreams/life vision
I've been so blessed in my life. I've been so blessed on my mission. I'm learning to align my will with God's will. Each day I seek to know the Father's will. I seek to know what His will is for me in my life. On my mission. This week. This day. This very hour. And each time, He helps me to know. Sometimes He tells me. But often times He lets me figure it out. He never leaves me alone, but He lets me struggle just long enough and hard enough to GROW and to LEARN. We sang hymn number 191 yesterday at church. Behold the Great Redeemer Die. The line "He MAGNIFIED the Father's will" stood out to me so strongly. I am striving to magnify my Father's will for me. Each passing second.
I love all of you!
Sister Kunzler
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