My whole mission I have asked myself "what more can I do" and "what can I do differently, better, more, etc". I have often been left discouraged and never content with the success or miracles. This past week I realized that I have been asked the complete wrong question. With the wrong perspective. When it comes down to it, I do the best that I can (that is all that God expects) and then I trust in Him! I turn it over to the Lord. I accept His will. Accept His plan and be willing to do as He commands. No matter what. It's not about me and my efforts. It's about putting trust in Him and knowing that He will make up the difference in all my weaknesses and shortcomings! God sure is incredible. If we will turn it over to Him, He takes care of it. This week was incredible! One of a kind! We had miracle after miracle, day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute. It was one of the most inspiring weeks of my mission so far! And none of it was because of what we did, it was all the Lord. Every single miracle. Every single blessing. Sent from on high.
We live outside of our area and our ward boundaries. So there is a family that lives in our complex who attends another ward! The Velasquez Family! They are incredible! The joined the church about a year ago! A dad, mom and 3 daughters! We got to have dinner with them this past week and it was so incredible to see their growth in the Gospel! And they found the church through a member! Miracles! She comes to the gym with us in the morning to work out! It is so fun to have her around us! I love that God places people in our lives to give us that extra little boost we need in life. She has been that for me. And I know that having sister missionaries around has been a blessing for her as well. God has the best of best of best of all plans in the whole wide world! :)
Sister Thomas is a sister in our ward who has 5 adorable girls who are the sweetest on planet earth! We were talking with Sister Thomas last week and she shared with us her "life story". It was powerful! People's lives are so inspiring. She grew up in Mexico and as a little girl she got very sick one day. She had a terribly high fever and nobody knew what to do. She didn't live in an area with health care. So the family did what they could (basically nothing) and within a few hours she went into a coma. The family had no idea she was in a coma though. They thought she had died. So they started preparing her for burial and getting things planned for her funeral. Well, obviously she woke up before it was too late! Phew. Right? Ever since that day she has had seizures. Growing up nobody knew exactly what the seizures were. They weren't familiar with them and so she essentially was shunned and hidden. Her family was embarrassed by her. Because she would randomly have these seizures. So she grew up thinking she would never get married. Never have kids. Never have a family. And here she is today. Progressing in the Gospel like wild fire! An incredible mother of 5. She still faces so many battles but where she is now is incredible. Especially considering where she has come from. I am so thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who has a special plan for each of us. It's inspiring.
We got to attend and help serve the food this past weekend for the Alief Young Women's Auction & Dinner Fundraiser For Girls Camp! :) It was really neat to be there and watch this ward come together to support the girls! A couple that hasn't been to church in years and years and years has recently started coming back and they came through big time on many of the items! It was great to be there. To see this ward together as friends. Family. In the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A powerful thing to witness and be a part of!
I learned such a wonderful thing this past week! The scriptures are amazing. Now, I know that you know that I know that we know that the scriptures are wonderful. But this past week my testimony and understanding grew so much on how important the Bible and the Book of Mormon really are. I was reading in Jarom 1:5 where it says "And as these plates are small, and as these things are written for the intent of the benefit of our brethren the Lamanites, wherefore, it must needs be that I write a little; but I shall not write the things of my prophesying, nor of my revelations. For what could I write more than my fathers have written? For have not they REVEALED THE PLAN OF SALVATION? I say unto you, Yea; and this sufficeth me." The scriptures are all about the plan that God has. All about His eternal plan and the purpose for us being here on earth. All about Jesus Christ. All about why we even exist and how we can live a life in order to return to God (our purpose). Think about this. What if we didn't have the Bible? What if we didn't have the Book of Mormon? People. We would know NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. Everything we know is possible because of the scriptures. Because of prophets. Wow. Mind blowing, right? It has been for me. No wonder it is a commandment to read them every single day. No wonder.
We went to try a former person that missionaries met on the street years and years ago. We picked out the name from our HUGE book of names. They go back to 2005. It's a big book. We picked out the name of a couple. Along with a handful of other names. This specific name though turned out to be a huge miracle! We knocked on the door. The people we were looking for had moved. But Meredith lived there now. She has been in Houston for a month now. She is from Tennessee. She grew up with many members of our church and even dated a guy who is a member of our church. She said she always thought very highly of her friends who were members but never met with missionaries or read the Book of Mormon or anything like that. She moved to Houston because she wants to start her life over. She wants to get closer to God. To Jesus Christ. We taught her about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon (she was so excited to have a copy and can't wait to read it) and she accepted a date to be baptized and asked us how she can prepare! We had no clue she would be there. We had no idea Meredith even existed. But oh how obvious it is that God knows Meredith. And that God knows she exists. Because He sent us to her.
We have tried a less active named Stephanie probably about 20 times the last 3 months. She is never home. Ever. 20 times people. That is quite a lot if you really thing about it. A lot. Well, the past week we had about 20 minutes left until we needed to head on home for the night and we were trying to decide where we should go. And we both felt that we should try Stephanie. Again. And we did. And she was home. It was wonderful to meet her. We were able to come back a few days later and teach her. She has been in the church for 18 years and just recently went inactive because her mom got really sick and so now she has nobody to go to church with. As we talked with her she told us she doesn't have a testimony of Joseph Smith. Or of the Book of Mormon. She doesn't know if either are true or real or important. And because of that. She has tons of other doubts about other aspects of the Gospel. It was very sad. As Sister Williams and I left the lesson and drove to our next appointment I cried. I cried for Stephanie. For her family. For her future. How did she go 18 years in the church. 18 years. And not have a testimony? 18 years. It made me wonder how many other members of the church are out there without a testimony. And what can we do as missionaries and as members to help solve this problem? It was heart breaking.
We met with the Youngblood Family this past week and took Brother Will Thornton with us! He is AWESOME! SO awesome! Did I mention that he is AWESOME! He said the most perfect things to this family. It was as if he knew exactly what they needed. It was amazing. Then on Sunday he gave a talk in church and shared that experience. He talked about how before he came out with us he said a prayer and asked God to help him know what he needed to say. Brother Thornton has super faith! Because God did just that. :) I am telling you, leave it up to God, and miracles happen. He always does the best at whatever He does!
As we walked up to our appointment with Donald (investigator) this past week he was out sitting on the porch reading the Book of Mormon. His mother just passed away and he said as he read Alma 40 he felt so much peace. He was then able to bring a lot of peace to his family as well! It was a powerful thing to witness. The Book of Mormon is giving him comfort, answering his prayers, his concerns and because of that he loves it and reads it all the time! The Book of Mormon is true. Fact.
We had an appointment fall through this past week and so we decided to try a potential. They weren't home. So we knocked on their neighbors door. And guess what? He was home. And he has a cousin who lives in Utah who went to BYU and is a member and loves the church and so of course he wants to learn more about it. Who wouldn't when God prepares you like that? God is incredible. Have I mentioned that lately? So incredible.
Joanne is great! Investigator! She is so spiritual and recognizes the spirit like nobody I have ever met before and as we read with her in the Book of Mormon I was amazed at how much she understood and was able to learn from the Spirit because she recognizes it so well! She is a wonderful woman! She met Elders about 7 years ago and she remembers how kind they were and how they were respectful and took out her garbage for her. She also said the other day "There is something different about all of you. I can just see it. There is something different." The Gospel is real. God is in charge of this work. Nobody else. He does it all and just lets us witness the miracles. He is so good!
This past week we prayed and prayed and prayed to have a progressing investigator and none of our investigators that we have been actively working with came to church. But do not fear. It doesn't matter what we do. God does it all. 4 minutes before church starts we get a call from Taye. We worked with her many many weeks ago and then she got "busy". So we stopped focusing on her. She told us she was coming to church with her husband and her three sons and they were bringing another family with them. Some of their friends! They were lost. The GPS took them the total wrong way. But 30 minutes later they showed up to church! They came. God did it all. We did nothing. It was the biggest miracle of the week. So incredible. We met with them after church and they want to be baptized! God is incredible!
I am loving my mission. I love serving the Lord. I love Texas. I love the people. I love my companion. I love my life! I know the Savior lives. God is so very real. Life could not be any better. Surely this is true joy.
With Love,
Sister Kunzler
P.S. My little sister, Sarah Kunzler, has her mission papers! Yahoo! I could not be more proud of her! I could not be more excited for her! And she has SUPER self control because she is going to wait until Mother's Day to open them! So Greg and I can be on Skype when she opens her call! I love her! I am so proud of her. God surely sent me to the best family on planet earth! I love you Sarah!
No comments:
Post a Comment