Thursday, April 19, 2012

Joy in the journey...

Dear family,

I kind of hit a wall in my progression this week, I think. But, I spent a little bit of time one morning to cry it out, and now I'm doing just fine--ready to conquer Satan. I just feel pretty terrible about the added stress it causes Sister Takapu when I'm not doing my best to do this work. It's not fair to her, to the Lord, to these people in Ithaca who need the Gospel, nor to myself. I reread one of my friend's letters the other day and a phrase stuck out that I've been repeating to myself throughout the days: "Start strong and don't let up." I'm sure I could've gotten that message from a scripture or church or even from praying, but I'm sure thankful for that letter that boosted my work ethic, regardless.

We have been able to pick an investigator that we previously had to drop because he was in NYC for a little while, so it was an exciting week for that reason. There are many more reasons it was a fabulous and exciting week, though, depsite my moments of egocentricity. We had time to be there for a recent convert when she needed company. And her faith is definitely growing! It's incredible to see! And the Burmese family we're teaching fed us a traditional Karen meal--they are becoming more and more open--it's wonderful! And we have an investigator who has struggled with an addiction since his childhood, and after our meeting last week he followed up on the commitment he made to throw out all of the material he has! He called us as he was walking to the dumpster and said that it was done--no more. It's so wonderful to see the Atonement of Christ working in people as they exercise faith enough to repent and want to make covenants with their Heavenly Father.

Oh, and one more thing: at District Meeting last week we made a prayer list of 2 people in each area that we should all pray for, and one of our people has responded to our contacts this week, which she hasn't done for a couple of weeks! It's a miracle.
Sorry this is short--we're unexpectedly going to Toughannock Falls with a member family in about one minute, so...I love you! I'll write a letter later on. :) HOORAY FOR KATIE AND KARLEE!!
lovelovelove,
Sister Smith
P.S. I got bangs and met my clone. You can call her Mini Me. She's the oldest daughter of a family in the ward. :)

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