Kaylani Ficklins Mission: January 19, 2015 About Prayers, and a Baptism!

Seriously a good week. (:

This week has been filled with so many great miracles and awesome spiritual experiences!

Serious got baptized on Saturday and it was a wonderful service! She bore a wonderful testimony, it was simple, with only a few thank you's to those in the ward who have helped her and she was holding back tears, but it was a great manifestation of the love that you feel from Heavenly Father when you are baptized. So cool! She was all smiles afterward (:

We also had a very fun Family home evening with the Sandoval family hahaha, ah man, what a blast! So we were teaching about faith and we used the example of the story of Samuel the Lamanite preaching repentance on the city wall. He had a lot of faith to turn back to a city that had already rejected him, because God told him to. Especially to get up on a wall and tell everyone that they are wicked! If it were me, I think I'd rather get swallowed by a whale... But, Samuel trusted in the Lord and he got up on that wall and cried repentance! and though the people were throwing stones and shooting arrows, none touched him. He was being protected by the Lord! So we did an object lesson and had Andy be Samuel the Lamanite and Megan be the Holy Ghost who would protect Andy from the paper wads that we were going to throw at him. Hahaha the FUNNIEST LESSON EVER!!!

the funniest lesson ive ever had hahaha sooo fun

I highly recommend trying this with your family of any age (: we had a blast and it ended up turning into a free-for-all paper fight with everyone, I was laughing so hard I was crying. The kids had a lot of fun, and so did we! The Gospel is so much fun! There is so much joy from living the gospel if Jesus Christ too.

We had a lesson with our Doctor investigator on Friday and it was probably one of the best lessons I've ever had on my mission.

We talked about prayer. He works in the pain clinic and in anesthesiology, and so he sees and deals with a lot of hard situations. He told us that a young girl with cancer had just recently passed away and he asked why God did not answer the prayers of this young girl’s parents, why did God punish this young girl? He also asked why God answers some people’s prayers and not others? What a heart wrenching question.

My heart was flooded with so many different feelings. And as I thought about that question, I had an overwhelming spirit of truth confirm to me that what I knew and was about to say was the truth. GOD LOVES EVERYONE. And God loves everyone equally. He does not pick and choose who He answers based on how righteous you are. It's simply not true. The Lord has compassion on everyone. And He will answer your prayers.

We went on to explain what exactly prayers are. That they are not to tell Heavenly Father what we think is right and expect Him to do just as we ask and if He does not do exactly as you ask, that He is not answering your prayers. He is there and he hears you, and he loves you, and He is in control. He sees things that we cannot yet see, and all things that he does is for our benefit. It all comes down to Faith. Prayer is learning to trust in our Heavenly Father. Even when it might be contrary to what we think should be the outcome. But no matter what the outcome may be, The Lord will get you through it and there is a reason behind it.

We also told him though that miracles do happen. He asked me if I had ever gotten an answer to my prayers, and I said yes. And I have seen miracles in my life from prayers. I shared a very personal story with him and I testified that I knew that with faith, we can know that God answers prayers. It was quiet for a moment and he said thank you, that it was good to know that miracles happen.

I hope that the truth resonated with him as strongly as it did in me that reaffirmed that God loved me very personally and loves everyone more than we can comprehend, even when our lives seem to have tests and trials, He never leaves us alone, or forgets about us. If we have faith, we will come to know how much He really knows us.

I read this morning in John 4:16-19 that I want to share with you:

"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein our love is made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment, He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because He first loved us."

Learn to love the Lord, and to love others around you. You will come to know that there is an Everlasting God that loves you to. We live in a world that is troubled with many sorrows and we all face trials and hardships in our lives. But by the power of God, we will be able to overcome any challenge that besets us, if we will just let him. Trust in God and let love be the force that guides your life. There is much Joy to be had in life!

Here is a great talk about Prayer to read!
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/04/using-the-supernal-gift-of-prayer?lang=eng&query=prayer

Love you all! have a great week!

Love,

Sister Ficklin

Some more pictures: