HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
grace getting ready for her job interview! we helped her get dressed and practiced interview questions. she got it!
The Temple!!!
us with Sister Forbes
me elder larsen elder manoa sister taito
the temple with the sisters!
the next missionaries
zone p day
egg on the spoon!
p day army relay!
The Book is blue, and this church is
true!
Hello! Transfers are here again. We still haven't found out if
my dear Sister Taito and I will still be together or not! We've both got
butterflies. President decided to do it a little different today and the zone
leaders are going to call us if we are going to be transfered. So far, nothing
yet. The anticipation of transfers always kill me. My leg won't stop bouncing!
If we get transfered we are having our
"last supper" at ocean buffet. Our favorite chinese seafood
restaurant that we always get sick at haha. What can I say, it's a tradition.
And it has sushi!
So, we've been working with two new investigators, sister Queenah, and sister Kamilla. They are both searching for a change in their lives and willing to change, which makes our jobs easy! Queenah is a 23 year old from Liberia, whose been through the rebel war, and seen many many terrible things. As we talked with her about the plan of salvation and explained to her about our purpose here on earth, she told us her story of life. Sister Taito asked Queenah what her personal purpose was. She was quiet for a while and then she answered and said, that our purpose is to be happy, and to serve God and be a missionary! We gave her a fist bump for that one. (: She told us that she wants to know this, she wants to learn the gospel so that she can be clean from the past, and find that comfort that she's been searching for. We talked with her about repentance and baptism and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and how through this plan of our Heavenly Father, we can have a renewal and the peace that she's searching for. So we asked her to pray about knowing if this is the Church the Lord wants her to join, and if so, if November 15th should be her baptismal date. She said she already knows the Book of Mormon is true but that she will pray about it anyway and she will pray to know about baptism. We are excited to see what she says!
Kamilla is also 23, she is African American with a young 3 year old boy. We knocked into her and when we told her we were missionaries out sharing a message about God and Jesus Christ, so she let us in. So far we've taught about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation. Her favorite phrase is "THAT IS SO DEEP!" She told us when we first met with her that she said that she wanted to learn more about God and so she prayed that someone would come and teach her about God. She later on had a dream that someone would come and teach her the gospel, and a few months later we showed up knocking on her door and when we told her we were sharing a message about God and Jesus Christ she knew that it was a sign from God. And her relations of her life has similarities with Sister Taito and I's lives and we are able to understand the want to change and with our personal stories and testimonies have caused her to think and I know the Holy Ghost is working within her, stirring her soul. Her desire is becoming stronger and stronger and her curiosity of wanting to learn more is becoming apparent.
On Sunday we were in a meeting with our ward mission leader, talking about a few of our investigators, how they've prayed and asked for things in their lives to work out, and in return they would change certain things in their lives to be more faithful to God. And God had granted them what they prayed for and they have been slow to live up to what they had Promised God.
Brother Jones, our ward mission leader told us something I'd
like to share. He said:
We are taught grace by grace. The Lord gives us enlightenment as
we are willing; and depending on how quick we are to act is how quick he is to
give us further enlightenment. If we pray for something in our lives and it is
given us, our agency is put into play and we must choose how we will act on
what He gives us. If we are slow to act, He is slow to give, until He sees that
we are willing to act on what He gives.
Our Heavenly Father is a wise man. He
does not give us more than we can bear, whether it be trials or blessings.
This fast Sunday I also
got up and bore my testimony on Prophets. This whole past week I've really had
a lot of curiosity for the lives of the Prophets. And as I've watched and
listened and pondered on their words and actions I got a light bulb moment!
I've seen the passion they have for life, they seem to have a charisma of love
and joy, their lives are full of selfless acts and countless opportunities to
serve and uplift. They also have so many trials of faith, so many opportunities
to learn from mistakes and yet they grow!
My thoughts became clear and I said to myself, they've figured it out! They know how to be a successful person. They know how to live a successful life.
As I continued to listen to General Conference, watching the General Authorities I just became so excited listening to them! They are telling us EXACTLY what we need to do to be successful. There is never a clearer path of success than the pathway of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In everyone, at one point or another
there is doubt in wondering if what pathway the Lord is taking us really is the
right path.
Perhaps we know that it is true, but yet we still don't follow because it means swimming against the currants of the worlds definition of success, or fear of failure if we try. Whatever it may be in our lives, we can at least start by observing the lives of the Lords Prophets and Apostles. Just as Jesus Christ in olden times was the example of a successful life, we have real life, here and now examples of the reward of Christ-like living. To see what happens when we follow what the Lord is telling us.
And let me tell you the reward is
great. There is a richness to life that doesn't necessarily involve having lots
of money. There is a fulfillment in our lives that we all search for. I believe
that one of the biggest reasons of being an unhappy people is because we don't
feel successful, and we can't figure it out.
Our Heavenly Father is here to see us
to success. He's got what we need to do all laid out for us. We just have to
search, listen, have faith and then act. Yup, it won't come to us if we don't
put in our effort. We have to be willing. Nothing ever worth having is ever
easily given.
If success is something you are searching for at this moment, my
prayer for you is to do what Joseph Smith did one spring morning in 1820. Kneel
and pray to know how, and when the answer comes, act.
SEARCH. PONDER. PRAY.
And I would add to that, OBSERVE. Look
to those you see that have figured it out. Learn about the lives of Jesus
Christ and the Prophets and I can promise you that the questions you have been
searching for will be answered.
BE SUCCESSFUL!
Keep up the good work my family! can't
wait to see you all in the Celestial Kingdom! (:
Love you all!
Love Sister Ficklin
Love Sister Ficklin
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