This week was amazing with Christmas and so many miracles. We thought that this week would be very slow because of the holidays, but we actually stayed pretty busy. It never ceases to amaze me that so much can happen in a week.
Well, We had some craziness with STL stuff and are now covering another companionship of Sisters which means we have to schedule another exchange before transfers in two weeks! It was a complicated situation, but some Sisters in our mission really needed help and reached out to us due to some complications with their own STLs and after many phone calls and talking with our Mission President's wife we are covering them as well.
We went on an exchange this week and I spent the day with a Sister that goes home pretty soon. She told me about how her mission has flown by and she knows that by going home she will be held to a higher standard. I have to agree with her. I think it is so much harder to live in the world but above the world than it is to live as a missionary having time scheduled every day to study and to literally devote everything to serving the Lord. I value this time I have so much and I admire everyone who is not on a mission for doing their best in an imperfect world.
While on exchanges we went to visit a lady they have been trying to meet for a long time. We caught her at home and she invited us in. You could tell right off the bat that she was struggling. Eventually she told us that she has been wanting to change for a long time. She is very addicted to smoking and has been trying to quit but she just keeps falling over and over again. She said that she was just about to resign herself and run to a gas station to buy another pack of cigarettes when we knocked on her door. I felt an overwhelming amount of love for this woman. She was trying so hard to overcome this addiction and you could see Satan working on her trying to tell her that she just was not good enough and that she would never be able to make it. I testified to her that our Savior Jesus Christ would always be there for her every time she falls. Her eyes filled with tears as we told her how much her Heavenly Father loves her and is proud of her decision to change. It was such a special moment to share with someone who was at a very low point and really needed the Savior. It truly is the Savior that picks us up when we reach our low points. He has been there and understands. It is because of that, that he is able to take away that pain.
That leads to another story.... we have been teaching a recent convert (Sonia) in the area the new member lessons and just a few weeks ago started teaching her daughter, Kathryn. Yesterday we had a lesson and invited Kathryn to be baptized and she said YES! She is on date right now to be baptized on the 1st of February. Her mother is the greatest example and has one of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard.
Sonia's story is amazing so of course I have to tell it!
Sonia is from Africa and met her husband there but when she met him she had plans to move to the US. They wanted to get married but he did not have the money to move with her. She moved to the US and worked for 8 years to save money to help him get there as well. Finally they were together and life was good. They had 3 children and were such a wonderful family. Her husband, Everest, met some missionaries and invited them to his home. Sonia was very skeptical about it but would sit in and listen while they taught her husband. Everest decided that he wanted to be baptized more than anything but did not want to break apart his family. Sadly, he died from cancer and was not able to be baptized before then. It broke Sonia's heart and she was left with their 3 children all alone. She let the missionaries come back to honor her husband's memory as she knew that he loved the gospel so much. It took her 3 years but this year she was baptized a member of the church and has a testimony unshaken by the trials she has been through. She was able to attend the temple and see her husband's (proxy) baptism performed. What's even cooler is that due to recent changes she was able to be a witness at his baptism. Yesterday she told us of how hard life was before she was baptized. She would cry all the time and life seemed so bleak. She remembers after receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost being so filled with joy. That pain was still there but it did not hurt so deeply. It was pain she could bear and that testified to her even more that this is true. She is so happy to see her 9-yr old daughter making the same decision to be baptized and taking this next step.
This reminded me of a quote and I will end with this for the week.
"If we ... exercise our faith and look to God for help, we will not be overwhelmed with the burdens of life." - Carl B. Cook
I know that by exercising faith every single one of us will be able to find so much joy. Life will not be so hard to bear if we put our faith in our Savior Jesus Christ. He is always there!
Love,
Sister Beutler
