Saturday night transfer boards were posted and I definitely did not expect what happened. We actually found out a little bit earlier than everyone else so that was kinda cool.
On Friday we had interviews with our Mission President. Sister Anglin went first and I followed after her. After talking with him for a minute out of the blue he said, "I feel impressed to tell you and Sister Anglin what will be happening with transfers. So he had me call Sister Anglin back in and he told the both of us that we are being transferred together again! We are going back to Boise to the same District we just came from! It was really difficult news to hear, especially since we have only had one transfer in the Linder Stake. He looked at the both of us and said, "I'm not doing this just to mix things up. The Lord needed you two in Linder for one transfer and now you're needed in Boise together. I have confidence that you'll find great success in this new area, I'm sure. You'll be telling me in 2 weeks about miracles in your new area just like Linder." It was so comforting to hear those words directly from him. I know that we are going there for a reason. I am also so happy that Sister Anglin and I get to stay together for yet another transfer! We are going on 3 areas together!!
We went right from our interviews to an assisted living home to eat dinner with a member and a guy we are teaching. We walk in with bloodshot eyes and they ask, "How has your day been?" with concern on their faces. We told them that we are leaving the area and that they will be getting two wonderful new Sisters. Gary, (the guy we are teaching) was like, "If missions are this hard why on earth why do you do it?" We turned it into a teaching moment and it was a great evening. I thought that was a wonderful question though. If missions are so hard, why do so many people do it? They do it and I do it because it is true! I love this quote from Joseph Smith! He says, "The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done." There is nothing that anyone can do to stop this work. We will keep following because there are still so many people that need to hear about this gospel and about our Savior, Jesus Christ.
We had MLC (Mission Leadership Council) this week and it was super inspiring! Our Mission hit a record in the month of December since President Nygaard has been here. We had 34 baptisms and 304 new people to teach!!
We also went on 2 exchanges this week so it was a very busy week, despite everything else happening. On one exchange we saw some incredible miracles. Sister Anglin stayed in our area in Linder and this is her account of what happened there: "So we were on exchanges and we were trying to find this house in my area. But the house was non existent. So we are driving away and I looked at a random house. The house number was 1835. And all I could think was, 1835. It was definitely a prompting. So I pull over and told Sister Miller we needed to knock this random door. Nobody has ever let me in on a tracting approach. Ever. So I had 1% faith. (I know that's really bad) well a man answered the door and we talked for a second and then I asked if we could share a message about Jesus Christ. And he said, "Yeah! Come on in, take a seat!" On the outside I was super calm and collected. But on the inside I was like, WhAt iS HaPpENinG!!! He is incredible and said he will read the Book of Mormon! Super cool!!"
On my side of the exchange, I got to spend the day biking! Believe it or not, I actually kinda miss that! We had 4 lessons that day that were all incredible. I want to share what happened during the last lesson of our day though. We were meeting with this woman named April who really wants to be baptized. Her husband is an inactive member and is working on becoming worthy so he can baptize her. Both of them are struggling with some pretty hard addictions and are still trying to overcome them. We invited them to set a new baptismal date to work towards. April looked at her husband Shane and they just stared at each other for a minute. Shane started saying how he doesn't know if it will ever happen. He expressed his concerns that they will always be fighting as they are working to overcome these things and he knows that it will be absolutely miserable for the both of them. After a minute of this talking, I felt so impressed to show them a video about the Atonement that I had just watched for the first time earlier that day. After the video, I told them, "this is why you can overcome these addictions. Yes, it will be hard. Yes, you will fight, and yes, you may mess up again BUT, HE KNOWS and will be with you the whole time. Without the Savior overcoming these addictions would be close to impossible, but factor him in and it becomes a whole lot easier." I cautioned them to never forget that they are not doing this alone and that they have someone to rely on that Savior cares about every single one of our struggles and knows how they feel. I know the same thing is true for every single one of us. Even if we do not have any serious addictions, I know that he can help us with our DAILY struggles. Even the little things in our life he cares about.
I love you all as well and hope your new year is off to a great start!
Love,
Sister Beutler
