Cancelled Lessons and Bitter vs. Better

This week, we had Zone Meeting on Wednesday in Greeley, so we got to have another little road trip, which is always fun!

After Zone Meeting, we had a lesson planned with Kelsi and Soneyda, but apparently, they forgot we were coming, so they weren't home when we came by. We rescheduled for the next week though, so hopefully we can keep meeting with them and helping them progress!

We had another lesson with Fabiola on Thursday - we talked about the Restoration and taught super simply, but it all seemed to go over her head...hopefully we can figure out something to help her better understand what we're teaching her!

On Friday, we had mini exchanges with the STL's, and I went with Sister Stone again! We went and contacted people and also did some street contacting! It had been raining all that morning, but as soon as we started our exchange, the clouds cleared up and we were able to street contact and talk to some people! I love noticing the small miracles that God gives us each day.

Carmen had to cancel on us because she got sick. We were able to reschedule with her for the next week, though, so hopefully she feels better by then!

In my personal Book of Mormon reading, I'm now in the really sad chapters where the Nephites, who had been taught by Christ Himself and become a righteous people, fell away and became wicked again only after a few hundred years. Mormon is leading the Nephites in these horrible wars with the Lamanites, but the Lord isn't with the Nephites, so they're not having much success. At one point, they're all really discouraged and Mormon starts thinking that these Nephites are finally headed towards repentance:

"And it came to pass that when I, Mormon, saw their lamentation and their mourning and their sorrow before the Lord, my heart did begin to rejoice within me...but behold this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto repentance...and they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits"  --Mormon 2:12-14

When we go through really hard trials, we have the choice to either let that trial make us bitter or better - these Nephites became bitter and cursed God for the hardships they were going through, but WE want to become better - we need to learn from our mistakes and thank the Lord for those opportunities to learn and grow!

I invite you all to take some time, just once, this week, to think about past trials that could have made you bitter, but you let them make you better instead! I promise that as we view trials with an eternal perspective and rely on God to help us through them, that He WILL give us the strength we need, because He truly does love each and every one of you.

Love you all and have an awesome week!

 

Gordon B. Hinkley quote...in Spanish (in English, it's: "If life is too hard to be on your feet, get on your knees" ...not sure if that's the exact wording in English, but you get the gist)

District Lunch after Zone Meeting