I just wanted to start of by saying that I know with all of my heart that God truly is our Father in Heaven, and I know that he hears and answers prayers. It may not always be in the way that we expect, or even the way that we want Him to answer. Heavenly Father is there for us though, and that will never change. I know that despite hardships and trials, His love is never ending, and I know that we can't even comprehend how much He cares for us. I've been able to feel the strength from the Holy Ghost and comfort, and I know that Christ knows perfectly what we have each gone through. Despite choices of others, hurt, heartache, I know that there's nothing that we are each personally going through that our Savior hasn't felt.
With that being said, I just have been able to see just a bit of the evidence of Heavenly Father's love for His children this week, as He's prepared so many wonderful people! We went to this appointment with a sweet Christian woman, named Darleen, who's not a member and who's friend invited her to learn more. We knocked on her door at the time of her appointment, and gladly welcomed us in. She shocked us both by having a ton of refreshments for us, and was just so super kind. It was pretty funny, because we even mentioned that no one had ever done that for us on a first appointment, and she's like "well, what better way to make friends than by breaking bread together?" She's had a hard life with health problems and family trials, and she even told us that she grew up in Idaho, and has always hid from the missionaries- until now. Darleen then explained that she had an angel of a friend just had such a glow about her and was just a perfect example to her. She mentioned that her friend who's a member didn't try to preach to her or share her beliefs, but that she didn't have to. Darleen started to ask questions, and then when she started asking more deep things, her friend explained that that's why there are missionaries. We had a great discussion and she asked a ton of questions!
We also met with Kent, who's from Detroit and who I mentioned last week! He's had it rough as well, but the discussion went great. He wants to truly learn more and he wants to know for himself if the Priesthood has been restored! The priesthood seems to be a hard concept, we taught Marissa more about the priesthood, and she really understands it now. She brought up baptism herself, and is preparing for the middle of August :) There's also this young man visiting for an extended period of time from Denmark. He used to be a foreign exchange student four years ago, and is familiar with the church but now wants to learn as much as he can. He's met with us multiple times this week, and keeps commitments. He even studied the introduction on his own for an hour, so that he could highlight things that stands out to him! We had dinner with the family he's staying with, which was awesome! Also, there's this family in one of our home wards that just adopted 6 kids, and 3 of which are over the age of 9. They're seriously the sweetest kids ever! They're from Florida, and haven't heard anything about the church before. So we started teaching the kids too, which is going to be so much fun! I haven't taught many kids since my last area. Speaking of which, on exchanges I went to Sugar City with Sister Huckbay, who's going to go home in about a month! I was able to teach some of the people I did when I served there, and it was crazy to see just how many people remembered me so well. Also, Daniel saw the Spanish Elders outside earlier this week, and called them over and talked to them for a little bit! The Elders were super funny, and asked us "wait, so are you the sisters who are teaching the scary man on west main st.? With all of the tattoos?" Daniel is a sweetheart though, and he even told the Elders about this baptism, and his interview went great! Paige is preparing for Saturday as well. I love being here and I love the people! I know that despite hard times, Heavenly Father truly does have a plan for each of His children!
"If blessings were immediate, choosing the right would not build faith."
-President Eyring, Apr. 2014
Love,
-Sister Cottrell
Pictures: Tie dye with Pagie and Kelsey on the 4th of July!
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