THIS WEEK- I was thinking a lot about when Christ was
walking near the sea shore and his disciples were trying to catch fish.
They weren't having much success, but when Christ told them where to cast
their nets--- they brought up sooooo many fish!!! Christ said, "Come
unto me, and I shall make ye Fishers of Men,".
I thought about this
a lot this week-- that as missionaries-- we are in the field, fishing. We
are working hard to find all of the people out there wanting and
waiting to hear the truth of the restored gospel, but sometimes, we don't
always CATCH/or see the results of our efforts...
That
is how it has been here in Cambé for our companionship. We are working
hard, we are fishing- we have tried many neighborhoods, planned
activities, done divisions with other missionaries, and prayed lots, but
still, we haven't seen the fish!!!
This week,
my companion and I were feeling a little bit discouraged- transfers are
next Tuesday and we have had two transfers in Cambé without a
baptism...I found myself asking the Lord in my prayers, "where are the
fish?" "where are the people in Cambé that are ready to hear thy
message?" "Who can I help?"--- but then I was reminded that Christ told
his disciples that they needed to have faith, and follow Him. And when His disciples did, OH HOW MANY FISH THEY WERE ABLE TO CATCH!
I am learning so much--- I told my companion that sometimes we just need to exercise faith to continue FOLLOWING HIM, despite
whether or not we are seeing the results of our efforts. Heavenly
Father knows and sees even our smallest effort to bring His children
back to Him, and so, if He is satisfied, we need to be as well-- but if
He is not, and it is not hard to know...WE NEED TO KEEP ON FISHIN!!!
I
am incredibly grateful for this opportunity to not only learn how to
fish, but to learn how to be a FISHER OF MEN. I am learning so much and I
know that Christ is always aware of us. This is the hardest thing I
have ever done, especially now that I have gone 2 years being separated
from my own twin brother and now will go another year away, but I HAVE
NO DOUBT THAT EVEN IF I DON'T SEE THE RESULTS OF MY EFFORTS, I WILL
ALWAYS KEEP CASTING MY NET! I know that Heavenly Father sees it all, and
I am doing this for Him!
I am feeling lots more confident in Brasil! I feel comfortable! iIam still learning so much about the culture, language, people, etc, but I
am feeling more comfortable with everything..
I hope to stay one more transfer in Cambe, but at the same time would be
happy to leave and challenge myself in a different way--- I am finally
feeling comfortable enough in the mission, with comps, and in Brazil to
just go with the flow with the transfers... this is a happy feeling! Less nerves, more excitement to see what will happen next!
I'll be honest- there are some days in the mission field when I want
to just collapse and stop--- days when it is super hot or super cold like
this week (down to 5 degrees celsius)--- and no one wants to let you
in... it is exhausting! But, I always remind myself that I can not stop
moving, finding, and serving, until I have passed through even a
fraction of what Christ passed for me.... I tell myself this knowing
that I will never, ever get close to doing what He did.
This
week we were knocking doors and found a woman named D. She is a
single mom with a 15 year old son and 10 year old daughter. We met with them and
they go to another church called "Paz e Amor"- they are really big
church goers... we
introduced the Book of Mormon and they were ecstatic to accept it! They
thought we sold Books of Mormon and worshiped Joseph Smith... haha so
they were happy to hear the truth. I am excited to see where things go
with them. They were super cute and wanted to send you guys pictures of
me! haha this week we will visit them again and try to teach them
everything we can!!! They are already reading the Book of Mormon! I
think our only challenge with them will be teaching them about
authority- that only the Church of Jesus Christ has authority to perform
baptisms and such...but I am hopeful!
We had
lunch again with I. and her family, they are so great! Love that cute
family!
This week I met with Presidente Pereira
again--- he is so great!!! He said that these past few weeks, his
wife has been begging him to let her call me- she said, "I miss talking
to Sister Tyson--- can I just call her and chat?" hahahaha he told her
that she can call anytime.
 |
| Sister Tyson with Sister Perreira (mission president's wife) and another sister missionary |
No comments:
Post a Comment