Hello family how are you? I hope that all is well and that you are enjoying the beautiful fall colors :) Well life here in Albuquerque is same old same old, we teach people, help the sisters and do other missionaryesc things. It is just crazy how it will be October tomorrow!! And Makall is putting in her papers!!! WHERE DID THE TIME GO!!!! I feel like I just got out here and I have been gone for 7 months...I am almost half way done....How on earth did that happen!! Its just crazy that time is not just that straight line that everyone thinks that it is. Its more of this wibbily wobbly ball of timey whimey stuff.... But any way lets get on to the stories of the week.
Story 1 The Tale of the Anti-Christ
The other night we went with a man in our ward to go and visit one of his home teaching people. She has been less active for a few years but has recently decided that she wants to come back to church. So we stop by and she is a very nice and fiery lady and she loves to talk. So we start having casual conversation, she tells us all about her dogs, her great grandma named Jorgan (Ha I had to laugh at that one), and how she loves Noahs ark. After that we start getting in to our spiritual thought which is about miracles, we share a quote and talk about how miracles are every where if we would only look for them. Then it was brought up that we should not expect miracles or ask God for them, so I shares the story of Korihor in Alma 30. And this is the conversation that follows.
Sister Chatwin: In this story we learn about Korihor and the prophet Alma. Korihor has been teaching false doctrine to the Nephites and leading them astray. And because he is doing this we refer to him as an Anti-Christ.
Sister Hayes: Anti-Christ....That's what I call Wal-Mart!!!!
It was the funniest statement that I have every heard!!! She just said it with such conviction and honesty. And we all just died laughing :) The rest of the message went really well and she said that she would start to come back to church!!!
Story 2 The Tale of Never Judging a Book By its Cover
There is rarely a night that we do not eat dinner at a members house. And most the time it goes well.. But other times things can take a sudden turn for the worst. And this past week we were having dinner with an older lady in the ward who had a reputation for not being the best cook. The last sisters who ate there got sick from eating her apple pie, and said that there was cat hair everywhere! So naturally as the night for dinner gets closer we start hoping for a miracle that will some how save us from such a horrendous ordeal. But to our greatest disappointment there was no such miracle. And so on the night of the dinner we hesitantly go to this sisters house and knock on the door. And as soon as the door opens we are greeted by 2 dogs and 3 cats, and the house is full of cat and dog hair. So we sit on the couch and wait for her to serve dinner. We ask if we can help and start to have small talk, she ask where we are from, how long we have been serving, and so on. And then she tells us that we are more than welcome to start to dish up our food, she had made spaghetti, bread sticks, and had a salad on the side. After we say the blessing on the food Sister Brown and I hesitantly start to eat....And it was actually really good! The apple pie was amazing also! And the cats stayed on the floor while the dogs sat by our feet and whinnied for food. So we started to talk and to get to know her. And turns out that she has been life long friends with Willy Nelson the country singer! He got her a bed for her last birthday and stops by any time that he is in Albuquerque. She also met the Band Chicago, went to dinner with them, and had no Idea who they were. She also makes jewelry and let us pick out anything that we wanted for free! I got this awesome ring that is made out of fluorite! SO the lesson that I learned that day was to never judge someone till you actually meet them...Well you shouldn't judge people period, but don't make opinions of them till you meet them.
Story 3 The Tale of the Broadcast
I am sure that you are all aware that last Saturday was the Relief Society broadcast. And if you didn't then you should go watch it, because it was really good! Well we started out the evening with a dinner of fajitas and popsicles made with real fruit (very good by the way). We also had an investigator there named Ashley. Now Ashley and her family referred themselves to the missionaries a few months ago. But after meeting with the sisters they decided to wait and see what it was that they really believed before containing to investigate our church. So we were really surprised to see her there with her Nanny (who is a member in another ward). We sat by her at dinner and then for the broadcast, and we were just praying that she would feel the spirit. So the broadcast starts and about half way through I look over at her and she has tears in her eyes. And that almost made me and sister Brown cry! After the broadcast was over we asked her what she thought about it. She said that she really could feel the love that the presidency and the prophet had for all of us as they spoke. And that she would be in touch with us after she had written down all of the questions that she had. We know that she and her family will get baptized someday, and we hope that we will get to be here to see it happen.
Story 4 The Tale of Random Facts that I have Learned this Week.
After we went to the broadcast on Saturday we had a missionary fireside by Elder Richardson who was a member of the 70. He also was on the committee that wrote Preach my Gospel, and his grandson is one of our AP's. So with that fireside and the broadcast I have learned some very interesting things. Frist off keeping covenants is important, and that we need to teach our children while they are young to keep promises. So that when they are old enough to make those covenants they will also know how to keep them. Secondly Never ignore a prompting. I have seen so many incidences on my mission were the spirit has quietly whispered in my ear to say or do something. And I have felt first hand the remorse that comes when you learn that there was more that you know that you could have done for someone. The Lord will use us to help his children, whither it is with a loaf of bread, a kind word, or even just a simple smile. The Lord needs us to be aware when he is trying to tell us things, and when you hear him GO FOLLOW HIM!!! You may lift someone's heart or even save there lives, but just follow every prompting that you receive. And lastly Prayer works. God hears us, he loves us, and he wants us to be happy. Even if you don't see the point in what is happening trust that God hears you and is mindful of your needs. He will always be there to give you anything that he knows will help you, but first you must ask. The bible dictionary definition of prayers is amazing it says, "As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are His children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part. Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings." If we always remember who we are and why we are praying we will never feel discouraged when we don't get the answer we feel that we need.
Well that was my week :) I hope that y'all are doing well and I cant wait to hear from you all soon :) Love y'all lots!!
Love sister Chatwin
P.S
Spell Cat. Kat I am out of here... Haha I know that is has 2 t's ;)
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