It's me again!
This week after making so much progress with investigators, see them feel the spirit and then watch Satan do everything in his power to stop their progression has been hard. He works on every investigator, any way he can, because they have been so prepared. Marking someone for a baptismal date and then having them completely drop you has broken me and Sister Sosa's hearts this week. Our ward mission leader said something that really impacted me, "If you don't want Satan to get to you... don't work." Quite a profound statement. The more I thought about it, the more I realized what a compliment it actually is to have Satan work against you. If he is scared from the minute I wake up in the morning and is putting all his efforts into stopping us, it's because we are truly doing the Lord’s work. We are literal representatives of His son, Jesus Christ. We are touching the souls of those we teach and bringing the spirit into their lives. We are helping them heal and know of their Savior. Of course he's going to try and get me to be sad. Of course he's going to try and make me feel inadequate. Of COURSE he is going to try and stop that and get me to quit; I am doing the Lord's work. But, no matter how hard he tries, this is the Lord's work and it will only progress. In the end he will never win- he can't! I loved the Women's General Conference this weekend! They talked about having UNSHAKEABLE faith in Christ and our Father in Heaven. When we are unshakeable we can and will get through any and every trial and challenge. I love what Dieter F. Uchtdorf said during the broadcast, "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. And faith comes to the humble, diligent, enduring and who pay the price of faithfulness." Being unshakable isn't something we can just decide to be. It requires work and diligence. Paying the price of enduring no matter what. But through all of this, every step of the way, we are never alone. We always have the Savior and our Father right with us. Isaiah 43:2 "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." We all need to strive to have that unshakable faith and do what it takes/requires to continue to strengthen and share it. Girls- at this time, in these Latter-Days, we NEED more women who are willing to not only gain that faith but SHARE it. Whether it be at home or leaving to go on a mission, the Lord needs you! Women have such a special spirit; one that can change the world! If you have ever remotely thought about a mission, continue to know if that's the path for you. The Lord will carry you, protect you, strengthen you and bless you because HE needs YOU. isn't that neat? The Savior of the world and Father of all the Heaven and earth need YOU and YOUR spirit. How Firm A Foundation 5. When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume, thy dross to consume, Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine. 7. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes; That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, I’ll never, no never, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake! I am so grateful to be out in DC and learning to be unshakeable. The Gospel is true, and so is His love for you. Love, Sister Montgomery ❤
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My goodness prepare yourselves- MISSIONS ARE MIRACLES!
Things have been pretty rough here in Fort Meade. After a full week of not really being able to teach and having problem after problem, whether it was investigator, member or health wise, the Lord gave us a miracle to say, "Keep going- I love you." On Friday we received a referral from the Visitors Center Sisters for a girl who had randomly stopped in that afternoon. We tried calling her but the number didn't work. We then tried putting her address into our GPS except that didn't work either. We tried again the next day, but the number still didn't work. We were about to drop her when we felt like we should try one more time. So, instead of calling we tried texting. Low and behold, IT WORKED! We introduced ourselves and told her we would love to meet with her sometime and hear about her experience at the Visitors Center. She was super excited and wanted to set up a time STAT. So, we invited her to come to church with us in the morning! Usually inviting people to come never ends up working out, especially when you haven't even met them yet. But she goes, “Yeah! What time?" So we told her if she came a little early we could give her a tour of the church. She was EXCITED which is something we don't get too often, especially here on a military base! The next morning we met her and gave a tour of the church which was so cool. she had SO many questions and was just soaking everything in like a sponge. Sacrament was super cool because we had another investigator and three less active families who we have been working with all come! It was AMAZING! Every Sunday Sister Sosa and I are on the edges of our seat hoping that our investigators and less active members actually keep to their word, and every Sunday our hearts break a little bit when the doors close and none of them come. So the fact that we had everyone there all at once for the first time ever- I was so giddy! Back to our investigator... I sat by her while Sister Sosa sat by our other investigator. She kept asking me questions and was so excited to be there. I asked her how she felt after hearing the sacrament prayers and she said, "I feel really good. I feel happy." After some of the talks and leaning over to me and said, “So, tell me a little bit more about being a missionary. What do you do? How do you get ready to go?” So, I told her all about missions- how we leave our families, friends, scholarships, relationships and life behind for 18 months to come here and teach the gospel full time. We only get to communicate with our loved ones once a week on Monday's via email or letter, but we get to Skype on Christmas and Mother's day. We do this every day all day for 18 months because we know this Gospel is true, and I would do anything to help one person be brought to that knowledge and know of their Savior. She looked at me and goes, “So, when can I go on a mission? When can I go to the temple? I want to be baptized." WHATTTT- She literally hasn't heard any of the lessons and had only known us for about 2 hours! So we invited her come with us to "Why I Believe" that night to hear some of the testimonies of recent converts, and why THEY believe. "Why I Believe" is held at the Visitors Center in DC once a month and it was amazing! Perfect timing too, may I add. We looked at the temple and she said, "That's my goal. I want to go on a mission!” So, we invited her to be baptized on October 8, because that is the soonest she could be baptized. No surprise, she said yes! (and was ecstatic we could get her ready that soon). She is already counting down the year mark for when she can enter the temple and leave on a mission! All it took was one day- feeling that peace and love from her Savior ONE time to know this is true. It was the most amazing thing to be an instrument in the Lord's hand for someone who is so prepared and has so much faith. We are not always going to receive angels or these big AH-HA moments, in fact, newsflash.... that rarely happens. He is answering our prayers so simply by just helping us feel at peace. He is answering our prayers daily, constantly and simply; we just need to listen, it only takes once. Have faith that that is enough. With Love, Sister Montgomery Well, I have officially finished my first transfer in DC, can you believe it? Sister Sosa and I will be staying in Fort Meade a little bit longer :) Thank heavens because we have a lot of work still to do here. We have some great progressing investigators and have seen lots of miracles the past few weeks. One of which is Keith- We found him while tracting one day and got to teach him a little on his porch and give him a Book of Mormon, however he wasn't entirely sober.... When we came back for our return appointment he had his cold one and was again, not entirely sober, so retaining information on the Restoration was a little tricky. The highlight of Keith that lesson was when he told us, "Man i'll tell you what, I lit a couple joints, got in the zone and then read from the Book of Mormon and man... it was something. I felt it here (points to his heart) and here (points to his head) I mean wow it was like I was IN the story. You gotta try it some time." Is that what one would call a 'Spiritual High'....? He told us, "I may not really know what you're teaching me, but I do know that I feel something when you're here and something tells me I need to learn more." So we called him that week to set another appointment, and told him that because our message is so important, in order for us to keep teaching he needed to be completely sober and not under the influence so that the spirit could be present with us. And miracle.... HE STAYED SOBER! He hasn't been sober for years so it was really neat that he did that for us. We have now taught him several lessons where he has remained sober and really recognized the spirit. He even called us today saying that he read out of the Book of Mormon (not on the good kush) and it helped him feel at peace and "chillaxed" as he says, after a hard week. Missions - are - MIRACLES This week I really leaned on Ether 12. As I looked back on everything that has happened over the past few weeks and the miracles I have seen/been a part of, I have witnessed just how powerful faith can be. It is because of FAITH that we receive miracles. It is because of FAITH that we receive answers to prayers. It is through FAITH that we come closer to our Heavenly Father. It is because of FAITH we are able to find ourselves and happiness, because faith is the foundation of everything. There's a reason the rewards from faith are so amazing- if faith wasn't hard, it wouldn't be worth it. One little requirement to receive EVERYTHING in return, even the knowledge of our Savior and Reedemer, yet it's one of the hardest things to gain. Strive this week to have faith, TRUE faith as you get out of bed in the morning, really put it to the test. Find that faith through which miracles and joy is found.... Ether 12:6,12,27 <3 Love, Sister Montgomery [email protected] |