Hi everyone!
Just a few thoughts today. :) Sometimes it can be really hard to see your progress and see how you're changing. This past week during weekly planning before we got too far into it we spent time talking about all the good things that had happened the past week and the progress that had been made. I loved it. As I've been reflecting on change and progress I just can't help but be grateful that change is part of life and that it's part of His plan for us. Change is scary and sometimes it can be disheartening when it seems like we're not improving as fast as we'd like or we let fear get in the way. But the Lord is willing to help us where we are at, as long as we are willing to act and to keep going.
I love seeing the changes and the progress that people are making. I know that the gospel can truly bless lives. We just started working with a woman and her husband. She is a member and her husband isn't. They came to church for the first time in a long time yesterday. Sacrament meeting seemed like it was made specifically just for them. I hope that they will take the gospel back into their lives and let it change them. I look at her life right now and I see that she isn't happy, that she's guarded and that she's afraid. I know the gospel can do wonders, I know it can bring happiness, but I know I can't force her to change or to accept it back into her life. I know that the Spirit wants to guide her and that the scriptures can help answer her questions. I know all of this is true, because it's made a difference for me. I can find answers to my questions in the scriptures and I've found so much peace by living the gospel. I know that I still have changes to make and that I'm no where near perfect. I just pray that we can both open our hearts and change to become who He needs us and wants us to be.
We have seen such amazing progress in Penny. She is more confident in her gospel knowledge and knowing that she can do this. She has also picked a baptismal date! She wanted to have her family come down from North Carolina. She was visiting this week and this picked a date - July 8th it is! :) We are so excited for her!
Also, Grace has made exciting progress! We've skyped her a few times this week and she told us she was going to a club for her friends birthday party. She knows about the word of wisdom even though we haven't had the lesson yet and she told us a little about her experience. She said she was excited to go to the party because she hadn't seen her friends for a while and it had been a bit of a tough week, etc. So she went and then the sisters there in England texted her inviting her to a movie night at the church. So she went, assuming that it would be a new, popular movie. Naturally, it wasn't, and it ended up being The Testaments, one of my favorite church movies! :) She ended up staying for the whole thing. She said it was really cheesy and she was bored, but I think deep down she liked it or she wouldn't have stayed. After the movie ended she left and since it wasn't very late at night she decided to go back to the party. She did and she stayed for quite a while. Her fiance was there too, but he wasn't drinking because he's preparing for baptism too. She said she did drink some because she hadn't had the lesson yet, but that she drank a lot less than she usually does. But she asked us, "Why did I feel so bad when I went back to the party?" She said that before she went to the church she'd been fine at the party, but after she went back she had these bad feelings and she knew that she shouldn't be there. She knew she shouldn't be around the drinking and the drugs. She just wanted to know why she felt such a difference! We were able to explain a little more about the spirit and how all good things come from God and evil things come from the devil. Anyway, the spirit is working with her. As much as she likes us to think that she's not making changes or progressing, she really is. It's exciting to see. Slowly but surely!
We get to go to the temple this week and we are so excited! :) If you get a chance to go this week, please do!
Love you all! Have an amazing week and don't forget that the Lord loves you and will help you become your best self!
Sister Gessel
