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| One time we met a baseball player. Plays for the Braves. |
Status of my disciplined lifestyle: I DID IT. A week straight. Still
not broken. Have not purchased Sonic or indulged in anything on the
unhealthy side (without halfing it with my companion. it counts.) I
did the first week of the Jillian Michaels workout Monday through
Saturday and I feel fabuloso. I don't look much different, but I feel
ten feet tall. And my biceps/triceps are a bit more defined. 20 miles
of biking this week did the legs some good as well. I know, this
doesn't sound missionary related. Why mention it? Because of the
principle here. My workouts and my reformed diet would make no
difference if I didn't have both, neither would they do any good unless
they were consistent. Discipline makes no difference unless applied
with diligence.
Words of wisdom from Jillian: "Transformation is not a future event. It is a present activity."
Words of wisdom from the apostle Paul: "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." [Romans 12:2]
He actually says just one verse prior:
I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Despite Tuesday being a crazy hard day
(I've had it up to HERE with sassy preachers) and getting dropped twice,
mercy miracle hit us on Wednesday. The missionaries have been working
with a less active and his live-in non-member girlfriend for like 9
months and getting him to abandon bad habits and living the commandments
has been the equivalent of potty training a hyperactive puppy.
Frustrating. However. Our long-suffering was not for naught. After
all the sets of sisters that went over and won their hearts, after all
the object lessons, acting out Book of Mormon stories, trying to show
Mormon Messages without getting knocked over by his slobbering Doberman,
they broke the news to us: he's quit smoking, he's quit drinking, and
they're getting married!! We screamed. Guess who gets to be the two
witnesses?!
I gave a talk yesterday in sacrament about honesty.
A topic very close to my heart. Bishop assigned it, and, in addition
to some general authority quotes and the story of the people of Ammon, I
ended up putting heart and soul into this talk. Awkward moment when
the ward your'e serving in now knows things about your life that your
own family doesn't know. (Sorry, not telling.) In the talk, I also
mentioned something we learned this week: we are not the only ones
affected by our commitment to our high moral standards and values, in
school and the workplace. Tracting, we met a woman and her daughter who
both had nothing but good things to say about the church because of
good friends they had or people they worked with who were LDS. One
basically told us, "I was amazed by the things I learned from them. If
it weren't for my husband, I would join that church." The way you live
is the greatest testimony you will ever bear. Even if you can't see it,
it makes a difference.
I've noticed a bread-trail pattern that occurs a lot
when we get a good feeling about a particular street or area we should
proselyte in. We'll find someone the first time, go back and they're
not there, meet someone else. We go back for that person, they drop us
or stand us up, but while we're there, we find someone ELSE. This
continues several times in most cases until we find The One. The meek
and humble person who's been praying for us to come. In this week's
case, it was an awesome woman who wears t-shirts that say "I <3 God"
and "God Has Blessed Me Today", thanks "Lord Jeesuh" in her prayers at
least 20 times, and told us she's prayed for someone to come that knew
God's word better than she did. Her prayers are the best. "Thank you
for sending me my sisters," she prayed, "I didn't know they was comin
here, and they didn't know they was comin here, but You knew, Lord
Jeesuh!"
We found her the fourth or fifth time we revisited the area. Diligence reaps results.
Sometimes,
the mercy miracle is small. Like getting a good laugh out of an
unfortunate event that's not as bad as it could have been, i.e. when a
fellow missionary gets pulled over by a cop but there's nowhere to pull
over on small country roads so she accidentally drives into a ditch and
hits a pile of gravel and (after turning on the tail lights, which we
got pulled over for) having two more cops show up, one to watch for
traffic and one to help push us out. They prob thought these
outta-state missionary girls were nuts who wouldn't stop laughing in the
backseat and taking pictures.
Oh, remember our guy who came to church last week?
We got to actually teach him this week, and he came to church again
yesterday! All you gotta do is get em once, and they're hooked. The
Spirit in our meetings is undeniable. Why? "One true and living
church." How blessed we are.
I'll close with the words of the ever-diligent Alma,
who learned as I recently have to accept all that is within my calling
and stewardship:
9 I
know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not
glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me;
yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the
hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.
10 And
behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to
the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember
what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer;
yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me.
[Alma 29]
That arm is always there. Be diligent. Be disciplined. He'll make up the difference, and together you make a difference.
Sincerely,
Sister Valdez
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