He "has promised angels on our left and our right, to bear us up" and how grateful I am for that promise!

20th February, 2017

Heeeeey y'all! Hope everyone is having such an amazing week!

Teaching a lesson (Ma'a Paongo taught them when she served here)

My week was great! The weather this week cooled down quite a bit. The air was cooler and the temperature was not as extreme!  The lord sure did bless us with some amazing conditions to work in this week!

Something I was really focussing on this week was recognising the Lord's hand in my life. So my question to you is "how have you seen the Lord's hand in your life?" This week was so much better because I really concentrated on being grateful for the things that the Lord is continuously doing for not only me, but my companion, my branch and my mission.

One day this week I was on trade-offs with Sister Meyer.  She is awesome!  We went door knocking (which is my absolute favourite) and within a four hour time frame we knocked on about 152 doors (yes I counted). The Lord truly did soften the hearts of all those that we contacted. Although the majority of them did not allow us to introduce ourselves, they at least rejected us "nicely". Those who let us share a little message with them either said “thanks” kindly and that's all we would like to hear or some actually wanted to take a pamphlet to read!

I saw this throughout the entire week as my companion and I continued to knock on doors, to speak with people in the streets and while following up with potential investigators.

Since I've been out I've really come to love rejection. Yeah, I know that sounds weird but I really love it! Rejection motivates me, and gets me even more excited to find that one person who is prepared and willing to learn more about the gospel!

Willing is one of my favourite words (one of many of course).

Are you willing to serve the Lord? Are you willing to align your will with Heavenly Fathers?  What are you willing to do to hasten the work of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ? What are you willing to do to become the missionary you have the potential to be?

These are all questions that I continuously run through my mind.

So I ask each of you: what are you willing to do to serve the Lord? Are you willing to align your will with Heavenly Fathers? What are you willing to do to hasten the work of heavenly father and Jesus Christ?  What are you willing to do to become the son or daughter that you have the potential to be? As you ponder on these things, ask yourself these questions. How can you improve? How can you do better? How can you progress and be better today than you were yesterday?

There's a quote that I have in my scriptures by President Henry B. Eyring

"If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing.  In all conditions, we can choose the right with the guidance of the spirit. We have the gospel of Jesus Christ to shape and guide our lives if we choose it. And with prophets revealing to us our place in the plan of salvation, we can live with perfect hope and a feeling of peace. We never need to feel that we are alone or unloved in the Lord's service, because we never are. We can feel the love of God. The saviour has promised angels on our left and our right, to bear us up. And he always keeps His word."

This quote has always been one of my favourites but as I read it I truly have found a deeper understanding, a better application to my life right now. Everyone says that missionary work is hard, but it’s not! Yes, it is energy draining, it is very busy and it requires you to always be focused and ready but it’s easy if you make it easy!  Well that's my perspective on it at least. I've found that as I have continued to ensure that I have prepared myself that the work is not hard; it is enjoyable, rewarding and the challenges that are faced are always the best because I know that it is helping me grow in some aspect in my life. 

The first line of the quote says it all "if we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing."  I have faith in Jesus Christ and I know that everything that I am experiencing is a blessing.  It is important for you to know that whatever you are going through right now is also a blessing. You may not recognise it as such during this moment, but when you look back at it you will see how the Lord was guiding you through this trial or great time because He was preparing you for something greater! A blessing, A lesson, An increase of some sort! The opportunities that I have had to share the gospel with those around me have been wonderful!  At times, disheartening, because some have not wanted to accept or even hear a small piece of truth but I know that in the Lord's time, they will one day soften their heart and have an open mind fueled with a desire to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. To have the opportunity to receive a remission of their sins, to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, and to make the necessary choices to return to live with our Heavenly Father and our families for eternity. I feel Heavenly Father's love for me every day, and as I have tried to be more attuned to recognising how His merciful hand has guided me in my life, my love for him has deepened. I know that I am never alone, and I hope that you know that too! Whatever it is that you are facing, know that you are never alone, he "has promised angels on our left and our right, to bear us up" and how grateful I am for that promise.

I invite you all to allow yourself to recognise the Lord's hand in your life. I know that as you do this, you will come to have a deeper appreciation and love for our Saviour and our Heavenly Father for their continuous love. I know that as you recognise the blessings that you receive daily you will come know how much love they have for you personally and as you learn this, you will have a greater desire to show that love to others! I know this because it has happened to me!

I love you!

Sister Roos xx (: (:

we did service at Sister Reme house and she gave us custard (made with her goats milk) and berry sauce (from her backyard)

This is Terry. we go every Wednesday to his retirement home and read the book of Mormon with him. these are some cookies we brought him - one of his favourites

The "must" helmet photo hahhaha

Every Thursday we volunteer at the Seymour Centre with the elderly, and they made gardens today. they had extras so Sister Niu and I made one hhhahaha healthy for days bhahahha

Sister Aloua , loveeeeeeeeeee her

Sister Aloua, me, Sister Meyer

We had zone training meeting and zone pday, these are some of the elders in the zon

yeah we're fat, we went to kfc hahhahhhaha

This is my new friend Chaise. I gave him my CTR ring so we are best friends now.

It was my companions birthday, so the elders and I were sneaky and planned a surprise party for her at the mission couples house. she thought we were going to do service hahhaha

This week we've been singing to people and yesterday we got rejected all the times we asked. This was our face hahha

This is the Reiri and Ma'a family! they are the bomb. Yesterday we got rejected all day haha no one wanted us and then we got a call from them to come over. Now this was straight MERCIES from the lord. They gave us containers of pre-made frozen dinners for the week too. I love them!

This morning it was 20 degrees and Sister Niu and I were freezing - hahhaha