Half Way!

6/22/15

Iaorana friends and family!

I am officially half way done with my mission, which is really hard for me to believe! TIme goes so fast when you are working hard, having fun, and LOVING! This week I have learned again the importance of love. Loving our investigators, loving our members, loving the area, loving my darling companion, and most importantly . . . loving God. I realized again that I am on my mission for many reasons. The main reason is because of my love for our Heavenly Father! As I have been on my mission for the last nine months of my life, I truly have learned who we are. We are children of God. He loves us and we need to love Him! To truly be able to feel His love in our lives and be able to receive and notice His blessings, we need to do our best to do what He has asked of us. I love the scripture in Joshua 22:5 which says, But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commandments, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. To feel His love for us, we need to love Him too and show this love through our obedience and serve Him with all of our hearts and souls. I know that if we do our best to love our God, He will always be there to help and comfort us in our life! He even has blessings we cannot imagine waiting for us to find! I love the scripture in First Corinthians 2:9 which says, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him. Sœur Shariatmadari and I have been doing our best to show our love through our actions and obedience this last week! We have seen and lived through so many miracles in the last week! Just a few situations . . . we had talked to this lady one day on her door step. She would not even let us in or let us sit down, but we shared our scripture of the day with her anyway. Then left her there telling us that she was not really interested in a next time. During the week, we came across two boys who were jogging on the beach. Since we share messages with everyone we see who will listen, we shared a scripture with them as well. They accepted for us to come back for a next time and described to us where their house was. Immediately I knew that it was the same house the lady lived in. So the day came and we went back to this house, but this time we were happily welcomed by the the young men and even the lady! We shared the Plan of Salvation lesson and they loved it! Before we could even finish the lesson, they asked us when the next time was and invited us to eat with them! I know that this house is in need of the gospel and it was actually a way cool experience. Also, our friends, Emilienne and Tihote are getting married and baptized this week! They do not have a lot of money and were not able to pay for much. It was amazing to see the ward members put forth their talents and efforts to make this wedding possible. I love my mission and I love our Heavenly Father. I know He lives and He loves us and He listens and answers every prayer! Try to feel His love this week through your actions and obedience! I love you all! Thank you for your love and support and just everything! Have an amazing week!

Love, Sœur Heather Kofford

Enjoying the beach on P-Day!

Sister Shariatmadari and me on the beach!