Bonjour ma belle famille et mes amis!!
Soeur Shariatmadari and I had a fantastic week! I love my companion! We are constantly working so hard. We are either talking to everyone, studying, or laughing. I have love love loved my other companions, but it has been fun getting to talk and joke about American things together. It is interesting being two Americans together in a foreign mission. I do not know if people just know that the struggle is always real or what but we have been so blessed together. People are so nice and we literally just keep receiving blessings after blessings and miracles after miracles. When Soeur Shariatmadari and I started our companionship, we set a lot of specific goals that we wanted to achieve together. It is amazing as we go throughout our days as we really do try our best, to notice the hands of God in the lives of others and watch the Holy Ghost lead our paths as well. Also, it is so cool how God gives us opportunities to improve ourselves, to find again our weaknesses, and to discover again that we are capable of so much and that we have an unlimited potential. In the last three weeks with Soeur Shariatmadari, I have really learned how to be bold. I have never liked making decisions in life maybe because I am a little bit indecisive and maybe I am just scared that if I pick one thing there was something else that could have been the better option. I have been thinking a lot about decisions and choices this week. I think I already shared this thought but there was a conference talk from last fall that talked about decisions and choices that we are faced with each and every day. Of course we always have the choice between the good and the bad. At times we might be tempted to choose the bad but at least it is easy to distinguish the good. After this, we have the choice which is good and a choice which is better. In this situation it is easy to settle for the good and not take the extra effort to go for the better. But in this state of mind, we re still cutting ourselves short. There is something else that God has in store for us. And that is the BEST CHOICE. After all of this. . . the bad, the good, and the better . . . we always will be given the option to chose the best thing. This is hard. The best choice in life will always be the thing that brings us closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. On a mission, this requires going the extra mile. That exact obedience, that happy diligence, that hopeful faith! But in these moments of loyalness to our Heavenly Father is when He provides us with the rest. When He provides us with His grace, and allows us to feel His love through His son. So this week we had one day where several of our lessons fell through and we were left talking to everyone we saw. We successfully filled our day with good things. We found several potential investigators. As the day started to come to a close, we were faced with the choice to head early to our dinner appointment or to try to talk to a few more people. We were in a tiny street and drove past several little children. They all said hello as we rode by. We decided to turn around and to talk to them. They all looked a little young and we need to ask their parents permission before teaching them so I asked where they lived and if there parents were home. We were secretly thinking that we could win a lesson with one of their parents. One of the little girls ran into the woods and a minute later came out with her mom. This woman was very special and from the minute we started talking to her I could feel the spirit prompting me as I asked questions. Not even asking the daughter if she had ever talked to the missionaries, if she knew what the church was or if she even wanted the lessons. I told the mom that her daughter was in need of our Heavenly Father in her life and asked her if we could start the lessons. The mom looked to the daughter and the daughter without hesitating got a big smile on her face and accepted immediately! I then asked the mom if she would accept the baptism of her daughter for the day when she would know for herself it was true. Normally I do not ask this question this soon or this straight up, but it just came out and sure enough the mom accepted. So last week we started the lessons with the daughter, Teaviu. Soon her little brother joined with us and of course the mom was present at every lesson. The two children knew the church was true after the Plan of Salvation lesson. Their baptisms will be on Saturday the 13th. God is amazing and totally lead our path that day. I asked these two young children, Tau and Teaviu, how they knew the church was true and why they wanted to be baptized. They both replied that it was because they knew it was a good thing. I asked them how they knew it was a good thing. They replied that they knew that God wants to see them again and they want to live with Him again one day. It is crazy how true the church is, even the young children can feel the truthfulness of it and the love of God. I know that God has something amazing planned for these two children and I am happy that we could be in tune with the spirit being able to make the BEST choice to help these special people find their identity and true potential in life. I know that this church is true. I know that God knows us and loves us individually. And I am happy to be living my life for Him. Thank you for everything!! The love, support, friendships, everything! I love you all! I hope you have a fantastic week making only the BEST choices!
With lots of love, Soeur Heather KoffordSoeur Shariatmadari and I had a fantastic week! I love my companion! We are constantly working so hard. We are either talking to everyone, studying, or laughing. I have love love loved my other companions, but it has been fun getting to talk and joke about American things together. It is interesting being two Americans together in a foreign mission. I do not know if people just know that the struggle is always real or what but we have been so blessed together. People are so nice and we literally just keep receiving blessings after blessings and miracles after miracles. When Soeur Shariatmadari and I started our companionship, we set a lot of specific goals that we wanted to achieve together. It is amazing as we go throughout our days as we really do try our best, to notice the hands of God in the lives of others and watch the Holy Ghost lead our paths as well. Also, it is so cool how God gives us opportunities to improve ourselves, to find again our weaknesses, and to discover again that we are capable of so much and that we have an unlimited potential. In the last three weeks with Soeur Shariatmadari, I have really learned how to be bold. I have never liked making decisions in life maybe because I am a little bit indecisive and maybe I am just scared that if I pick one thing there was something else that could have been the better option. I have been thinking a lot about decisions and choices this week. I think I already shared this thought but there was a conference talk from last fall that talked about decisions and choices that we are faced with each and every day. Of course we always have the choice between the good and the bad. At times we might be tempted to choose the bad but at least it is easy to distinguish the good. After this, we have the choice which is good and a choice which is better. In this situation it is easy to settle for the good and not take the extra effort to go for the better. But in this state of mind, we re still cutting ourselves short. There is something else that God has in store for us. And that is the BEST CHOICE. After all of this. . . the bad, the good, and the better . . . we always will be given the option to chose the best thing. This is hard. The best choice in life will always be the thing that brings us closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. On a mission, this requires going the extra mile. That exact obedience, that happy diligence, that hopeful faith! But in these moments of loyalness to our Heavenly Father is when He provides us with the rest. When He provides us with His grace, and allows us to feel His love through His son. So this week we had one day where several of our lessons fell through and we were left talking to everyone we saw. We successfully filled our day with good things. We found several potential investigators. As the day started to come to a close, we were faced with the choice to head early to our dinner appointment or to try to talk to a few more people. We were in a tiny street and drove past several little children. They all said hello as we rode by. We decided to turn around and to talk to them. They all looked a little young and we need to ask their parents permission before teaching them so I asked where they lived and if there parents were home. We were secretly thinking that we could win a lesson with one of their parents. One of the little girls ran into the woods and a minute later came out with her mom. This woman was very special and from the minute we started talking to her I could feel the spirit prompting me as I asked questions. Not even asking the daughter if she had ever talked to the missionaries, if she knew what the church was or if she even wanted the lessons. I told the mom that her daughter was in need of our Heavenly Father in her life and asked her if we could start the lessons. The mom looked to the daughter and the daughter without hesitating got a big smile on her face and accepted immediately! I then asked the mom if she would accept the baptism of her daughter for the day when she would know for herself it was true. Normally I do not ask this question this soon or this straight up, but it just came out and sure enough the mom accepted. So last week we started the lessons with the daughter, Teaviu. Soon her little brother joined with us and of course the mom was present at every lesson. The two children knew the church was true after the Plan of Salvation lesson. Their baptisms will be on Saturday the 13th. God is amazing and totally lead our path that day. I asked these two young children, Tau and Teaviu, how they knew the church was true and why they wanted to be baptized. They both replied that it was because they knew it was a good thing. I asked them how they knew it was a good thing. They replied that they knew that God wants to see them again and they want to live with Him again one day. It is crazy how true the church is, even the young children can feel the truthfulness of it and the love of God. I know that God has something amazing planned for these two children and I am happy that we could be in tune with the spirit being able to make the BEST choice to help these special people find their identity and true potential in life. I know that this church is true. I know that God knows us and loves us individually. And I am happy to be living my life for Him. Thank you for everything!! The love, support, friendships, everything! I love you all! I hope you have a fantastic week making only the BEST choices!
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| Tau and Teaviu at church with us yesterday! |
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| Soeur Shariatmadari and I with Papi on his birthday! |
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