Happppy Halloweeeen everyone!!!
Yay! What a fun day. Today we are going to have a mission wide activity (which is fortunate yet not so fortunate because today is P-day...) Anyways! I'm really excited though. Annnd the cutest thing happened this morning. We had Relief Society and the sisters planned for all these different kinds of special "guests" to come & we had almost all the different disney princesses/characters come! Haha! What was cute was that we had each person from their culture. So mulan was asian, meredith (from Brave) was a Redhead with big crazy hair, an american indian was Pocahontas... you get the idea! That's the fun part about serving at Temple Square. It was absolutely adorable.
So again... talking about the BEST MISSION ever... this is my 3rd transfer here and we've already met with another Apostle!!! Elder Dallin H. Oaks came and talked to our mission with Sister Oaks AND I got to shake his hand!!!!! So coooool!!!! It was just the cutest thing. Him and his wife both talked to us together and it was so fun to get to know his personality. They played around and said embarrassing things about each other while they were talking and had us all just cracking up. One cool thing they told us was that when we turned in our mission papers to come on a mission (the prophet and apostles decide where we go by inspiration) ... our bishop and stake president write about us and that as Temple Square sisters... the ability that we have to reach out and meet people was greatly considered in the consideration of where we got called. I thought that was pretty awesome! They also talked to us about how we are here to love someone different from ourselves and the importance of staying focused. More than anything, the adversary wants to distract us. If the people that come here to learn of Jesus Christ, we are his emissary. We promised them as spirits before we came to this earth that we would find those who need his Gospel and teach them. Satan doesn't want that and will do everything in his power to lessen our desire to go out and do what we need to do. We have a responsibility to bring everyone - no matter what faith - to the remembrance of WHO they are. To remind them of their divine potential and that we have a loving Heavenly Father who cares about us and loves us each individually.
What's been a trial of mine this week is dealing with people who do not believe in God at all. Or they believe in Him in a way that is so abstract and more intellectual if anything. To be completely honest, it really has been a struggle. I've realized though that the more I think about my personal testimony.. the more I realize that I will never convince anyone of the existence of God. It is a completely personal experience. It's not just a "good feeling" in my heart but it is an actual PERSONAL spiritual witness that confirms that beautiful truth to me and is undeniable. And it only comes through sincerely getting on your knees and praying every night, and for hours if necessary if the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. To really ask Him in sincerity. In a place where it is quiet and peaceful. Thinking no angry or evil thought. Being patient. Being humble. I know that our Heavely Father lives and that He loves me and each and every other being that walks this earth. The Atonement of our Savior is real. And He is real.
I've had some pretty neat experiences this week which have led me to really understand the meaning of giving heed to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Sister Retuta and I were talking to some sisters at one of the desks in the south visitors center and in walks this older man in a super nice suit and really just clean cut & classy. We said hello to him and then continued talking (which is strike #1... don't judge me!!) about something really not important and then the spirit told me and sister retuta to go talk to him. So we went and talked to him and had a nice pleasant conversation. He just had some extra time to spare so thought he would come to temple square. He ended up being a return missionary from Japan and was dropping off his daughters with their mother. He briefly mentioned that he was divorced and that was the only thing really personal we knew about him. We started talking about Hawaii (because Sister Retuta went to BYU Hawaii) and then we had to get going home so we just left. No uplifting. No invitation. Nothing.... (Strike #2... I know :(... ) So we left to go downstairs to get our bags and sis retuta forgot something at the desk so we went back. Then we were both talking about how we should have gotten to know him better. Bring him closer to Christ in some way and then we started talking to some other sisters and ended up passing him again. Did we go up to him and talk again? No. Because we were like well, we were just reprimanded earlier today about not being home by 9 o'clock, yadda yadda. (excuses... I know...) and so then we left the gates and were on our way back when I was prompted like 3 other times to go talk to him. I'm almost infront of the reflection pool and I'm like UGH i can't stand this.. So I told Sister Retuta we had to go talk to him and I didn't care if we were going to be late or have to have security escort us home.. we were going to go talk to him. So we are running back (as nicely as we could in our skirts) and finally found him about to leave the gates. We tried to make it as smooth as possible but sister Retuta and I both were heavily breathing and thinking of what to say to him. So sister retuta just says, taking deep breaths throughout the sentence.. "We just.... wanted... to get.... your information" and he was totally like what in the world is wrong with these sister missionaries. Hahahah.. and we told him we really felt inspired to come back and talk to him and we asked him more about his family. Turns out this man was seriously beyond depressed. He ended up CRYING(not bawling, but there were tears...remember.. business man, way classy) as we reminded him how much Heavenly Father loved him. He was telling us how going through this divorce has been the hardest thing for him and that he feels like a failure as a parent and husband and that he just feels so invisible everywhere he goes. Work. Church. everywhere. Then he started saying how he just has been having such a hard time with paying for everything because his ex wife has taken so much of his earnings and that it is hard to make it through day to day. I just melted. I really really could not believe what a powerful experience that had been for me. And believe me. I repented for not listening to the Holy Spirit the first time it told me to talk to him. It was such a testimony builder for me to remember to always always always listen to what the spirit has to say. I promised my Heavenly Father He could trust me with anything. And I know I will always pay attention to the small (or repetitive) promptings of the Spirit. I think it was a lesson learned for both sister retuta and I because she felt guilty she didn't pay attention to her feelings either.
I KNOW God cares about everyone. He cares about YOU. Listen to the Spirit. & The Atonement is REAL!
My invitation to you all this week is to pray to be more sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost leads us and guides us. Miracles happen! They are realllll.
Well, that is one of my various lessons learned for the week. I love you all sooo so soo very much.
Don't go too crazy with candy from Halloween!
SMILE :D, BE HAPPY :), AND REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE <3
Ingat kayo palagi (Take care always, Tagalog!)
Love,
Sister Corina Selene Cuevas
Sister Corina Selene Cuevas
No comments:
Post a Comment