Madison on a Mission

Miracles

This week was full of miracles. Little miracles that really helped me see why life, the gospel, and being a missionary is so fantastic and is the sweetest way of life I could ever ask for. What a blessing it has been for me to see how I want my life to be -- service to my fellowmen and sharing to them the joy of the gospel.

There are hard times -- yes. Things don't always go the way we hope or expect them to go. We are imperfect people. But I am learning that if we just do what we can and show love to others and trust that Christ can make up the difference, things go okay. I am so so grateful to have such a fantastic companion in Sister Jensen. She is the brightest, optimistic, and loving missionary you could ask for! She treasures every sweet miracle that the Lord gives us, and she has taught me how to do that too! It makes our area so much fun to work in -- and we are sure that the Lord gives us people that need us desperately. These people to love were all gifts from our Heavenly Father to us.

We are enjoying thinking beyond what is expected of us and thinking of extra ways to serve our investigators and show our love for them. Small and simple things. And oh how I've learned how much people crave and need love, and how love is not expressed enough in this world. We went to Sister L's house on Saturday morning, and her 5 year-old son is getting worse -- to the point that he's throwing up what he eats, is constantly having seizures, and can't function. Sister L's faith and strength is OUT OF THIS WORLD. She won't let her son see her cry, she is patient with her husband, and she refuses to give up hope and gives everything she can for her son, even if she can't even pay for food for herself. I've never seen such incredible strength that comes from hope in God. But as we sang How Great Thou Art in Tagalog to her, she broke down to us and it was heartbreaking but I just felt so much love for her at that moment. I am so grateful for the chance to be there for her. She really wants to be baptized and reads and understands the Book of Mormon, but every time she tries to go to church she has to take her son to the hospital.

Another time were teaching a new contact, Sister E, and she is a single mom because her husband got killed (he was a security guard). She has 4 kids, and her house just collapsed on itself. We brought some missionaries and ward members to come check out the house to see if we could help out. As we were talking we could just see Sister E growing quiet and her eyes turning red. That's when me and Sister Jensen came and gave her a BIG HUG! She was so happy and she just yelled -- Ang Sarap!" and then broke down crying, telling us how hard everything has been for her. Just little acts of love mean the WORLD to people.

We fasted with Sister V for her and Brother V this Sunday. We knelt down and Sister Jensen gave the most beautiful prayer to open the fast. Brother V heard it and knelt down with us, even though the past few weeks he has been really struggling. Then he came back to church! We were so happy.

Sometimes we get little acts of love in return. Tatay B is a man that was a complete drunkard before he met the missionaries. He started reading the Book of Mormon that Sister Tanon and Sister Jensen gave to him and he read it and changed on his own. It was only when he was in Alma that the Sisters started teaching him. He has given up all his bad habits and goes to church in a polo and slacks. Every time we go to him he gives us 2 bottles of 2 liter soda (which we have tried to refuse so many times haha) but every time they are ready for us. When he apologized last Saturday that he hadn't prepared the soda we told him not to worry about it -- but he interrupted us and told us how much the missionaries have changed his life and that soda was the only way he could afford to show his love and appreciation for us. That touched our hearts so much.

The other day as we were walking I suddenly decided we needed to talk to more people about the Book of Mormon. It was raining so Sister Jensen asked us where to start. I pointed to the nearest store and marched straight up to it and talked to an older man and his middle-aged daughter and showed them the Book of Mormon. The daughter immediately recognized the book, because her best friend in college was Mormon and used to take her to institute, which just happens to be one of our members in the ward. She asked for a copy right away and asked us to come back. We were more than happy to come back yesterday. She opened the door for us, found out they are an extremely sweet young family, and that she is so interested in what we have to say. She said she had just finished a prayer asking God to send her messengers because she is in a spiritual crisis because of all the hard things that have happened to her family. She cried and thanked us for being an answer to her prayer because right after her prayer we came to her door. We were so excited that God had used us as his instruments. Her name is Sister S. We know she is prepared by God for this time.

We have been still teaching Grace and Chrystal, who are 2 teenagers that are in serious need of love. Grace is living with the A family, and Chrystal's family used to be active in church but now they have had tons of family issues. They love the missionaries coming over. They both came to the baptism of the elders last Saturday and loved it, and wanted to work with us because they already want to serve others! Grace came to church and is really smart and understanding the doctrine. We expect her to be baptized next month. 

We went back to a contact named Sister J this week. Before she had been super kind but kind of had a hard time latching onto the gospel. But when we came back she was so happy to see us, told us that she had been reading, been feeling a good feeling, and wanted to come to church. We were pleasantly surprised that something had changed her. Of course the Spirit. We are excited for her to start progressing now. She came to church yesterday and it seems like she really enjoyed the feeling there with the other members of the Relief Society.

I read A Summer with Great Aunt Rose by Elder Uctdorf this week. Aunt Rose had a lot of hard things happen in her life, but she was one of the most joyous and happiest people on earth. When her niece Eva asked her why, this is what she said.

“There is enough that doesn’t go right in life, so anyone can work themselves into a puddle of pessimism and a mess of melancholy. But I know people who, even when things don’t work out, focus on the wonders and miracles of life. These folks are the happiest people I know.”

“But,” Eva said, “you can’t just flip a switch and go from sad to happy.”

“No, perhaps not,” Aunt Rose smiled gently, “but God didn’t design us to be sad. He created us to have joy! So if we trust Him, He will help us to notice the good, bright, hopeful things of life. And sure enough, the world will become brighter. No, it doesn’t happen instantly, but honestly, how many good things do? Seems to me that the best things, like homemade bread or orange marmalade, take patience and work.”

Eva thought about it a moment and said, “Maybe it’s not so simple for people who don’t have everything perfect in their lives.”

“Dear Eva, do you really think that my life is perfect?” Aunt Rose sat with Eva on the overstuffed sofa. “There was a time when I was so discouraged I didn’t want to go on.”

“You?” Eva asked.

Aunt Rose nodded. “There were so many things I wished for in my life.” As she spoke, a sadness entered her voice that Eva had never heard before. “Most of them never happened. It was one heartbreak after another. One day I realized that it would never be the way I had hoped for. That was a depressing day. I was ready to give up and be miserable.”

“So what did you do?”

“Nothing for a time. I was just angry. I was an absolute monster to be around.” Then she laughed a little, but it was not her usual big, room-filling laugh. “‘It’s not fair’ was the song I sang over and over in my head. But eventually I discovered something that turned my whole life around.”

“What was it?”

“Faith,” Aunt Rose smiled. “I discovered faith. And faith led to hope. And faith and hope gave me confidence that one day everything would make sense, that because of the Savior, all the wrongs would be made right. After that, I saw that the path before me wasn’t as dreary and dusty as I had thought. I began to notice the bright blues, the verdant greens, and the fiery reds, and I decided I had a choice—I could hang my head and drag my feet on the dusty road of self-pity, or I could have a little faith, put on a bright dress, slip on my dancing shoes, and skip down the path of life, singing as I went.” Now her voice was skipping along like the girl in the painting.

Aunt Rose reached over to the end table and pulled her well-worn scriptures onto her lap. “I don’t think I was clinically depressed—I’m not sure you can talk yourself out of that. But I sure had talked myself into being miserable! Yes, I had some dark days, but all my brooding and worrying wasn’t going to change that—it was only making things worse. Faith in the Savior taught me that no matter what happened in the past, my story could have a happy ending.”

“How do you know that?” Eva asked.

Aunt Rose turned a page in her Bible and said, “It says it right here:

“‘God … will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

“‘And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.’”

Great-Aunt Rose looked at Eva. Her smile was wide as she whispered, with a slight quiver in her voice, “Isn’t that the most beautiful thing you’ve ever heard?”

It really did sound beautiful, Eva thought.

Aunt Rose turned a few pages and pointed to a verse for Eva to read: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

“With such a glorious future,” Aunt Rose said, “why get swallowed up in past or present things that don’t go quite the way we planned?”

Eva furrowed her brow. “But wait a minute,” she said. “Are you saying that being happy means just looking forward to happiness in the future? Is all our happiness in eternity? Can’t some of it happen now?”

“Oh, of course it can!” Aunt Rose exclaimed. “Dear child, now is part of eternity. It doesn’t only begin after we die! Faith and hope will open your eyes to the happiness that is placed before you.

“I know a poem that says, ‘Forever—is composed of Nows.’ I didn’t want my forever to be composed of dark and fearful ‘Nows.’ And I didn’t want to live in the gloom of a bunker, gritting my teeth, closing my eyes, and resentfully enduring to the bitter end. Faith gave me the hope I needed to live joyfully now!”

And most of those busy, unhappy people have forgotten the one thing that matters most in all the world—the thing Jesus said is the heart of His gospel.”

“And what is that?” Eva asked.

“It is love—the pure love of Christ,” Rose said. “You see, everything else in the gospel—all the shoulds and the musts and the thou shalts —lead to love. When we love God, we want to serve Him. We want to be like Him. When we love our neighbors, we stop thinking so much about our own problems and help others to solve theirs.”

“And that is what makes us happy?” Eva asked.

Great-Aunt Rose nodded and smiled, her eyes filling with tears. “Yes, my dear. That is what makes us happy.”

I testify that even though I don't know everything, that even though everything doesn't always go the way you plan it, that hard times come into our lives, that sometimes we make mistakes, our Heavenly Father loves us. He designed everything for us to be HAPPY! He wants to be able to let things go and give it to the Savior. I testify of the Savior; I don't have a perfect knowledge of Him, but I got to know him a little better by serving others and showing the happiness of serving and sharing the gospel. Love is what people need in this world. Love can change the world, one person at a time.

Sister Porter

Funny Stories:

We tried to teach Sister V's father but he can't really hear us but he definitely likes to talk haha. When we left he gave us a big grandpa hug and shocked me and Sister Jensen because we aren't supposed to get hugs haha. But Maricel who was working with us just laughed so hard the whole time.

Cultural Note:

It Rains EVERY DAY here but that doesn't stop us from talking to everyone we can!