* my family: I truly have the BEST family in the world. I am not sure what I would do without them. They say when you are on a mission your life seems to take a little more perspective and direction. That has definitely happened for me. I am in contact every day with so many people that are lacking the wonderful support I have. The beauty is I have the opportunity to teach them how to cultivate an atmosphere of love and care in their families.
* I am SO GRATEFUL to be a SISTER MISSIONARY for THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS! I say that at least once a day, usually more! Being a missionary is the BEST. I am not sure what I'd be like had I not had this opportunity to learn and grow. There are so many days when I just pause and think... I LOVE THIS, this feeling I have RIGHT NOW! ...
*THE RESTORED GOSEL OF JESUS CHRIST. . . because of this knowledge I know Where I Came From... Where I am Going and Why I am HEre. I know I am a daughter of God. I know how I can return and live with Him and I know that that is only possible because He sent His Son Jesus Christ. He sent him to atone for my sins, your sins, but also to suffer the atonement: allowing Christ to feel every hardship, pain, disappointment, sorrow, trial, doubt, depression, we've ever felt. What a blessing that is.
*Lastly, I am grateful for this SEASON! I LOVE LOVE LOVE CHRISTMAS! I love it. Really, I feel like a little girl. I am a little concerned because Racine is still sunny, green and warm. I didn't wear tights yesterday! today I am just wearing leg warmers and flats and a 3/4 sleeve cardigan [and a SKIRT.. come on people! haha]. It's warm! ANYWAYS... i love the Christmas Season. You should all read Elder Eyring's Ensign Talk "Home for Christmas". It is really good! Last Christmas Sister Barrett challenged us to make this a Christmas we'll never forget. It was. And my Christmas before that was too... more on that next week... but I plan to make THIS Christmas just as good as those in the past. What a special season.
King Benjamin talks to his people in Mosiah Chapter 2... and in verses 17-22 This is what he says:
17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.
18 Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?
19 And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!
20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—
21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
King Benjamin is SO AmAzing. What a powerful speaker. I am grateful to focus this month on being in the service of my fellow beings, and by so doing, focus on being in the service of my God. How blessed are we! We have SO much to be grateful for! Let's show grattitude and serve one another!
SO .... you want to hear about a miracle? Ok... I will tell you. About two weeks ago we were in district meeting. I am convinced I have the best district leader ever, perhaps because e. petrie and I have served in the same area my whole mission [and he's from AZ], but none the less he is AmAzing. He challenged each companionship to find a family to teach by our next district meeting. That is no small task my friends. finding a family is a really big deal, every missionary wants to be teaching a family.Sister Johnson and I took this challenge very seriously. We wanted to find a family. Petrie promised us we would as we were dilligent and applied the trainings we had received in zone conference [which were all about interactive commitment based teaching and inviting]. So we made a plan. We knew that SACRIFICE BRINGS FORTH BLESSINGS. You all may know this, but sister johnson and I don't go tracting. Not because we are SO ABOVE THAT or anything, but because we are so busy. President Hinckley said it himself, tracting is not the most effective way to do missionary work! [now if you don't have anything to do, you better tract, but that's just not the case for us.] SO we decided in order to break our normal patterns, we'd go tracting from 6-8 every night that week 'til we found our family. We also committed that we would talk to EVERYONE we saw. So we prayed, told the Lord our plan and asked Him for His help. We were so excited. We knew He'd help us find "OUR FAMILY". We carried out our plan. We talked to everyone, in english or spanish. We constantly prayed for OUR FAMILY. It was AmAzing. We tracted, i loathe tracting ps... but we did so with FAITH and that HELPED. One night we were walking out of an appt and we saw a man and his young daughter raking leaves. It was dark [but then again it gets dark here at 4:30, no joke] and it was cold and we were in Kenosha and had to drive to Racine to go home and we were tired ect ect... BUT we remembered our promise to eachother and the Lord and we went and talked to them. They spoke Spanish. We told them who we were and what we did and they invited us to come back and TEACH THEIR WHOLE FAMILY later that week. What a great blessing. We've been teaching Reina, Fransisco and their 2 young daughters. Reina is pregnant and due in January with a little boy. They are a great family. I love them! We are teaching them in SPANISH... I Know that MirAcLes HaVe NoT CeAseD... see Moroni 7. The Lord blesses us when we have FAITH and EXPECT answers. He blesses us to be able to communicate thru the spirit as well... no matter what LANGUAGE they're speaking!
So here is the low-down on last week. I am just going to tell you straight... IT WAS ROUGH. So bare with me...
[mon 11.23] worst day on the mission. just a BAD day. "I hate stupid people". [e petrie says that all the time] and SO DO I. we'll just leave it at that. we went to the birches for breakfast. then emailed. then culvers-to eat large amts of chocolate custard to make the day better! :) then we had dinner with the new bishop crowther and then saw ted and cheryl. the evening ened well.
[tue 11.24] district mtg. s. johnson was sick so we took a nap. suras 4 dinner. we saw vicki.
[wed 11.25] Happy ONE YEAR in Wisconsin to me. This time last year I was trudging around in snow with President Barrett... it's so different this year! I LOVE WISCONSIN. we taught english, ted and cheryl, saw Nancy Herman with sister sue johnson from the ward and then had the Hancocks 4 dinner with the elders. I love the Hancock's... they are so utah and I lOVE it! also, this morning elder petrie gave me a blessing, i needed it. I felt so much better afterward... more on that next week. I love the Priesthood.
[thu 11.26] HAPPY THANKSGIVING. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! My mom always makes thanksgiving ...[any holiday really] ...But especially thanksgiving so perfect for everyone, it's fitting it was on your birthday! I missed your YAMS that are like CANDY..... and your ROLLS.... but i didn't miss your COOKIES... wed night we came home to find a box on the stairs. it was overnighted to me and it was your sugar cookies. i cried. that was the best surprise ever! thanks mom and dad. We had thanksgiving at the costabiles and the Calderwoods... both really good. Sister Calderwood gave us advent calendars... so sweet. I love both those families. we ended the night at the birches for every kind of dessert you could think of and games. It was fun, all the elders were there. good times. it was a great thanksgiving.
[fri 11.27] Black Friday. We steered clear of the malls! we studied, did weekly planning. every appt cancelled...bad week, everyone is crazy with the holiday and family. We taught OUR FAMILY and then had an FHE with the Cabrales and elders petrie and campbell. I love the cabrales. We played mafia... IN SPANISH... it was really fun. even more fun when i was the narrator- it doesn't matter if its in spanish or english.. ahaha i always get confused!
[sat 11.28] soccer. every appt cancelled. we caroled with the spanish elders. they had an AmAzing appt with the Navarros, cleared up sister navarros doubts, hopefully we'll have really good news about them next week.
[sun 11.29] church. all day. bro cabrales received the aaronic priesthood and was called to be our gospel principles teacher. amazing. we taught our other FAMILY... the SOENS [they're the blakes old neighbors] then had dinner with all the racine elders at the Dehahns... i love that family. They're so faithful and missionary minded. The spirit is very strong in their home. Then we went caroling with the Racine english and spanish elders. i love caroling.
I love all of you! you are a great strength to me... especially in a hard week like this one! This week is ALREADY 100X better!
Thanks for all you do for me!
I love you!
Love, Sister Pamella Jo Black
PS... tatum... TODAY IS YOUR BIRTHDAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU VERY MUCH... i do believe it is YOUR TURN to write me missy!!!! I hope you have a good day! I am thinking of you!
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