Chapter 2: This Mission isn't about Me

Hello everyone!!!!

The MTC is so amazing! Let me just start off with that. I love it here and I feel myself growing everyday in my relationship with my Savior and in my ability to love and serve the investigators here. I feel myself growing all over the place and it's hard to imagine what I would be doing right now without the MTC. I know that this is exactly where my Savior needs me to be. That being said.... Guess who got her travel plans this week?!? That's right!!! This Sister did!!!! We leave on Tuesday morning! It feels like we just got here and already it is time to start packing up and leaving!

I had the neatest experiences about one of my investigators this last week. I think I may have mentioned her last week. Her name is Masha and she has been one of our more challenging investigators. She kept asking really deep questions about symbolism in the Bible that Sister Coffey and I simply didn't have the answers to. I'm not sure I have ever prayed so hard to know how to teach someone before but one night last week I suddenly woke up and just knew exactly what we needed to teach her. I knew that if we taught her using the Articles of Faith that she would be able to better understand what the Gospel of Christ was all about and why we do what we do. I know that it was the Spirit who woke me up to give me that inspiration and I know that if I had waited till morning to write it down, it would have been gone from my mind. Our Heavenly Father is there and he does know our deepest desires and when we turn to Him in prayer, He will give us whatever guidance we are looking for. We simply have to be ready at any time of day (or night) in order to receive the answers we are seeking. Before our last visit with Masha we marked up a Book of Mormon with our favorite sciptures and stories and we labeled a lot of things in it to try and help her better understand it as well as sticking our testimonies in the front with our emails. Not that I was surprised, but I was a little surprised how well it was accepted! She loved it and told us that she would email us for our addresses when she got home to Armenia in a few weeks. She want's to send us postcards and she's also going to write us 1 Nephi 3:7 in Arabic for us. Pretty cool right!?!

We also got two new investigators this week, Jack and Anna. Jack is a little trickier to understand but I love the challenge of leaning what makes him tick and helping him to feel the spirit. I really hope that he grows to see everything that God could do for him but ultimately, the Spirit is the ultimate teacher so we rely totally on Him in all this. Anna is such a sweetheart and I love how open she is to the gospel and how much she wants God to be a bigger part of her life! With all of our investigators it's beautiful to watch them grow in their relationships with their Savior.

I think by far my favorite day this week was Saturday. We spent seriously the entire day studying the scriptures for hours on end. I know that sounds a little crazy that I could get so excited from reading the Book of Mormon and Jesus the Christ for hours on end but it's true. I've come to realize that I will never have time like this to study the scriptures like this possibly ever again just because life will get away from me. Whatever time you have now, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT! If ou have a goal to become well versed in the word of God, START TODAY! because you may not have time tomorrow. 

Another exciting thing.... WE ARE HOSTING THE NEW MISSIONARIES TOMORROW!!! We are all so excited to get to meet all the new missionaries coming in and to get to help them get all set up. Rumor has is that we will be greeting the foreign missionaries so tomorrow could be a great big game of charades. 

Thank you Aunt Corby for the cookies! They were AMAZING and the fellow sisters who I share a room with have decided that I have the best family ever :). I love getting to hear from family and friends and thank you all for your encouraging words!

One of my favorite quotes of the week has been this. "It's never going to be about me ever again so I might as well get over it and start serving." This mission isn't about me, it's about serving God's children. It's about helping others to come closer to Christ and I know that I will have been a successful missionary even if everyone I teach only comes to know how much God loves them and knows them. God loves all His children and He desires to bless us all. He wants to build a relationship with all of us. He wants us to pray and simply tell Him about our lives. He is our Heavenly FATHER and as such, He loves us. I know this and I've come to understand it even more as I have grown closer to Him through prayer.

I love you all!

Sister Tobler

P.S. There wont be a letter next week seeing as I'll be flying! Love y'all!!!

-- 

Sister Lindsey Tobler

Kennewick Washington Mission