September 19, 2011
Hi everyone!
I first would like to thank my Heavenly Father for everything I have been given. He has and continues to bless me more than I ever deserve. This week has been a little crazy but I know that it would have been a whole lot worse if it weren't for Him. I am eternally grateful.
The Lord blessed us with 2 new investigators this week- all in the same day, all before shift at the jail. MIRACLE! We met Sarah while visiting one of our members. She is from Africa. She's been in the states for 5 years and is a single mother of 5, (ages ranging from 17 years to 5 months). She is very sweet and genuine. We don't really know how interested she is, but we have high hopes. She has so much potential. As we left Sarah's and headed over to our recent converts home, a man waved at our car as we passed. I waved back. Fe and I had the same instant idea; we needed to go talk to him. So we did. We parked our car and headed back to where he was. His name is Michael. To be honest he's a little sketchy (we need to take team ups) but he's really nice. He feels as though the world has cheated him most his life and doesn't see a real need for religion. So again we don't know how promising he is, but even the smallest of seeds planted matters.
As for my talk that I had to give yesterday in Sacrament Meeting....it’s over. I'm so glad. Being a missionary doesn't seem to make it any easier for me to give them.
I was asked to speak on "how I have seen the Atonement influence people's lives while I've been on my mission" this roughly what I talked about:
In the past 8 months I have seen people choose to do wrong. I have seen people reject what they know to be true. I have seen people fear righteousness. In the past 8 months I have also seen people choose to do right. I have seen people live what they know to be true. I have seen hearts softened and minds opened. I have seen sins be forgiven. I have seen peace and comfort enter into lives. I have seen the Spirit change the inner being. I have seen potential lived up to, and I have seen the influence and power of the Atonement.
James E Talmage stated, "The individual effect of the Atonement makes it possible for any and every soul to obtain absolution from the effect of personal sins through the mediation of Christ" - I have seen that absolution.
The very first area of my mission I was serving in Junction City Kansas. I had greenie tattooed to my forehead. One day my trainer and I received a phone call from an institute teacher in Manhattan Kansas. He was calling to give us the number of a man who was looking for a Church. After hanging up with the institute teacher, we anxiously called the number we had been given. The man on the receiving end of the phone was a guy named Chris. He was in the army and currently going through his 3rd divorce. Chris wanted to meet with us right away so we headed his way.
Coming from Utah I have grown up in the typical Mormon bubble. The picture I had in my mind of this Chris person was a clean cut, missionary, but instead we were greeted by a tattoo covered, chain smoker.
For the next three weeks we met with Chris everyday, at the same place and same time. We began to see a change in him. His tattoos were becoming less prominent, his eyes were lighter, he was happier. Chris had every desire to be baptized and become clean. He was allowing Jesus Christ into his life and was allowing the atonement change him.
President Packard said, "For those who truly desire it, there is a way back. Repentance is like unto a detergent. Even ground in stains of sin will come out" - We could see those stains being removed from Chris’s life.
Having Chris enter into my life for that short amount of time made the Atonement a reality for me. I saw what it meant to him. But what does it mean to you and me? What does it mean to a 21 year old girl from Utah who still can't believe she is a missionary some days?
D&C 45: 3-5
3. Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—
4. Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;
5. Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.
That is what the atonement means to me. The atonement means everything. I don't know what "everything" consists of. I don't know the pain Jesus Christ really suffered. But this I do know, I know that Heavenly Father sent his son into the world for me. I know that the atonement can fix broken things and make them whole. I know that each and every one of us is a child of God.
I love you all. Thank you for being exactly who you are. Your examples and friendship mean more than you will ever know.
The work will continue to move forward. Until next week. Be safe.
Sister Hall
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