THAT'S MISSIONARY WORK!
Sister Matheson and I came up with something to help us remember this before every lesson,
E.A.T., Pray, Love.
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E- Establish Trust
A- Ask a Lot of Questions (The focus should be on the investigator and their relationship with God)
T- Testify. The Spirit will be present if you bear strong testimony of truth.
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Pray- We pray for the person we will be teaching, that we will know the words they need to hear from our Heavenly Father.
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Love- "Perfect Love Casteth out Fear"
You won't be afraid to talk to anyone, if your primary concern is THEM.
(& helping them to feel Awesome! You'll feel Awesome too when you do this!)
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So Sarah...
early 20s, from New Hampshire, transferred to BYU this winter- loves the honor code because she doesn't drink.
We met her the first day. The very first day. She wanted to learn more about the church because of the required religion classes. We had a "group teaching" activity where we taught an investigator with about 30 other missionaries. & No one really contributed. she finally said,
"Why are you all even here? To fill seats? Do any of you really even believe this?"
That was a wake-up call for everyone- especially me.
& I couldn't leave without talking to her.
So Sister Matheson and I became her friend, asked her what she was studying at BYU
(-sociology-) & told her thank you for being REAL.
"Emotional Honesty is the Best!" that's what I told her--- haha.
That lead her to say, "Well wow, I would love to have you both teach me!"
So we did! & we ate dinner with her too! Moral of the story: Just be friends with people.
During that same activity on the first day we met George...
George has an amputated leg but is now able to walk with a prosthetic.
I wasn't planning on it. But I couldn't NOT share my story about Guillian-Barre when he brought up some of the desperate and helpless feelings I felt while I was in the hospital.
I said, "Although I may not understand completely what you have been through, I do know that you miracles happen and that you are a walking example of faith because I feel that way when i wake up in the morning- grateful for my ability to walk. When you talked about using your crutches, I couldn't help but think of Jesus Christ and how He is the reason why we both have the strength to walk as we lean on Him."
When we talked to George a week later he said, "I remember you. I know when someone is genuine and when someone is not. You are Genuine. I'm sick of sympathy. Sympathy is different than Empathy. Thank you for your Empathy."
It's true. People know when you really care about them and when you don't.
If you truly Love someone- they will feel that.
I have learned how to better interpret and understand the Spirit. That is the single most important thing in this life- for the Spirit "will tell you all things that ye should do." 2 Nephi 32:3
The New Missionaries in our zone came Wednesday- they are going to Washington.
This was my advice to them:
"You are doing better than you think you are. Really though!
We all have strengths and weaknesses. So use those strengths to help your weaknesses.
Pray to Heavenly Father for help. He hears you and He knows you."
This was a humbling week. We had a lesson where we tried to teach from what we knew (we used our minds) and we realized we didn't know anything. hahaha! Like I have mentioned, we may not know these people- but God does. & the only way we will be able to connect with them is through the Spirit. He knows ALL things.
So instead of "we should have.." we said, "next time we will..." & the next lesson was the most POWERFUL ever. You could really feel God's love for this person & the whole lesson was taught by the Spirit. (we used our hearts)
We said things that could have only come by the spirit.
A complete 180, in 24 hours. There's a difference between confidence in yourself and confidence in the Lord and faith that He will lift you up.
I'm grateful for that experience before leaving to Wisconsin.
So how do we learn to interpret what the spirit is saying to us?
PRAY.
Pray to be able to recognize the spirit in your life. Pray for any blessing you stand in need of- but the key is to focus on Others. You must ask to be able to interpret the spirit so that you may hear what it is telling you in order to help others! & it will in turn reveal things to you that YOU need. It's incredible!!
Prayer...I highly recommend it. ;)
Hope you all have a great week!
Seriously- THANK YOU to everyone for the letters and packages.
It means the World because of the motivation that comes from feeling LOVED.
That's all people need is Love.
Steadfast & Immovable in Christ!
Love,
Love,
Sister Osmond
Ps. I am SO happy. Always. haha! WHAAAT?
Things that happen throughout the day are irrelevant. Because I know my purpose- which is to: "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end."
A scripture that really helped me this week was: Proverbs 34:4
All He asks us to do is to Trust him.
& Miracles really DO happen when we exercise Faith.
I know this is true.  Wisconsin! |
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| The Seesters! Woods, Askerlund, Matheson, Osmond |
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| Wisconsin vs Texas = They are both WINNERS!! |
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| Yeah Ali!! Cousin Love |
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