I LOVE PINES! This ward has my heart and the miracles are
literally nonstop. Get this: long, long week of knocking. I am trying so hard
to show Sister Hunter that we CAN find through knocking in Pines (along with
member referrals and all of our other wonderful resources). There is a visitor
for the summer who came to church yesterday with a couple of member friends. We
got to talking and turns out he was first introduced to the church during
college when he was 18 and his coach invited him to church. Met with elders
once, said they were totally nerdy and gave up with them. Then, he was selling
in Texas and the sister missionaries there taught him EVERYTHING for three months!
Still not ready to commit but then he promises himself that when he comes to
Florida for the summer he will "go hard with the missionaries" and
figure this all out. He knows all of the lessons, has a Book of Mormon, has
seen every single GC address given in the past two years, and knows that it is
now that he needs to act. He is so prepared and shared so many spiritual
experiences that he has had during his conversion. God has been preparing him
like no one else I have seen.
Sacarius, our recent convert, is doing so well. He helped the ward
with a move on Saturday and is preparing to receive the priesthood next week!
Another of our investigators is listening to conference talks
and the Book of Mormon each day. He was sad that he has to give up a certain
habit but we asked him point blank if he believes the Word of Wisdom is a
commandment from God, and without batting an eye he said yes and committed to
living it!
We are also teaching a part member family, and the spirit was
such a strong guidance in our last discussion. I never knew what that truly
meant until my mission so that was a blessing that I got to learn that this
week. They are excited to take a tour of the temple grounds this week.
Alma 5:14-16, :19
14 And now behold, I
ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God?
Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this
mighty change in your hearts?
15 Do ye
exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward
with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this
corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according
to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?
16 I say unto
you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying
unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have
been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?
19 I say unto
you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say
unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your
countenances?
This is what it is all about! Verse 16 sums up my reason for
serving. I truly cannot imagine standing before my Father in Heaven and Savior
and not being able to say that I gave my all to further their work on this
earth. I am forever grateful for my mission and verse 26 is what I read to
remind myself to remember these sacred experiences of my mission:
26 And now
behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart,
and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye
feel so now?
I learn more about the Book of Mormon each day. Not just
the stories, but as I read I learn of God's love for me and all of His children.
I learn about charity, second chances, repentance, and priorities and so many
things. These are living scriptures! They are my most prized possession. How
amazing that we give out the most priceless object to strangers for free. It
has all of the answers. For everyone. Period, end of story! I wish that
everyone would read this book.
Okay here is a day by day:
+Monday: knocked in Southwest Ranches, some man gave us TWO
grocery bags of homegrown tomatoes. Dad, you would have died. I ate a couple
handfuls as we biked home. That was a happy summer day. As close as I will
get to your amazing tomatoes, dad!
+Tuesday: biked AAAAAALLLL day. Got a yummy cold coconut water
from Whole Foods, Sacarius taught US resto...he gets it so well, I love it. The
Twitchells (one of my favorite families in this ward... young family with 6 kids)
fed us. Yummy baked potato with cheese, avocado, tomatoes, chili etc on top...
so delicious.
Buuuuuut, I woke up at 3am and had a NASTY 24 hr. bug. Yeah,
couldn't really eat or work for two days. Hardly could keep water down. Ached from
the top of my head to my ankles. Not sure if I have been that sick since Hawaii
with m and KK and gma. So that was fun. Slept 20 hours a day both days and you
would think my bags would be gone. They're not. #missionarylife
+Wednesday: missed Zone Training :(
+Thursday: Awesome lesson with investigator
+Friday: Exchanged with Hollywood West (Spanish area so I went).
Knocked for 6 straight hours. Livin’ the life. I love wearing myself out that
way.
+Saturday: OKAY BEST PART OF THIS LETTER. REMEMBER ROBERTO FROM
LAUDERHILL (my last area). He baptized his wife on Saturday! My heart is so
full I could die. You bet we are coming back for their sealing. Should I just
stay out here next fall and winter? Haha, kidding mom!
+Sunday: Definition of a miracle investigator: our summer
visitor came to church.
Tender mercy of the week.... on Saturday we had to grab
dinner to go. I got a yummy Publix salad and Sister Hunter was feeling
Chick-Fil-A. We went. The girl who took her order was from our ward! We had
been trying to visit her and her mom. Jessi told us that her mom was home if
we wanted to meet her. We had other plans, but we felt impressed to go, so we
went. We found her, locked out of her house. This woman is crazy cool and
served a mission in North Carolina in like ‘82 and has a rock solid testimony. Anyway,
she is one of my closest friends already. She was going to walk to Chick-Fil-A
(like 5 miles) to get the key from her daughter since her daughter would not be
off work til midnight. But we drove her and were able to get the key, get her
back into her house, and had a lesson on faith. She came to church on Sunday
and has so many cool stories and so much faith. I just love her. She cried as
we left; God answered a prayer through the missionaries! My favorite.
I love this work. Sometimes it is like a 500 piece puzzle,
following the spirit to use the Lord's time wisely to teach people the gospel.
Never gets old! Am I dorky if I say that there is a thrill to
it? I love the work of salvation. The Lord loves us a lot to try to help!
All my love,
Hermana McCormick
Alma 7:11-12 and Isaiah 53, some of the best!
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