Hej familj!
Hur går det? I'm still here loving life as syster schneiber. Today
as we were riding the bus to the church to email.. I just couldn’t
believe it.. I'm in Sweden and I can speak Swedish and I'm a
missionary. Wow.
Summer time is sometimes slow as a missionary.. and this week was
like that. But! There are always miracles to write down in my journal
each night. We went on a walk with a less active named Syren. I LOVE
THIS WOMAN. She has such a strong testimony but has a very hard time
getting to church. So as we walked I shared with her what I had been
reading in the Book of Mormon. I am at the beginning of Heleman. A war
just occurred and it was mainly because the Nephites were battling
against each other and then the Laminites were able to come in and
attack. I feel like this is a lot like our own lives. Often times there
are little civil war battles we face with ourselves. We might not know
where we stand on a certain principle, we have bad self-esteem, or in
our families we are having hard times, etc. And then when we are weak
a bigger enemy has the chance to come in and take over.
At first I couldn’t help but thinking.. if only the Nephites could
have been good and just stayed united.. then this battle would never
have happened. But then I realized.. when is life ever perfect? there
are always little battles. The most important thing is that even when
the enemy gets in.. as long as the Nephites turn to God for help--we
can win. So in our own lives.. its ok that bad things happen and that
we make mistakes.. that’s life. It isn't meant to be perfect. The most
important part is what we do when there is a battle raging. Turn to
God and we can overcome. :) Well I shared this with Syren and asked
her about her life. I didn’t think much about it then. It was just a
spiritual thought. But she texted us later that night and thanked us
for the message. It gave her hope and a new perspective on her life.
I believe heavenly father leads us most often when we don’t even
realize it. So it happened with Syren and that I just gave the right
spiritual message to touch her heart.
There was another little miracle during the day. We had an
afternoon that was open and we decided after trying a few different
options that we would go to a less active. Well as we began walking to
her house I became very nervous. Sometimes working with less actives
can be the hardest part of our work. She comes from an active family
and... you just don’t want to do anything wrong that will make their
feelings towards the church worse. So we kept walking and then I
thought.. it is such a beautiful day what are the chances of her being
home. She is probably at the beach or out with the kids. It just felt
like there was a lot trying to make me turn around. But I had felt
like we really should visit her this week. So we kept walking and I
just kept praying that 1. she would be home and 2. that she would not
be angry with us and that we could get a return apt. Well! we got to
the door and it was wide open. We knocked and her and her daughter
came to the door. Turns out her son was sick and that was why they had
to be home that day. We talked and shared a scripture and asked if we
could come back and maybe make American pancakes for the kids. The
little girl thought that would be super cool. So hopefully we will get
to go back this week.
Even though this story doesn’t seem so miraculous at all.. it was an
answer to my prayers.. and for that I am so grateful that we have a
heavenly father who loves us and cares about our simple prayers. I
feel this way daily. I pray about such simple small things.. and I
can’t help but get excited and surprised every time my prayers are
answered.
Now that I am the only one who really knows the area a lot of the
planning is placed upon me. This can cause lots of stress and for
me.. one of the things I had a hard time at the beginning of my
mission was having open space in the day and not knowing what to do
with it. But I have realized that I don’t need to worry about that so
much. Plan the best I can and when things fall through and our backup
plans fall through... it is because heavenly father has something else
planned. :) That happened this week too. We invited a member to a
teach. We show up with the member and no one answers the door. :(
that is not a good feeling. The member was super nice about it though.
So we decided well there is something else we need to be doing with
this extra time. We decided to stop by a few old investigators. One
named Kevin. We had gone by Kevin a few times and he never had time.
But this night he did! We sat outside on a beach and read the
introduction with him. As he read it seemed to all finally click
about what the Book of Mormon really was. It was possibly one of my
favorite teaches in reading the book of Mormon. So! we are excited to
keep teaching him.
That is all I have time for this week. But I love you all. What
have you been learning in the Book of Mormon? How has God answered
your prayers this week?
Love syster Schneiber
Hur går det? I'm still here loving life as syster schneiber. Today
as we were riding the bus to the church to email.. I just couldn’t
believe it.. I'm in Sweden and I can speak Swedish and I'm a
missionary. Wow.
Summer time is sometimes slow as a missionary.. and this week was
like that. But! There are always miracles to write down in my journal
each night. We went on a walk with a less active named Syren. I LOVE
THIS WOMAN. She has such a strong testimony but has a very hard time
getting to church. So as we walked I shared with her what I had been
reading in the Book of Mormon. I am at the beginning of Heleman. A war
just occurred and it was mainly because the Nephites were battling
against each other and then the Laminites were able to come in and
attack. I feel like this is a lot like our own lives. Often times there
are little civil war battles we face with ourselves. We might not know
where we stand on a certain principle, we have bad self-esteem, or in
our families we are having hard times, etc. And then when we are weak
a bigger enemy has the chance to come in and take over.
At first I couldn’t help but thinking.. if only the Nephites could
have been good and just stayed united.. then this battle would never
have happened. But then I realized.. when is life ever perfect? there
are always little battles. The most important thing is that even when
the enemy gets in.. as long as the Nephites turn to God for help--we
can win. So in our own lives.. its ok that bad things happen and that
we make mistakes.. that’s life. It isn't meant to be perfect. The most
important part is what we do when there is a battle raging. Turn to
God and we can overcome. :) Well I shared this with Syren and asked
her about her life. I didn’t think much about it then. It was just a
spiritual thought. But she texted us later that night and thanked us
for the message. It gave her hope and a new perspective on her life.
I believe heavenly father leads us most often when we don’t even
realize it. So it happened with Syren and that I just gave the right
spiritual message to touch her heart.
There was another little miracle during the day. We had an
afternoon that was open and we decided after trying a few different
options that we would go to a less active. Well as we began walking to
her house I became very nervous. Sometimes working with less actives
can be the hardest part of our work. She comes from an active family
and... you just don’t want to do anything wrong that will make their
feelings towards the church worse. So we kept walking and then I
thought.. it is such a beautiful day what are the chances of her being
home. She is probably at the beach or out with the kids. It just felt
like there was a lot trying to make me turn around. But I had felt
like we really should visit her this week. So we kept walking and I
just kept praying that 1. she would be home and 2. that she would not
be angry with us and that we could get a return apt. Well! we got to
the door and it was wide open. We knocked and her and her daughter
came to the door. Turns out her son was sick and that was why they had
to be home that day. We talked and shared a scripture and asked if we
could come back and maybe make American pancakes for the kids. The
little girl thought that would be super cool. So hopefully we will get
to go back this week.
Even though this story doesn’t seem so miraculous at all.. it was an
answer to my prayers.. and for that I am so grateful that we have a
heavenly father who loves us and cares about our simple prayers. I
feel this way daily. I pray about such simple small things.. and I
can’t help but get excited and surprised every time my prayers are
answered.
Now that I am the only one who really knows the area a lot of the
planning is placed upon me. This can cause lots of stress and for
me.. one of the things I had a hard time at the beginning of my
mission was having open space in the day and not knowing what to do
with it. But I have realized that I don’t need to worry about that so
much. Plan the best I can and when things fall through and our backup
plans fall through... it is because heavenly father has something else
planned. :) That happened this week too. We invited a member to a
teach. We show up with the member and no one answers the door. :(
that is not a good feeling. The member was super nice about it though.
So we decided well there is something else we need to be doing with
this extra time. We decided to stop by a few old investigators. One
named Kevin. We had gone by Kevin a few times and he never had time.
But this night he did! We sat outside on a beach and read the
introduction with him. As he read it seemed to all finally click
about what the Book of Mormon really was. It was possibly one of my
favorite teaches in reading the book of Mormon. So! we are excited to
keep teaching him.
That is all I have time for this week. But I love you all. What
have you been learning in the Book of Mormon? How has God answered
your prayers this week?
Love syster Schneiber
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