One thing that has been impressed on my mind lately is gratitude. In my mission, we travel A LOT. And good thing I love traveling! Every time we get in the car and are driving through the beautiful lands of Wyoming and Montana, my concerns and worries seem to fade, and I just become so grateful. Grateful to be a missionary. Grateful for the gospel. Grateful for Jesus Christ who is by my side each day as I go out to share His word. Grateful that, though days and times are hard, I can remember that God knows all things and is with me as I try. I am grateful for personal scripture study every day!
The other night, Sister Smith felt impressed for us to see Bianca, someone we recently started teaching. We had just headed out for the evening on our bikes, and I said a prayer in my heart expressing my desires to just be where the Lord needed us to be. We went over to Bianca's, and her husband said come back in like 15 minutes, so we decided to knock on a couple doors in the apartment complex. One of them was one that we had driven by about a week ago, and I had told Sister Smith that next time we were there, I wanted to knock on that door. We were walking to the door, when we met the neighbor, Juan. We ended up teaching him the whole first lesson right there, inviting him to be baptized, and giving him a Book of Mormon. Then his grandma came up and said she has taken all the lessons from sister missionaries before and believes that Joseph Smith is a true prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true! She said she was never baptized because she grew up Catholic and just doesn't want to break from tradition. They both invited us back to teach them tonight, and we are so excited! The grandpa is from Mexico and said he will be there too! Sister Smith and I were SO happy that he is from Mexico! We felt a little at home, and Sister Smith even broke out her awesome Spanish-speaking skills with him! Haha. It's the little things that make you happy, like Mexicans. Then, we headed over to another referral we had in the same apartment complex. On the way, we met this little eleven-year old girl named Shauna with her little baby sister, Bernadette (in case you are wondering, it's not unusual for kids to talk to strangers about their lives....I would say that's a bad thing, but it sure isn't with missionaries!) She was so cute, and we let her go, and then ended up meeting her Mom as we went to contact that referral. Her Mom explained that she wasn't too interested but she talked with us for a while. When we handed her a plan of salvation pamphlet, Shauna comes up and asks for one too. We were able to share our testimonies of Christ with her, and she began reading it right away! Her Mom said we could stop by if they are home and maybe share some more with Shauna. Well, long story short, we headed from their house to Bianca's, and talked with Bianca, met her husband, and met their neighbor, John, who thought I was from Utah because of how I was standing. Confused.
Anyways, it was an adventurous night! As we rode our bikes home, I marveled at the answer to my prayer. We were in the right place at the right time! In this case, we were able to see that. I feel like a lot of times, we don't even know what impact we have made. We get told all the time by people, oh yeah! We saw you riding your bikes through town the other day! It's amazing how watched we are as missionaries and as people. I believe that our examples are seen much more than we realize. I have to remind myself of this often or I forget. It's a reminder for me to always try to be the best I can.
I wanted to say some more things, but I can't remember what they are anymore. Honestly this week has been one of the most up-down weeks ever. BUT, it's life, and I love it! If it weren't up and down, it would be boring. And I am learning that I must make a more concerted effort each day to remember my Savior so that when life goes down a little, I can still be filled with hope. Because that IS the message of the gospel!
Love you all! Seriously, I do. Don't forget it, and most importantly don't forget our Savior, Jesus Christ loves you too!
Love always,
Sister Hixson <3
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