Saturday, January 16, 2016

Burdens can be a Blessing

Hello family and friends!  This last week was a great one.  We had several appointments cancel but also had some really cool things happen to make up for it.

Investigators
We have a new investigator named “C”.  She is only here for a month but she lives with Julie Makoul, the lady with the cute kids (one of them was in the picture with me last week). C lives in Minneapolis and is the grandmother of Julie’s kids.  She wants to learn about the gospel so we are going to teach her while she is here and try to prepare her for baptism.  Then she will hopefully continue taking the lessons when she returns to Minneapolis. She is already reading the Book of Mormon, coming to church, and even cried when we taught the plan of salvation. She believes it and loves it and it has answered so many of her deep questions.

K and her 5 kids came to church yesterday and everyone in the ward was so good about fellowshipping them and making them feel welcomed. K’s 9 year old daughter Lakota already loves primary and has made friends. K is such an amazing person so everyone naturally loves her and people in the ward even helped her take care of her two year old and 5 month old during church.  Even her shy 6 year old boy stayed in class the whole time and K was so surprised by it. K is getting baptized on February 6th and then her husband will be deployed in April. I’m glad she has the ward to help her out during that time.

Our other investigator, Kayla, is still doing amazing as well.  We have another lesson with her this week.  She is just awesome and we love her.

Me, Kayla, and Sister RIchins

Funny Story
Earlier today we went grocery shopping at Walmart and saw a couple of the elders there. They asked us if we could go get them some leggings because they are much cheaper than buying men’s thermals and of course they did not want to be seen lurking through the women’s department and then buying women’s leggings. Our zone leaders started the trend of wearing leggings instead of thermals because they are warmer and cheaper. So Sister Richins and I went and bought them some leggings.  They were so embarrassed but they really wanted them.  

One of the elders with his sweet fleece-lined leggings

Burdens and the Power of the Priesthood
We have been meeting with a less active woman named Ashley. She has muscular dystrophy and is always in so much pain.  It also affects her speech. She is the sweetest woman ever. She was baptized a little over a year ago but is less active because she can’t get out of her wheel chair so that makes it hard for her to come to church. We asked her if she would like a priesthood blessing and she said yes.  We called one of the set of elders in our ward and they were available right then so came over to her house right away and gave her a blessing.  After the blessing she was so happy, the happiest I have ever seen her and she said her hip stopped hurting. That day had been one of her worst days yet because the pain was so bad.  I am so thankful for the power of the priesthood. The severe pain in her hip was taken away and her burden was made light. Her burden wasn’t totally removed but it was made light.

Speaking of burdens… I don’t know why Ashley has to endure this painful condition while she is here on earth.  I wish she could just get up out of her wheelchair and feel good like most of us do.  She is so sweet though and handles her burden well.  We don’t all have physical burdens but we all experience something that causes us pain or sadness.  Experiencing these things makes us want to give up sometimes and it might even make us angry at Heavenly Father.  We should always remember that the burdens we carry are meant to prepare us for something greater than all of this.  Our burdens really can become blessings when we allow them to.  On my mission I have seen people change for the better and it all started with a burden of some kind.  In Mosiah 3:19 it says “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”  When people experience trials, they become humble and are more open to developing some of the virtues mentioned in that scripture.  Sometimes our burdens are meant to be a blessing to someone else.  When we experience trials we are able to reach out to others who experience those same trials.  In Galatians 6:2 the Apostle Paul said “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”

Whether our burdens are meant for our own growth or to help someone else grow, we experience them to become something greater than what we are.

D&C 121: 7-8-
7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

Remember that we don’t have to carry these burdens alone.  We are blessed with families on this earth to help us get through difficult things.  We also have the blessings of the Priesthood to help us.  And the Savior promises to be there for us if we allow him to.

Matthew 11: 28-30-
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.



I love you all!

Sister Park










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