07/08/13-Week 22 in Indiana! [Week 5 of Transfer 4]

Hello there. 
This week has been...pretty great! But yes, desolate. Since it was the fourth of July weekend, everyone was gone! I can't tell you how many doors we knocked on to find no one there. It was kind of ridiculous. It was one of those weekends where you wished you could just stay inside and watch a movie and eat some ice cream...but ya know, we just pushed through it and now the work will move forward again!!

It was realllly weird not dancing in the Stadium of Fire this year. On the 3rd and 4th I kept thinking randomly "I am usually dancing right now..." or "I bet they are standing in the portals right now...." I guess I always knew that one day I wouldn't do it...but I have since I was 7! They had to ship me off to Indiana to get me to stop! ;) But! My mission president is making up for that loss of exercise......Our mission president came out with a new rule for us.....we have to run for 30 minutes every morning. Not just exercise...........run. Really?? Oh man. It kills. I am not a runner, and now I have to run or I am being disobedient. It is taking a lot of faith on my part to actually do it. I have done it every day and I will for the next year and a couple of weeks...until I am off of my mission. Hopefully I will come to enjoy it one day. But I better not gain weight now! I mean...I am running.....for 30 minutes....and I want to kill over and die after. hahaha. Ask me to dance for 10 hours straight? Sure! Ask me to run for 30 minutes....uh....heart attack. But I did have a pretty cool experience with it! You see, Sister Colton and I have been running a mile every other day for the past month and I have been getting bruises on my ankles from it. After we have run the mile, my ankles are sore and achy all morning until I put some Deep Blue Rub on it (I love DoTerra..:D). So, when I learned that we had to run for 30 minutes, I had my doubts about my ankles. The first day we did it, my ankles and feet started to hurt pretty bad, but I said a prayer as we ran. I asked Heavenly Father for his help. I was trying to be obedient to all that our mission president has asked of us, but I know that my feet and ankles are not physically capable of it...but I knew that through the Atonement of Christ, all things are possible. Since that prayer, I haven't had any problems with my ankles. The bruises are still there, but they don't throb. It has taught me a lesson of obedience. When the prophet or our Heavenly Father asks us to do something..and we think that we are an exception to the rule..we have to realize that we aren't. We must be obedient in all things. 

We are blessed when we are exactly obedient. 

 

I was able to meet President and Sister Porter this week! It was pretty great! He said something that I thought was very profound that one of the 12 apostles said to them when they were in the MTC. "The movement of this missionary work is just as impactful as the first vision, the Book of Mormon, and the Priesthood being restored..." or at least something to that effect. Holy cow...just think about that! This missionary push is just as impactful on the church as the restoration of the priesthood." He called it the Class of 2013. That is incredible. All of us must find those brothers and sisters who do not have the gospel! It is our responsibilities as members of the church. But we can't do it alone! Not without the help of our Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Ghost. People NEED the gospel. We have to bring them closer to Christ in all that we do. It is very intimidating to look at in the face, but taking it day by day, I can do this. 


Jeremiah...... I told you last week about our investigator who pretty much knew the Plan of Salvation and loved the Book of Mormon. Well, this week he told us that he would consider himself a "Mormon" in belief terms because we go back even before Christ. But he still wants to get baptized in his father's church because his father is his hero. Noo..Jeremiah! You don't understand! What will make him more proud is for you to seal your family together for eternity! We tried to explain the priesthood to him, but he didn't quite understand it. But, he is gone on business for a month or so. Hopefully something will sink in as he is driving the diesel truck around. He just needs the gospel! Well, everyone needs the gospel! But it is so hard when you come so far and you know that they know it is true, but they won't change. :/
 
I had the BEST dinner appointment at the Zumbrun's home this week! They have 12 kids in their family and we pretty much had a buffet for dinner. Sister Colton and I have gained 5 shadows at church from that... Sister Colton and I were the first people to get our food...and the last people to finish our meal because they were asking us sooo many questions! They were asking us "why....why...why" and "As a missionary can you.....what about this?....." It was sooo adorable! I just LOVE children. It was my favorite. They followed us around everywhere and asked us question after question.

Elizabeth is doing great! We were starting to teach her more of the Plan of Salvation this past week when she asked us "how do you know which church is the right church?".....does that sound like Joseph Smith to you? Because it sure did to us! So, we changed our lesson to the Restoration and told her all about Joseph Smith and how he had the same exact question! It was so amazing! She soaked it all in and said that she would pray and read about the Book of Mormon. The spirit is just amazing. I love this work! The spiritual rush that you get when you teach someone or bring them the gospel, is something that you can't describe.

This week I had some really cool experiences with my Patriarchal blessing. I have been feeling as though I don't matter in this work. I have felt like no one would notice if I weren't hear. So I went to the Lord and I read the personal revelation that is held in my Patriarchal Blessing. I read it with the question of "What is my purpose/calling in this life?" I found it. We all have callings. We all have specific talents and gifts to help us fulfill that calling. More than anything I want to make my Father in Heaven proud and the way that we can do that is by obeying Him. He loves us beyond comprehension. All he wants is for us and alll of our brothers and sisters to return to Him once more. We are all children of God. Every single person you talk with, see, drive by, everyone. Is a child of God and has the potential to become like Him. But if we don't open our mouth and share that with them, they will never know. Don't be afraid to share the gospel! Share it with your friends and families. This is the last time that the Lord is calling his servants into the Vineyard and we better take care of it. If I can do it, anyone can do it. But it is all through the Lord. I cannot do this by myself. I would have come home by now if it weren't for my Savior, Jesus Christ and the Spirit. He will help us. We are doing His work, after all.
I know what you are thinking. 'I am not a missionary'....but you are a child of God. And we must help our other brothers and sisters know that they are too. 

I am out of time! I am doing well. I am pushing forward. and as always, I love you all!!

Sister Emilee Farr