Valentine's Day 2014

A BIG HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SENT ME MAIL/PACKAGES FOR VALENTINES DAY! :D  I realize more and more every single day how blessed I have been with the most amazing family/friends a girl could ever ask for. Why my? Why did I get so lucky? Thank you. Thank you for all the prayers, encouraging words, everything. You help keep me going.

Earl Reed #66 hooked a "Sister" up with a sweet Valentine!

I can definitely say that this week was MUCH better than last. This was the first week since I’ve been here that we got (drumroll please…..) TWO New Investigators!!! The most we ever got was 1 and even that was like every other week. 2 NI for some missions is way low, but for us it was a sign that indeed the Lord had been hearing our prayers for more opportunities to share the gospel.

Jenna made me a cute scarf and hat

 While we were talking to one of our investigators he got very serious and said “You know, baptism has been on my mind a lot lately. I love having you lovely ladies come over and teaching me about the gospel. It makes me happy. I see the difference in my life since I’ve met you. I go to work and I tell people I’ve been going to the Mormon church and when they start throwing crazy stuff at me about you I just say ‘no, you need these girls numbers. You need to talk to them! You don’t even know what you’re missing out on! I want everyone to know about the message you share.” And then the cutest thing I’ve ever heard came out of his mouth “You know? I feel like if you girls were only able to help just ONE person on your mission, that’d be a successful mission. I want to be that one for you.”

My face hurt leaving that appointment because I hadn’t been able to stop smiling the whole time :) It is crazy how much people can change when they finally hear the piece of information they’ve been missing their whole life; The gospel of Jesus Christ!

I <3 a good thrift shop find!

When Sister Havens and I were companions we were working with a ton of less active members. There was one in particular that we were able to get back to church after a long time of not coming. She came up to me at church on Sunday (with the cutest little smile on her face) and said “I just wanted to tell you that because you girls have been visiting me and getting me back to church, my son in Georgia is wanting missionaries to come to his house and teach his family. He wants to get back into the church as well. I tell you this because I want you to know that your work is blessing the lives of more people than just the ones here. Thank you for helping my family.”

I think as missionaries we put in a lot of hard work and then, most of the time, we don’t get to see the “fruits of our labors”. How neat will it be for us all when the day comes that we stand beside our loving Heavenly Father and Christ and get to actually SEE the affect we had on people here in this life. “By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.”:)

 You know what my FAVORITE thing to hear is? We will be knocking doors and trying to talk to people and when they hear we are Mormon they say “Oh, sorry. I’m not interested. We are Christian.” And I just have to hold back my “are you stinkin’ kidding me right now?!?” laugh and say “NO WAY! SO ARE WE!”

I love how people think we don’t believe in Christ when in fact our church is The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints. No, we don’t worship Joseph Smith. No, we don’t grow a tail and horns at night when we get home. No, we don’t have 7 wives and practice polygamy. Yes, we believe in the one and only God you believe in and are trying our best to live up to Christ’s example just as you are.

It absolutely BLOWS my mind and how many things people hear on the street from people that aren't even OF our religion, and then believe. How about this? Instead of assuming and going off of everyone else’s opinion, why don’t YOU go to church one Sunday and see for yourself the kind of people we are and the things we talk about and do. And while you’re at it, go ahead and pray to know if it’s true or not. You have Gods word that He will tell you the answer.

Moroni 10:4-5

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

 This week I am going to get to work and get to work HARD. I am super crazy pumped. NOTHING is going to stop me…unless I get sick again…in which case that will totalllly stop me….but it’s cool because I’m healthy as an ox or whatever right now lol.

 Keep smiling. Keep the faith.

-hugs-

Sister Toolan

Super random purple house I told you about a couple of weeks ago