Sister Syd: Canada Week 37: Farms, Mosquitoes, and MIRACLES

Hello friends and family! I hope everyone had a grand week! Life out here on the mission roller coaster is great! Many ups and downs but God never ceases to be good!

This past week I found myself thinking a lot about trials and how they come in many different shapes ans sizes. They can be mental, physical, emotional, spiritual or other. Sometimes we learn our greatest lessons amidst our darkest days or hardest trials. It isn't always easy to see what God wants us to learn, but looking back we can see His hand and the blessings that come from hard times. I was listening to a devotional by Hank Smith called "Trial, blessing or both." He was explaining how our trials can be some of our greatest blessings - just not in the moment they are happening. Sometimes we may never even find out what blessings will come from a trial until the next life. We can find peace knowing we will come to an understanding of things in the next life. This is such a beautiful part of the gospel. I found a quote that reads, "Righteousness brings PEACE not an easy life." The gospel provides us with the peace we need to keep going. Living the gospel and living righteously is not always going to be easy - it isn't supposed to be easy. Christ's life here on earth wasn't easy so why should it be easy for us. We are so blessed to have a Savior who understands EXACTLY what we are going through. This is such a beautiful thing, yet sometimes very hard to comprehend. I have learned that we aren't supposed to fully comprehend how it works or how He does it or how He truly feels everything we do - and it's okay. A scripture I love to remind myself of is found in Mosiah 3:7,

"And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people."

The pain and anguish He felt for us was nearly too much for Him to withstand - He bled from EVERY pore. He asked the Father if there was any other way, but there wasn't. This helps me visualize that Christ has truly felt everything I have felt - or everything that I will feel. He suffered it all - For each and every one of us! I am so grateful for Him and all that He does for me! I urge you to strengthen your relationship with your Savior. It is a beautiful thing and it is such a blessing.

My week sure had some moments. I found myself overwhelmed with joy and gratitude for the love I feel from my Savior and my Heavenly Father and the opportunities and miracles they provide for me everyday. This week was FULL of fun opportunities and miracles! We were able to visit four different farms and it was so fun! Baby animals are the cutest! It was wonderful to be with the members outside and get to know them better and to help and serve them! We held baby chicks and played with baby horses and helped with their gardens. I also learned that with lots of farms here and summer approaching that this brings mobs of mosquitoes! I got 12 bites on my legs.....whoops. Time to break out the bug spray!

This week was also full of MIRACLES! So many miracles! We got a call from a former we called a while back and she wanted us to come say hello. We stopped by and had a good visit with her and got to know her more. She has known missionaries forever and says she is what they refer to as an "eternal investigator." We are hoping to continue teaching her and helping her understand the importance of our message. She is super sweet and it was the coolest thing! Another miracle was that we finally got to go visit a less active member and his non-member kids. To add to this miracle, it was really rainy and we were worried we would have to cancel the visit, but it stopped raining while we were there and then started raining again right after we left! God is so good! We were also able to have lessons with a lot of our investigators this week and they all went pretty well. It is so cool to witness people come to a knowledge of the goodness of this gospel and of God! I love it! It is also amazing to truly see that this the Lords work! He works through us and with us. I love learning how to allow God use me as an instrument in helping to further the work. It gets hard at times, but I am learning to trust!

I want to share a couple insights from my studies this week. Come Follow Me is SOOO GOOD! I loved this past week's lesson in Mosiah! The first and last sections of the lesson especially stood out to me. We truly are responsible for our own faith and testimony. We all need to go through our own conversion process and come to know Christ for ourselves. During my studies I also kept thinking about the new focus of 'Hearing Him' and thinking about how I Hear Him. How do you Hear Him?

I hit my 9 month mark as a missionary last Thursday! CRAZY! I can't believe I am already halfway through my mission. I am so grateful for the strength and peace my Savior has provided for me daily. I wouldn't be where I am without Him. He is my rock and He has become my everything. I am grateful for all of the love I have felt from my Savior and my Heavenly Father and am so blessed to have the the opportunity to spread that love to others! I am so happy to have represented my Savior Jesus Christ for the last 9 months and can't wait for 9 more!

Love and miss you all! Have a wonderful week!!
Love, Sister Merrill