Prayer, Charity, and a trip to Leesburg!

June 10, 2014

So this week I had the great opportunity to go to Leesburg on an exchange with Sister Billman.  This is the third time that we have gone on an exchange together. She is great! She told me that it was so fun this was our third exchange together--she has seen me grow in confidence over the past 6 months or so.  That was really sweet of her to say. But that made me think about how much we do grow, it's just little by little, so we don't notice it right away.  I'm grateful that others are there to tell us how much we've improved if we don't recognize it. haha But Leesburg is beautiful! I love all of the trees there!! I thought other parts of Virginia were green, but there are trees everywhere. Here is a picture just to get an idea. I was in the car so it's not a super good one. It is really country and I loved the change from more Suburbia city kind of a feel that is in Centreville. 

 

The gorgeous greenery of Leesburg.

We had a really neat experience on my exchange. We got to eat dinner with a family that has a son that has down syndrome.  I just noticed how much love was in that family's home!!! It was a tender mercy that I got that time to learn from their family, because I had been praying for more charity.  So my prayer was answered!!!! I have more details on my other blog, so you should check it out if you haven't already: everydaymiraclesfromourheavenlyfather.blogspot.com

 

And this week I've been really trying to improve my personal prayers, and prayers in general. Prayer is such a powerful tool that we've all been given. We just need to learn how to use it!! And it was really neat that I wanted to work on that this week. One of our investigators says that he prays every night, but we realized that he wasn't talking to God, he was talking to his dead cat.  That made a lot of sense as to why he wasn't getting an answer.  He needs to pray to Heavenly Father and ask him about all of his questions.  It was really neat that I invited him to pray and start talking to Heavenly Father around the same time that I had wanted to improve my own personal prayers!  I know that for me I have had more of a desire to pray as I have been praying more sincerely. So if there is ever a moment where you don't feel like praying, or you feel like it's not working, that's when you need to pray the most!! Prayer will become something that is special because it is a way to personally communicate with God. He is listening, I know it! And he is the best listener!!

 

Something that I learned this week is that the "small and simple things" really benefit us most in the long run. We may not see the progress right away, but the progress is happening. It's just progress...little by little.  So I'm learning to always trust in the small things that God asks us to do, like to love others, and to pray always. There are so many others things that he has asked us to do, but those are two things I've really learned from this week.

 

I wish I had more stories, but they're not coming to my mind right now!!

 

I hope everyone is doing well!! I love you all!!!

Love,
Sister Udall