TRUST, FAITH, RELAX!

Hello family!!!

So we are running all over the place today...I get to get a hair cut/trim! :) So part of my letter will just be what I sent President Riggs. It sums up most of my week pretty well! 

So my email from President this week was short, he's a busy guy, but exactly what I needed to hear.  He said, "Thanks for sharing the miracles with me. I hear great things about you and hope you are not being too hard on yourself. There will ALWAYS be room for improvement, so just improve and relax. Love you!"  Well I laughed and smiled when I read his response.  He knows me too well!!  Heavenly truly inspires our leaders!! They are able to receive revelation for each of us!! That is truly a blessing. 

So this is what I said back (in the quotes)..."Thanks for your encouragement.  You know me tooo well!!!  One thing I think I will continually have to work on during my mission is not being too hard on myself.  RELAX is the key word.  Yesterday evening, I was not relaxed at all and I saw that it totally blocked the spirit from guiding us.  The evening was not as productive as we had hoped because I was just "confused" as to where to go.  So this week I am going to work on relaxing, putting trust and faith in God and the Spirit to guide us and lead us where we need to be.  Following the Spirit is something that I have been thinking about this past week and I realize that I am making it way too complicated!  Heavenly Father does not work in complicated ways, he works in simple and small ways!  I am so grateful it does work like that, but now I need to put my over-analyzing and over-complicating to the side and let the Lord take over!!" 

This week I also got to go on an exchange with one of the Sister Trainer Leaders, Sister Woodbury!! She's amazing.  (Oh, and really important, we have matching toothbrushes and journals...that's the picture of the week!!)

"The exchange with Sister Woodbury this week was FANTASTIC! We talked all about following the spirit, trusting in the plans, and then going out and working them!   We put that to action that day and found a new investigator!  We set a return appointment, and taught a lesson to him the next morning and he is so AMAZING!! He has such a strong desire to come closer to God and he is not working and has a lot of time!!  Truly prepared and ready.  We walked into his home and I noticed there were two Books of Mormon sitting on his table--one in English and one in Mandarin Chinese (we had not given either to him)! We sat down and he said, "Let me tell you a little bit about myself and then you can tell me about you."  How is that for the start of a lesson.  He did the How to Begin Teaching (that's a term in Preach my Gospel) part of the lesson himself!!  We didn't even have to initiate it!  We also found two really solid Spanish referrals.  One of the Spanish referrals we received was for Elder Kirkham and Elder Sheffield.  They told us that they went to the address we had given them.  The man we had talked to was not there, but they met another lady who is also prepared.  They had a really  powerful lesson with her!!  It is such a miracle that the address got mixed up somehow...Heavenly Father is truly watching over all of His children!!!!  I learned so much from Sister Woodbury--especially just relax and trust in the Lord.  I also learned that planning the little things is what really matters." 

This week the scripture Proverbs 3:5-6 kept running through my mind.  Just TRUST!!!!  And have FAITH!! I also read a lot of the talks from the August Ensign.  They are sooo good!! If you haven't read them you should :)

We were truly blessed this week!  We taught 4 lessons! I'm pretty sure that's the all time high so far :)   And we had an investigator stay for all 3 hours of church! He's great.  When we asked him how he liked it, his face just lit up!!!!  He said he hadn't been to a church in years and really liked it!  The poor guy did fall asleep during sacrament meeting a little bit (our Sacrament meeting starts at 8:30am), but I don't blame him.

I am so grateful for all of the experiences that I have every day!!  Every morning I thank Heavenly Father for this new day, whatever it brings I know that it will be wonderful!!!  It is truly a blessing to be a missionary.  I feel like I am getting more blessings than I deserve sometimes, but I'll take it! 

Some fun facts from the week...Friday night we were tracting and it was pouring! Our ward mission leader said it rained 1 1/4 inches that night!  I got to hold a Mexican jumping bean in my hand last night.  That brought back fun memories.  We also got locked outside of our house for 30 minutes, but found a spare key in the garage :)  And Sister Phelps and Sister Goates (while on an exchange got locked inside of their apartment).  We got to rescue them :)  Oh and we stayed at another members home for some time and had to do our planning on a mattress...life is never dull and is full of adventures! :)

So bottom line, I  am so grateful that Heavenly Father is in charge and for the reminder to RELAX!! Sister Phelps shared with me John 16:33: "These things I have spoken unto you,that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."  I LOVE THAT!!! I know that Heavenly Father loves us all so much and wants us to remember, especially Sister Udall, to relax and enjoy what he has given us!!!

I am praying for everyone back at home!!! I love you all so much and am so grateful that we are all so blessed with this gospel!! I know that as we put our Faith in Christ and do what he asks us, everything will work out for our good!!

 

Love you all LOTS!!!  

Sister Udall