This has been a bit of a frustrating week. Despite all of our planning, confirming, reconfirming, etc, rendez-vous after rendez-vous has fallen through. Yet, there have still been the good miracle moments that have totally made up for it.
One of the biggest miracles for us was our lesson with Paula. We've had a really hard time getting to teach her lately. And in order for her to be baptised, we still needed to teach her about tithing and fast offerings. Not going to lie though, we were both rather stressed about it. Paula is just in a really difficult financial situation and so asking her to give up even a part of the little income that she has was not an easy task. However, I took a great deal of comfort in knowing that, because it is a commandment, it is possible. Even for her. And not only is it possible, but it also comes with huge blessings. We both know that this can majorly affect her life for the positive, but it depends on her faith and her willingness to put the Lord to the test.
As I said, it's been really difficult to see her. So we've repeatedly planned to teach her, but one thing after another has come up, making it seem virtually impossible. Frustrating though that has been, it's given us the opportunity to pray a countless number of times to help her have the necessary faith and trust in the Lord and to help us to know how best to teach her. And finally this week, after yet another cancelled rendez-vous (her younger son was in the emergency room) our prayers payed off. =) Paula full heartily accepted both laws, and when we read Malachi 3:10 with her, she read it to us, smiled while still starring at the page and said, "Something I love is that if I ever need an answer, I can find it in the scriptures." She wouldn't expound as to what that answer was for her at that time, but I was just so grateful to know, yet again, that Heavenly Father takes care of His children. He knows that this will potentially be a hard road for Paula, but He has prepared her to accept what lies before her and to go forward with faith.
After church yesterday, we passed by Meritë's home. She's had a really hard week. She just quite her job. And it was a job that she absolutely loved, but due to a horrible situation with a coworker, she just couldn't handle staying any longer. Then after the heartbreak of leaving ten year of work behind her, she had a family funeral to attend Saturday. She was really struggling when we got there. We had a long talk - mostly just listening. I think she just needed an someone to talk to. I want her so badly to come to church. It will make all the difference in the world for her. She's never attended a religious service in all her life aside from the baptism she witnessed with us a couple weeks ago. But with everything she's told us, like Paula, it's easy to see how the Lord has prepared her to accept the gospel at this time in her life. She told us everything she's looking for, everything she feels she's missing, etc. and every single point she brought up can be taken fulfilled with the gospel. And she's making progress. The past couple of times we've seen her, she's told us that she hasn't had the mental/emotional strength to come to church because of the stressful thoughts she's had cluttering her mind. "I want to be happy when I got to church and when I read the scriptures." We've tried to explain that it's in the difficult moments that reading, praying and going to church can make the biggest difference and it's then that we need it the most, but she wasn't catching the vision. However, after the super hard week she had, she told me that yesterday morning when she woke up "I saw this book, and I said, 'Alright Kimberly (she doesn't like calling my Soeur Jorgensen - "it's too hard") Let go. I'll try it." And she began reading the Book of Mormon. (She also said she doesn't call it the Book of Mormon in her head. She said, "You gave it to me. So it's the Book of Kimberly. ha ha oh dear. We'll have to work through that one a bit. Good thing no one at church knows my first name or they'd think we're running around claiming to be prophets ha ha.) And now she's committed to reading three pages a day at least. AND she told us that she wants to go to church every week for at least the next eight weeks. I was SO happy walking out of there. If she does that, if she'll just take those little steps, it's going to make all the difference! =) So we planned it out with her, and we'll be meeting up with her half and hour before church next week and going together. YEAH! After weeks of us trying to get her to read and come to church, she's now decided to do it all on her own. =)
I know this is a short email. Sorry about that. I've just been fighting with this computer and it's just not been cooperating. So now I'm just about out of time. But at least you've got a couple of updates from the past week. =) And the most important news of all...it's absolutely gorgeous here! =) The sun is out, the skies are bright blue and we're LOVING it! =) Hopefully you've gotten over the snow storms in Utah.
Have a wonderful week. I love you!
Love,
~Kim
