Week 68

Hey there!!

We had another great week here! This week was stake conference so we traveled to Cheongjoo (about a 40 minute drive) with a member from our ward. Stake conference was super good. They talked all about missionary work, but it was just the normal talk of "do missionary work!" It was all about the how and why. Lots of people think that missionary work is hard, but it's easy! It all starts with prayer, and that's something that we can all do. One member talked about the blessings of just memorizing the names of the missionaries serving in her ward and praying for them and for their investigators by name. Through doing that, she has been able to see miracles. That's something that literally every member can do. It was a really great stake conference. We sang in the choir...it was fun :)

This week we met with some investigators, but not everyone could meet because of the holiday season. We had a special experience...it was a tender mercy. Maybe not the kind you would expect, but to me it was a miracle. I'll type what I wrote in my journal that day:

"We had a special experience today. On Tuesday we got an English interest referral from and English advertisement. We set up an appointment to meet today (Thursday). So we met her at 3 outside the hospital by our church and walked to the church together. When I first saw her I could tell that she was "down." She just had this sad aura around her. While walking she asked some about our church and said that she doesn't think that she can listen to our message because she already goes to a different church and it would just confuse her. But we got inside and introduced the program a little more, but she said that she would have to think about it. Somehow the topic got changed and she asked us if we had ever experienced losing a family member. She told us that her 21 year old son died a month ago. He was serving in army and I think committed suicide. She was just crying and weeping as she talked about him. We were crying too. We taught some of the Plan of Salvation, assuring her that this life is not the end--she will be with her son again. Even though it hurts so much and no one else knows how this feels Jesus Christ knows and experiences it with her. We tried to share hope and comfort with her. We told her that the reason she called us was so she could hear this message, but she still said that she needed to think about it. We said a prayer together, she thanked us and said she would call us again and then she left. I just watched her walk away. If anyone ever needed the gospel of Jesus Christ, it was her--in that moment. I honestly don't know if we will ever see her again but we are praying to meet again because the atonement of Jesus Christ is the only thing that's going to heal her and make her happy again.

It was a miracle.

Not the kind of miracle you might expect with a miraculous happy outcome, but we were able to meet and deliver a little message of hope at a time in neeed. That's what standing as a witness of Christ means. "Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in" (Mosiah 18:9).

That's what this gospel and keeping our covenants is all about. The Lord is super aware of all of us individuall. He bleses us with opportunities to strengthen one another. I'm thankful for this experience to remind me of that. I'm praying that we'll be able to meet her again and help her to gain hope through the atonement. But I'm thankful the Lord blessed Sister Ha, that woman and I with this moment where we could share a little bit of hope and mourn together and comfort together."

Sorry that was really long, but this was one of those moments where I was reminded that God is aware of everyone's circumstances individually. He knew that that woman needed to hear some words of comfort at that time. I don't know if right now there will be any big outcomes, but I know that we did our best to help her in a time of need. I just felt like I wanted to share that experience with you all.

So thankful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that through it we can receive hope. This week I continuously studied about hope. I loved it. I love this gospel because it gives me something firm to hold on to and it leads me to do good works (Ether 12:4).

I love you all!! I hope you can feel that.

Love

Sister Livingston