Service in Seattle: Week 47 - The Weight of the Calling

Ok, not gonna lie...this was a hard week for me. Mission life can just become so stressful and you don't realize how much you take on until people tell you to slow down. Then it just hits you all at once and you are reminded of the many problems you face in the field. As missionaries, we literally just absorb the hardships of others and it can be quite a burden. Not only that, but Satan is the WORST out in the mission field. He wants you to feel like you aren't doing enough and the work is hopeless. I think my mind became accustomed to feeling that weight so I was totally numb to all the stress my body was going through. Well, then it started to affect me physically and that's where I drew the line. After receiving a priesthood blessing and some additional help, I'm headed in an upward direction again. I'm telling you this because MISSIONS ARE HARD. We talk to people everyday that come from all over the world. People who have terrible family conditions or are working 5 different jobs just to provide food for their kids. As representatives of Christ, people tend to open up to us and they just want someone to understand. With our calling, we have the ability to heal those wounds and to give these people hope. And that's what made these past 10 months worth it. Even with all of the stress we take on, the ability to bring peace to a broken family mends this fragile heart of mine every. single. time.

Currently in Cougar Mountain, we are still working with our friend Mona. She is a superstar, oh my goodness! She is one of those special people you dream about as a missionary. The kind that just absorbs everything you teach her. Mona has suffered a lot and just wants a clean start. We taught her the Plan of Salvation this week and she just kept commenting how "beautiful" it was to know this. She told us how she wished more people knew this plan, that they could receive that peace of knowing there's more to this life. It was a humbling experience to me because I had grown up having that knowledge my whole life, and yet, there were still so many who feared life after death. There are still so many who worry about loved ones who have passed on. How lucky are we to know God gave us a way back to Him!

Mona has been having a hard time reading the Book of Mormon and we finally found out why: her vision makes it hard to see the words! We had her download the Book of Mormon app on her phone and made the font 3x bigger. Yesterday we invited Mona over for dinner and a lesson at a member's home. Mona told us she read the introduction...and the first four chapters of Nephi! And...she understood it all! She has just a desire to learn and come closer to Heavenly Father. I can't wait for the day when she enters that baptismal font and feels the cleansing power of Christ's Atonement wash away her past. She is an amazing soul.

Cool little miracle for the week: We have been trying to get in contact with this amazing referral all week. They moved here from Hawaii and the father was about to be baptized there, but then life got super crazy. Well, we had their phone numbers but both phones were disconnected so we couldn't call them. We tried multiple times to see them at their apartment, but they were never home. I had kind of given up hope on them until last night. We were stopping by to see our one friend Kevin and there was no parking in the complex. We ended up hazard parking on the side just long enough to swing by Kevin's. When we came back, we saw a Polynesian woman walking across and Sister Cowley called out to her. She turned out to be Irena (the wife of this referral)! She told us her phone will be set up this week and she's been missing church since she came here. We invited her to our church and she said she'll plan on attending! We also friended her on Facebook so we have another way to reach out to her if her phone doesn't work. It was such a miracle that we just happened to be there at the right time!

Have another great week and hopefully enjoy some sunshine over there! Washington is supposed to get into the 80s this week so we are prepping for another dry summer!

Love,
Sister Smith

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