Fwd: Letter #24 - 9/16/13

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Elizabeth Montgomery <elizabeth.montgomery@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 7:48 AM
Subject: Letter #24 - 9/16/13
To: Christine Montgomery <chrismont9@gmail.com>

Hey! Fantastic week, I have to say. Lots of neat stories, neat instruction, and neat stories.

For example, you know what's really cool? When we spend all day trying to find people, and then people find US! For example, Tuesday we were dropping off an audio Book of Mormon to a less-active's house, and as we were leaving, a young guy started calling out, "Sisters! Sisters!" We got into a really good gospel conversation, we testified to him of Heavenly Father's love for him, and he wants to get together again to hear our message. He's a bit of a rough fellow (he was kind of on drugs when we met him...), but he wants to change, and it turns out the gospel is a really good recipe for lasting, positive change. It's interesting -- I've been teaching long enough to really tell when I'm teaching "by the Spirit" (D&C 50:17). The words just flow out of my mouth, I'm completely calm and yet bold about what I'm saying, I can see the person with complete charity (who they can become instead of just who they are now), and I truly feel like a representative of my Savior. It's such an incredible feeling to teach by the power of the Spirit, and I get better at it every single day.

Also later that day, a woman (Maria) from the neighboring stairwell in my apartment building stopped us and said, "I want to chat with you girls! Apartment 150!" So we stopped by, had two lessons this week, and she even came to church yesterday! She actually heard about us from the woman who works at our apartment entrance (Klavdia) -- I guess she was saying good things about us, and Maria was interested in getting to know us. That's the power of being an example of Christ at all times and in all places -- if we had ignored Klavdia or left a bad impression, we would have probably never met Maria! Anyway, she's great, very receptive to our message, and I'm excited to keep meeting with her.

One last cool story. Friday night we were on our way to an appointment, but the person cancelled last minute. We were on the trolleybus and decided to just get off and go contacting/tracting/something. Normally that would've been kind of a bummer, but I was actually pretty excited because I was feeling the Spirit unusually strong, and I was completely ready to be led by Him. I even told Sister Cromwell, "I've got a feeling that something good is about to happen..."

We walked in the direction of a big apartment complex, and I had the feeling to tract. We stood outside of one stairwell, waiting for someone to open the door so we could sneak in, but no one came so we tried the next stairwell. Someone went in so we nonchalantly followed them, and we started tracting from the bottom. The first door we knocked, a woman opened it and closed it before we could say much. We kept going, and soon that woman came out again and asked what it was that we wanted. What ensued was at least a 30 minute, very delightful conversation with that actually incredibly kind and positive woman (Larisa) about life and family and faith. She has a husband, son, and daughter, no religious background, and a lot of questions about God. We taught her the basics of what we believe, prayed with her, and we should be going back this weekend to teach her and her family. I can hardly wait! :)

Oh yeah, I almost forgot! We had mission conference on Saturday! Everyone in the mission was there, and we were blessed to have three hours of awesome instruction from Elder David F. Evans, the head of the missionary department (general authority, rubs shoulders with apostles and prophets... kind of a big deal). MAN was it incredible. I walked away corrected, instructed, inspired, and excited to step up all aspects of my missionary work. I love this constant process of change and improvement... it feels so good to always be making progress in whatever it is I'm doing.

Quick spiritual thought from Elder Evans. He talked about two different types of faith. First is the general find -- faith and hope in the future, the faith that keeps us going every day, the faith that is found in many people throughout the world. The second is a very rare type of faith that he described as, "The faith to actually cause things to happen." I've thought about that a lot in my work here: do I have a general sense of hope that things will go well here in my area and with my investigators, or do I actually have the faith to bring about the purposes that I and the Lord desire? Do I have the faith to work in such a way to actually steer the course of what's happening here? Faith is a principle of power, and I'm going to really strive to develop this second kind of faith so that I can bring about miracles here. I know that you too can develop that kind of faith, and it can very literally change your life.

Alright, have a great week! Hope the rain lets up in Colorado soon. Maybe if Grandpa Montgomery flies in, him and Dad could just spend a day or two conversing with each other -- there would probably be enough "dry humor" there to dry the state out. :)

Love you!
Sister Montgomery

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