49th Email: I Believe in Miracles!!

What a glorious week! Sister Boldrin and I have been seeing miracles and learning something new every single day.

We had a really neat experience this week that taught me a lot about Heavenly Father and His wisdom. On Friday, our schedule seemed to just fall apart as the day went on, and nothing seemed to be working out. We have an allotted number of miles we can put on the car every month, and we had to drive to Kentucky a few times at the beginning of the month, which used up a huge chunk of our miles, so now we have to be pretty careful about how much we drive every day. We had a dinner appointment with some members who live pretty far out, so we planned to work our way out to their house throughout the day to use as little miles as possible. Things weren't working out as we planned, however, and we were running out of things to do! We were left with about an hour before our dinner appointment, and so we decided to tract. We hadn't planned on tracting, so we just turned into a random neighborhood and started from there! We knocked on some doors, met a few nice people outside, gave some cards with our number on them, and then headed to dinner. Nothing too crazy or exciting. The next morning, however, is when it all clicked into place. We got a super long text from a man named Dave, who is one of the people we met outside. We had shared Alma 7:11-12, testified of the Atonement, and he accepted a Book of Mormon, but he seemed to be doing it more out of politeness. Though in his text, he told us the impact that our visit truly had on him. He said it was like we knew beforehand the exact time they would be home, a few of the things we mentioned about the Atonement really hit home with him. Sister Boldrin mentioned how her mom has MS, and how the Atonement covers that and other things, like a lifetime of depression or other mental illnesses. In the text he told us that he has suffered from depression and that his brother has MS. He expressed gratitude for our visit among other things, and invited us to come over for dinner and a discussion sometime. He's got a surgery and will need a couple weeks to recover before we come over, but we're excited to get to know him and his wife and share the light of the gospel with them!

A lot of the time, when miracles occur, it is because we have prayed fervently or followed the promptings of the spirit. These experiences build faith. This experience with Dave, however, was a little different. Sister Boldrin and I were getting discouraged with the day falling apart, and to be honest, we didn't have the best attitude about the situation, and we didn't have a lot of faith that something good would come from it. We didn't feel guided by the spirit. We didn't pray fervently and with faith. This miracle did not happen because of us. Heavenly Father was and is the ultimate maker of miracles, and on Friday, he let us be a part of and witness a miracle. This experience helped us to be humble. There was no way we could have been prideful! We didn't do anything! We couldn't say, "Well, this only happened because we are so righteous and in tune with the spirit," or, "This happened because of our prayer," etc. It happened because Heavenly Father willed it to happen. We were just lucky to be there.

I have met a lot of people recently who seem to have more difficult trials than most, and they have really helped me to appreciate what I have been blessed with. It's also inspiring to see how they deal with their trials, even when they seem to be at a breaking point. I know Heavenly Father doesn't allow people to go through more than they can handle, and he gives us strength to endure. This is true for every one of God's children.

I've been thinking a lot about the natural man lately, and a scripture I've been turning to frequently is Mosiah 3:19, which says that the natural man is an enemy to God and we need to overcome the natural man. Easier said, than done, right? Sister Boldrin did something yesterday that really stuck with me. She told me to put my name in that verse so that it says, "the natural man is an enemy to Sister Myers." That perspective gave me such strength! I think I focus too much on what the natural man is doing to me, and less on what I can do to the natural man. Sure, the natural man is against me, but I'm also against the natural man! And if I'm on the Lord's side, then the natural man can't win! Ha! Take that, Satan!

I know this church is true and I love being a missionary with all my heart.

Love,
Sister Myers