The promptings of the Spirit are very real and we have a very real need to follow them. And when we do we will see miracles. A few weeks ago we were going langs de deuren [door to door]in a not-very-polite neighborhood. When we asked people at the end of the contact if they knew anyone with interest in our message, someone told us to try their neighbors who weren't home at the time. They told us that some very religious people lived there. So, I have to admit that I assumed (based partly on past experiences) that they would be Jehovah's Witnesses or something similar, and/or just have absolutely no interest. Plus the neighborhood was not close by where we usually work and the night that we were knocking they were fairly hostile. But it was a referral so we tried a few times with no success. And I honestly wanted to give up. I had absolutely no desire to keep trying to contact them. In fact, I probably had, if anything, negative desire about it. But today we were heading towards another potential and I got the feeling that we had to try them. And I did not want to. At all. But we did it anyway. I have to admit, I was nervous, so I prayed all the way up to the door, and, I admit, lost nearly all hope when I saw through the window that they were older (older Dutch people, particularly the religious ones, tend to listen to us the least). Well, this older couple let us right in on the spot and we had a wonderful conversation. We talked a lot about the Restoration and his questions, because he´d run into Elders 10-15 years earlier. He had wonderful questions, and pretty much all of them we were able to answer with Church doctrine--and he agreed with pretty much all of our answers (even though many other religious people would not). Apparently he is the leader or something of a group that tis concerned with the unity/coming together of other Christian churches/groups. They have a lot of things that hold them back--for example, he has hesitations believing Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, but he said that he would read it! And they really are so sincere and kind, I´m sure that he will read the Book of Mormon. They wanted some time before meeting again (like a few months), which is too bad, but they are really neat people and it was so cool to be able to experience that.
I would say that that is one example of how I´m motivated by diligence to the Lord. I can´t explain most of the time what exactly it is that motivates me so much to be diligent. Sometimes it´s nothing more than a very strong sense of duty. But the core motivation is love for my Heavenly Father and Savior. It´s been really interesting this week--people have been asking questions in contacts like "Do you really believe that?" And my answer is, of course. I would not be here otherwise. I believe with all my heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He came to earth to atone for the sins of the world. I believe just as strongly that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God to restore the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth again. And I know that the Book of Mormon is true. These things have brought me so much absolute joy and peace and happiness that I just can´t help but want to share it with people. I know it´s true, and I´m so grateful for the privilege that I have to be here.
In other news, the sun is shining and has been for the last few days! One of our baptismal dates is doing great, we´re busy with him. And the work goes forth!
Love,
Zuster Stevens
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