Well well, transfers are here again. I'm staying and Sister Riley is coming to join me. Sister Hudson, my companion, will be going to Maastricht, which is next to Heerlen.
We've had a good week of finding this week! We've actually met some pretty nice people and I'm sure things will pick up again soon. Things also just feel a little slow right now because we are without bikes right now since Sister Hudson's got stolen. I don't know how other missionaries ever made it on only public transportation here in the past. I'm missing my bike a lot after one week. But we are still making sure to talk to people on public transportation, and we've given out several cards that way at least.
One of our biggest miracles this week was a student who investigated the church about a year ago, but then got busy and stopped. About a month ago she just showed up at church again, but didn't seem to want to make an appointment. Then last week she just came again and we started teaching her again on Tuesday. She really has a sincere desire to know if the Church is true, and she's even felt the Spirit strongly during church, which is why she keeps coming. We had a really good lesson and she's decided to investigate again.
I learned a lot this week about gratitude. When things are not going the way we want them to, it is very easy to get discouraged and disappointed. One of my favorite talks this week was President Uchtdorf's talk from last conference, "Grateful in Any Circumstances." When we live with faith, hope, and confidence that no matter what, if we do our part, things will turn out the Lord's way (which is the best way), we can live with a deep and enduring joy.
A part of this talk:
"This type of gratitude transcends whatever is happening around us. It surpasses disappointment, discouragement, and despair. It blooms just as beautifully in the icy landscape of winter as it does in the pleasant warmth of summer.
When we are grateful to God in our circumstances, we can experience gentle peace in the midst of tribulation. In grief, we can still lift up our hearts in praise. In pain, we can glory in Christ’s Atonement. In the cold of bitter sorrow, we can experience the closeness and warmth of heaven’s embrace.
We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly shortsighted that is. How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?
Being grateful in our circumstances is an act of faith in God. It requires that we trust God and hope for things we may not see but which are true. By being grateful, we follow the example of our beloved Savior, who said, “Not my will, but thine, be done.”
True gratitude is an expression of hope and testimony. It comes from acknowledging that we do not always understand the trials of life but trusting that one day we will."
I'm grateful that I get to be here in Gent and I love you all!
Love,
Zuster Stevens
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