This week has been one of the hardest weeks of my life as well as one of the most rewarding and incredible. Training is so fun and such a blessing but one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done and probably will ever do. The first few days were rough. I felt so much pressure to be perfect and my mind was going a million miles per hour and I felt all this responsibility and weight on my shoulders and I constantly felt like I was about to cry or explode with stress. My face broke out, I got huge knots in my shoulders, I had a lingering, pounding headache and I felt so inadequate and overwhelmed. But I prayed every minute that I could just look outward and tried to put my trust in God and just keep smiling and testifying and working hard and being exactly obedient and just loving the heck out of my trainee, sister Park.
The moment I received my call to train, I promised God I would follow the two great commandments whole-heartedly. That is- Love God (exact obedience, hard work) and Love Others (do everything in my power to show love to Sister Park, the ward members, investigators and everyone we come in contact with). The moment she arrived in Fayetteville, we threw her luggage in the apartment, said a prayer and went out to work our butts off from 2 till 9:30 pm. That day we talked to everyone- and I mean EVERYONE. We invited all to repent (aka left them with a commitment) and testified of simple, beautiful truths lovingly and boldly. We handed out 12 Books of Mormon that evening between teaching appointments each of which had a handwritten testimony and other info inside. We taught several lessons, visited less actives, recent converts, a ward member, investigators. we just gave it our all. By the time we climbed in bed we were exhausted. That night I woke up about 8 times, finding myself sitting up, teaching lessons to investigators. The alarm went off at 6:30 am and we hopped out of bed and went to work! It was hard, really hard haha but the blessings we’ve seen the past few days and the miracles we’ve witnessed make all these silly things so worth it! There is so much to be GRATEFUL for!
Also, receiving a priesthood blessing helped me a lot a lot. The moment Brother Phillips and Hardy laid their hands on my head, I was in tears because of the overwhelming sense of relief I felt. We are SOOO blessed with so much to do here! I am so amazed by Sister Park! She is SO charitable, full of faith and so humble. Those are the three things I’ve been praying for twice a day my whole mission and God has blessed me with such a good example! I am learning so much from her! She has a deep love for Christ and for the people we come into contact with and is working SO HARD!!!! I am shocked at how willing she is to work! She is an excellent missionary and I can’t wait for next week!
“I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save He shall prepare a way for them, that they may accomplish the thing which he hath commanded them.” -1 Nephi 3:7
“I know I am nothing, as to my strength I am weak, therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in him, I can do all things, yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever” -Alma 26:12
I love Sister Park. The three things I pray for, day and night on my mission are: Charity, Faith, Humility. Sister Park has all 3. She truly has a desire to serve God. I have worked her so hard these past few days and she has just loved every minute!
Challenge for the week: Look beyond the earthy view and see what each experience in your life truly is. It is so much more than you thing. So sacred, so beautiful, so powerful and full of joy. Try to find the Joy in the difficult times through praising God in words of Gratitude!!!
Thank you all SO much for your letters and packages. They are such a comfort to me. I will get back to you as soon as is possible, which may be next month or so ❤
Sister Rebekah Ruth Folkman 