“Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.”- Alma 26:27

I’m happy, healthy, I have the most wonderful companion, sister Park, New York is bursting in color and I am a missionary! I am so blessed! I really never think I can become more obsessed with missionary work, I think it will get tiring or old, but then the next week comes around and it happens! I get more obsessed every week! My mother sent me a wonderful book by M. Russell Ballard called One Drop at a Time.  It is about honeybees. Today I would like to compare each of us to honey bees. “Do you sometimes wonder if your little efforts could possibly make any difference at all? Consider a simple example from nature… Honey is one of the foods that include all the substances… necessary to sustain life. Over its short life a single honeybee’s contribution of honey to its hive is a mere one-twelfth of one teaspoon. Though seemingly insignificant when compared to the total, each bee’s one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey is vital to the life of the hive. Your simple daily acts of service matter.” That 1/12th of a teaspoon matters! Honey, or in other words, the joy that comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ, sustains life! It brings us that eternal life! I sometimes loose sight of the whole picture and wonder if my simple, daily tasks are actually doing something. Then I remember that I am simply a honeybee! My hard work does make a difference, no matter how small! As followers of Christ, as children in His kingdom, we have a responsibility to follow His example, to live as He lived. As we are “anxiously engaged in a good cause” we will see great results! But we cannot do it alone! We need the Lord! We need our brothers and sisters! We need to work together! Bringing souls to Christ is a group effort! It fills my heart with joy to think of all my brothers and sisters serving alongside me in this great work! It is not our work- it is the Lords! As we diligently work to serve and love those around us, we will taste of that sweet honey! It will not come all at once, but as we patiently work, we will look back and see that great things do come from small and simple acts.

For example, my second week here Sister Saunders and I prayed to find a family to teach. Not too long after, the Lord brought us to Heather. She is a young mother who loves Christ, as does her husband and they have 2 adorable young kids. She took a couple lessons and LOVED the messages! She was too busy to meet over the summer and things kept falling through, however, we would occasionally stop by and drop off a talk or a DVD or share a scripture with her. This week we were able to meet with her a few times and took her on a church tour. She love love loved it! She is so excited about it and she wants to be baptized with her husband and eventually sealed. Now I’m not sure whether it will take a few months or a few years, but I believe that it will happen! I believe that I will one day be in the temple with them to witness their sealing! I believe we will be life long and eternal friends! I believed that from the moment I looked into her eyes! It is just going to take a drop at a time!

We are richly blessed here in Fayetteville! We are teaching a bunch and have eight beautiful souls working towards specific dates that are doing awesome!!!! I am very hopefully for this area! The ward members are so involved and are really helping Steve and Bill who are preparing for baptism in just a few weeks! Set backs come, as they always will, but as we patiently work through the doubts and fears of life, we come even closer to our Savior! If there is one thing I have really learned out here, it is PATIENCE! It is the Lords timing! It is in His hands! But just like the honeybees, as we patiently serve we will taste of that honey! Today I got a little taste of that honey as Sister Park and I got to go do baptisms with Jim for the first time! He was baptized for his father, grandfather and 13 other relatives! I was able to be baptized for his mother and 5 other relatives. It was a blessing! It was wonderful.

One of several awkward moments: We went to go teach Cassandra and as we were standing outside her door she whispered, “Oliver is sleeping, so try to be quiet,” and at that moment Sister Park leaned on the doorbell accidentally. It went off and it was super loud HAHAHA she just stared at us with wide eyes, a moment of silence, then no sound after so we all started laughing. Ha-ha classic.

In closing, I want to challenge each of you to be honeybees. Go about doing simple acts of kindness. Build the kingdom of God by following the Saviors example! I promise you as you do this, you will taste of that Joy! Great things will come! Don’t loose patience with yourself or others! God gave us all agency and we cannot allow the choices of others to get us down! We must press forward in the work! I love you all!