Week #67

Načelo vjere-Principle of faith

 

In Mom's e-mail, she ended speaking of how tithing is a principle of faith and that was what I wanted to talk about. This week was a rough week of losing/dropping investigators this week. This has been the lowest teaching pool I've had since coming to Osijek. It's a little rough, but it's a lot better than when I first arrived in Rijeka (which the teaching pool was non-existent), so we're alright. Our mother and daughter who had been learning from the Jehovah Witnesses, we felt like that they aren't progressing and aren't ready to move forward yet. So we decided to drop them for a few weeks and then pick them up again. Hopefully they will recognize the difference of not having the church in their life. Then we went contacting with not any success of receiving numbers or addresses. But these all were acts of faith. It's hard to drop investigators. What if they just need that one more lesson to have it click? What if they need to connect with that one member? What if? But we act in faith anyways that they need to be dropped and this will give us more time to find those who are ready. Then during contacting, it's just logic that the more people you talk to, the more numbers you will get, but how is it that we could go a whole day of contacting and receive no numbers then tract three doors and teach three lessons? How come these things happen? How is this possible? Because these are acts of faith. How is it that even though we are righteous we still receive hardships? It's an act of faith. We always have to have that faith during the good times and the hard times. When we drop an investigator, we have to have the faith that God will lead us to someone who is more prepared to receive the gospel. When we go out and contact for three hours with no one wanting to talk to us, we have to have the faith that God will help us find those who are ready as long as we show our desire to become the instruments in his hands. When we pay that 10% of our income for the Lord, how will the Lord provide the way for me to pay the bills? To pay for food? The Lord doesn't lie. In 3 Nephi 18, it describes how to not worry about clothes or food as long as you search for the kingdom of God. When we lose our life for the Lord's sake, we find what life is really about. When we act in faith during the trial, then will the miracles come (Ether 12:12). So on Sunday, after having a really stinky week of not much happening, we received 2 member referrals. One of our investigators came to church for the first time and brought her cousin and the cousin's son who is interested in learning more. Another investigator wants to be baptized at the end of May. Had more members at church than we have had my entire time in Osijek. A less-active teenager who hasn't come to church since at least December came to church. The member I talked about last week decided to come to church too. The miracles always come after the trial of our faith. I experienced this within one week. But I know it continues on throughout our lifetime. Keep having that faith. If there's a commandment or principle you're having a hard time understanding, put God to the test. Put some faith in Him and let Him prove to you what miracles can come about. Put it to the test. Volim vas!

S vjećnom ljubavlju,
 Vaša kćer,

Sestra Kristine Jolley
Uvijek Sljedići Braće