We had a "Sisters Training" yesterday and it amazing. There were some great speakers. One of them was Sister Mortensen! Her talk was something I have thought about throughout my life! Wow it was so good for me. It was on the Joy and Power of inner Stillness.
The talk was focused on the scripture Luke 2:19. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
Mary is a great example of a righteous woman in the gospel. Who am I? How can I know? What is inside me? Who can help me? If you read the "War In Heaven" definition in the Bible, we understand that there are forces around us who don't want us to have inner peace. A calmness of heart and mind. We know stillness comes from the Savior and when there is perfect stillness God alone speaks to us. There is a problem today and it is that people don't know how to separate revelation vs. validation from Heavenly Father and others. Who we are to God is far more important than who we are to those we know around us even on social media. Revelation is a stillness of heart. Each of us is literally a son and daughter of God!! Being in New York City is teaching me a lot about people and my own inner stillness. I feel every day is a battle in mind and heart. One thing I know is that when we ask Heavenly Father, He always will guide our lives and it comes when our hearts are still. One thing I want to invite you all to do is to talk to your Heavenly Father tonight and ask him "Am I really thy son/daughter?" & "Do thy love me?" Make that prayer sincere!! I promise Heavenly Father will pour out His Spirit and you will know how special you really are to him. What I got from this was that I want to take 5 minutes each day to find inner stillness. Take a look at the words to "Be Still My Soul".
Now for updates on the work. The work is busy. There were so many things that happened this week. Yesterday we had a media referral and she is going to get baptized. We taught her like everything.. Haha This week we went over to Sandra Perez's. She has taken a step back because she is going through so much and feels overwhelmed. She has decided to get a divorce and so that is a super sensitive thing to work through. By others choices it has just been a rippling effect on her life. She feels Heavenly Father is helping her by all of these signs that remind her of her mom. I know that her and Daniel will accept the Gospel it will just take some time.
This week we got a message saying that one of the Elders got stopped on the street by a woman named Melissa who wanted Christ centered material. When we went to her apartment I felt like this woman was someone familiar to me. She is a happy person!! No teeth right now and wears a big smile on her face. We sat down and found out she is a member! She was baptized 10-15 years ago in Manhattan. She said the reason she hadn't come to church was because she didn't have a dress. Haha she is sweet. She ran and got out her marked up Bible and Book of Mormon. I think she is a little confused with a lot about the Gospel and went back to smoking. We told her we would figure out how to get her clothes so she could come with us to church. So we go pick up her dress from our Relief Society President and bring it over Sunday morning and she came to church with us!! It was awesome to see God's hand in all of it. Also, l3 other of our less actives who never come to church have come recently!! Yay! I love when people come to church!!!
We found Carol Archer, who is a referral from our next door neighbors the Kelly's. We've tried a couple times and caught her this week when she was home. She let us in and we made the connection. She has worked closely with Mormon so she knows a lot. I asked her if she would at least be open to listening to the missionary discussions and she said yes! In a couple weeks her schedule will free up. I hope something good will come from it! She was way nice.
Random thing. We have this huge mouse problem right now in our apartmentt. We call the mouse Sister Hubert and she has babies that run around and sometimes get into our food. Haha it's gross!!!
I love the members here. They teach me so much. These are beautiful days and I know I will draw back on them the rest of my life. Especially in the hard times, because there are moments here (every day & night) that are so exhausting, but somehow each day I'm able to keep going.. I feel I am learning how to serve here like never before in my life. Serving my Heavenly Father has brought a lot more meaning to my life!!
I know that Heavenly Father lives and loves his children. Each one of them :)
I love each one of you. <3 Sister Vassau
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