Tuesday, June 2, 2015

I Still Got It

I still got it... jokes I never really had it. Or did I? You are probably wondering what I am talking about. Don't worry, I am about to explain. :) On Saturday, the elders and all the brothers of the ward joined up for a soccer game. We invited everyone in our English class to come as well. One of our friends from English class, this really cute and fun girl who is my age, wanted to come watch them play with us. So we watched the brothers and elders play soccer for a little while with her. Super, super fun! :) After the game, one of the brothers of the ward got out a baseball bat and mitt. My eyes lit up, "I want to play!" I said in Korean. This particular brother served his mission in the USA, so he speaks perfect English. He replied in English, "Really?!" So I said yes. He said, "Are you serious?" So I of course, said yes. I picked up the bat and asked one of the elders to toss the ball to me. I line drove the ball into the chain link fence. Then I hit another one into the fence. Then another one (this one got stuck in the fence). The next thing I knew, all the brothers of the ward were watching the foreign sister missionary playing baseball in a dress, shock all over their faces. One of the members of the bishopric said he wants to play a game with me sometime. I sure hope it happens... I didn't expect to miss softball so much. The next day during church, one of the elders told me that after I left the soccer games, all the brothers were talking about me playing baseball, totally surprised and shocked. It basically made my entire week. ;)

I had a little experience with the gift of tongues and the gift of interpretation of tongues this last week! :) Yesterday we were teaching a recent convert in our ward. During the lesson she started crying. This sister is not a cryer so I knew either something was wrong... or she was really feeling the spirit. I started praying my heart out to understand what she was saying, to understand her needs. Before I knew it, I understood what was going on. She was struggling with her testimony, but she wanted so badly to have a strong one. The spirit told me to tell her a little life experience of mine. I began to tell her the story of the first time I read the Book of Mormon. It was 2009 and I was only 14 years old. It was kind of confusing, but I wanted to know it was true. After I read it completely through, I got a small piece of paper and wrote a simple testimony of the Book of Mormon on it, and slipped it in the binding of my scriptures. Every year since then, I have updated my testimony, adding to it on another slip of paper which I then slip into the binding of my scriptures. Luckily, I had my English scriptures with me while I taught her, so I pulled each slip of paper out from the binding. I showed her the first slip of paper from 2009 with only a few lines of testimony on it and compared it to the slip of paper from 2014 which was a full piece of paper completely filled from top to bottom. I then explained that gaining a testimony doesn't happen all at once. It takes time, and little by little we learn more and gain more knowledge and understanding of the gospel. We just have to keep trying, keep praying, and keep trusting that God will answer our questions. She thanked me for sharing this experience. The spirit definitely testified while we were in that lesson. And the spirit was the mediator. Though my Korean is limited, the spirit told me what her needs were, and what she needed to hear. It then provided a way for me to tell my story. My Korean was clear and simple enough for her to understand, and the spirit testified to her. I am so thankful for the Holy Ghost.

On Thursday, we had a combined mission conference with the Seoul Mission. President Ringwood, (area 70 I think) spoke to the missionaries about seeing ourselves as God sees us. As missionaries, we are so focused on telling everyone else that God loves them, that they can return to live with Him, that they are God's children.... but sometimes we forget that we are God's children too. We are hard on ourselves. We doubt ourselves. We look into the mirror and see ourselves as weak and inadequate. But that is not how God sees us. God called us here, and He will give us the strength to fulfill His plan in this mission. We are not weak or inadequate, though we may feel like it. When the prophet called us, he did not doubt our abilities. When God called us, He did not doubt our abilities. So why then do we doubt our abilities? We forget to see ourselves how God sees us. He sees us as beloved, strong, able sons and daughters of His army, sent forth to proclaim His gospel. I have been trying harder to focus on seeing myself how He sees me, because it is so important to remember who called me here. If the Lord trusts me, and I trust the Lord, how can I fail?

I hope you all have a great week! Happy Summer! :) Love you and miss you always!

Love, Sister Maughan


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