Lil' Spud Gone East: November 7, 2016 - BEcome More Fully Reliant in Christ!

HEY! So..don’t hate me but last week we were running so behind that I wrote that weekly email so quick I forgot to share some of the most exciting news I have had...

Long story short, Sister Bryant and Sister Taylor were planning to be baptized on the 5^th for a while now and through much prayer and faith they were! The field IS WHITE (: And I love my calling. We fought like dragons to help Sister Bryant and Sister Taylor be baptized and confirmed and so did they. It isn’t if opposition comes, it is when. BUT because they had a love for the Lord, they entered into the waters of baptism! And I saw the fruits of raising my vision. I remember at the start of this area thinking, “I KNOW this area can hit standard, but I wonder how long it will take”? I wondered what would change first to make it happen. Funny enough, it wasn’t a key indicator that changed first. It was my vision and my faith. THEN because it raised, my missionary work improved. The Lord is so smart for putting faith as the first principle of the gospel.

The baptism was amazing and it was all of the little details that made it special. I think my favorite part of the whole thing was watching Sister Taylor yesterday after she was confirmed sit down next to a member of the ward and give her a hug! I love that the members were so involved in helping them come closer to Christ. All we really did was find them and coordinate everything! They have a huge place in my heart. The first day we met them they had a picture of Christ taped to their wall. They loved Christ from the very beginning.

This was a gift from some members in the ward. When Sister Bryant saw this she just bawled. It was SO SWEET. She will be one of the most amazing members of the church.

It didn’t really sink in that they were members until we went over last night to drop something off. We walked in and the spirit in their home was so strong! It was so much greater than it had been before. It was amazing.

This is one of my favorite pictures. Among others that we teach and meet, I live for these women. They have become some of my favorite people. Their progression is all so different, but it is there and it is changing their life.

I LOVE MY CALLING. This week was the hardest week of my mission. I spent a whole day not even being able to walk because the warts on my feet hurt so bad. I just remember pulling out my journal and pleading with the Lord to help me know what he wanted me to learn and then to take the pain away so I could do missionary work. I wrote down the impressions that came to mind and the next morning my foot didn’t hurt at all. My mission nurse was in shock when I told her. Prayer works (: Satan worked on us so hard to try and stop the miracles. And to add to it, Friday night Sister Taylor got SUPER SICK. She got a blessing and even though she did feel weak she just pushed through. Living the gospel is a fight, but it is worth it. I testify of that. And I testify that God will not leave us lonely.

We saw miracles this week and we have some MIRALCES happening. This area is ON FIRE. Want to know one of my favorite scriptures that I found this morning? “For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.” Ether 12:12

Okay, my challenge (:

In Moroni 10: 32-33 it says, “ Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.”

So, in church last week a member spoke about this scripture and with it he said: Denying his power means to deny Him of our complete trust.

I COULD NOT get that out of my mind this week. I become purified in Christ because of my ability to be able to trust him more completely and rely on him more solely. I have pondered about why heart ache, trials, tribulation, and weaknesses come to us. Why the opposition?
Why the long journey to my hopes and dreams? Why don’t the blessings come when I feel I need them at that moment? God has testified to me through the Holy Ghost that what the scriptures teach me about these hard times is true. The scriptures teach that He gives us weakness and trials to test and try and build our faith. Without that opposition we would not be able to exercise and strengthen our trust in our Savior. Thus, we could not be sanctified in him because we would have no reason to use the grace of God in our lives to clean, heal, and enable us. One of my closest friends told me that she was counseled once to “Get comfortable being uncomfortable”. I could not figure out how that was even remotely possible for the longest time, then as I was pondering this scripture in Moroni it came to me! CHRIST. He can enable us to be comfortable in the uncomfortable spots of our life. His grace can and will enable us to overcome hurdles we think are too high and lows we think we could never escape. HE LIVES and he will help us if we trust in him. God only gives us these hard times to help us. It is our choice to use them as trust building experiences (: My challenge to you is to Become more fully reliant in Christ! Start using your circumstances to build your trust in the Savior (: I promise you will be happier because of it. I know that. I have tried it.

I LOVE YOU! I am so grateful for the Lord and that he knew where to send me. I have always wanted to make a change in the world and I feel I am acquiring the skills and becoming a missionary that the Lord would have me be. And thank goodness it is a lifelong calling. I am sure grateful for these 18 months of training for all of the other opportunities he will provide me if I am willing.

Sister Justina Campbell

West Virginia Charleston Mission

Did we mention we love nature?(:

All the sisters.

Look who I found!

Good story: the other day Sister Allen and I saw someone put their trash in their trunk….drive it 20 feet and drop it off....we laughed so hard. The things people will do to get out of working. I am glad that I love hard work. But just for fun, we tried it.