Safety for the Soul

Hello world!! 

It's me again! This is our walk week, but the weather has actually been better this week!! Funny how a little more clouds or a few degrees can make such a difference.

This week has been better. After the advice and counsel from my amazing friends and family and prayer, I talked to Sister Wood and we came up with a new focus along with finding. As our branch is very small and not very strong, we decided that we were going to ask the priesthood and auxiliary leaders what families and individuals we could focus on this week. We were able to get a few names and will talk to them this week and help them re-find that desire to come back. Hopefully we'll be able to see progress.

I love priesthood blessings! I was able to strengthen my testimony of them this week. I had asked for one earlier for comfort and strength to know that I am doing something here. And yesterday our branch president gave all of us a blessing. None of the four currently serving there had received one from him yet. It is something that President Wakolo had asked us to get when we first got into our new areas. I didn't get one in my last area- I'm not really sure why. Anyway, I was the last to receive one, so I was able to listen to the words used and the theme of the other three. They were specifically about setting apart for the work and how we all work together for the success and goodness for the branch. The first words of my actual blessing were that it was a blessing of comfort. I hadn't said anything to him, and it was just going to be a regular setting apart like the other three. But I know that the Father knows me and that I needed to know that He is always there for me. --I am doing fine, so no worries! :)

This week we were able to set a baptismal date! Her name is Renea, and she committed for August 16th! Not the best day ever, but pretty close :) She is very sweet and ready to learn and join. She heard about the church, and was actually referred to us, by her friend who is coming back to the church. We had a very good lesson with her, and the Spirit was so strong! I am excited to meet with her again this week. We are also slowly working with a few other families and people, but there isn't a whole lot of progress yet. I do know that our efforts aren't in vain. Something is showing from it- we just might not be the ones to see it though.

Thought of the Week: "Safety for the Soul" Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Safety For Your Soul

Love you all!! Please don't forget about me!!

Sister Pochop

 

Growth!

July 20, 2015

Oh my goodness! You always know just what meme to send don't you? :) it made me laugh real hard again. Thank you for the box mommy. Thanks also for the snackie snacks and pictures and the love. It always helps to finally not see an empty mailbox. :) Also, thank you for the socks and piano paper.  Thank you for the emails during the week. Thank you to the CTR 6B class for the letters and pictures!! Y'all made my day! Love and miss you!

This week was fun and full of new/exciting stuff! On Tuesday we had exchanges. It was Sister Wood's first one. I was fortunate enough to be with a sister I had not yet worked with or gotten to know very well. She was in my zone back in Little Rock, but she transferred to the Searcy Zone this past transfer and became one of our STLs. Her name is Sister Aase. She is a sweetheart! I love exchanges for many reasons. One, I have a chance to learn from another missionaries example. Two, I get to meet another missionary. Three, it's for a whole 24-hour period! It's one-on-one guidance with a leader for a whole day! It helps a lot. I think it helped Sister Wood too. It gives you a chance to look at the work with fresh eyes.

Wednesday was our specialized training. It took all day plus 2 and a half hour drive time both ways but it was good. We were officially trained on using the area book planner app. It didn't make a whole lot of sense in the beginning, but now that it's been a couple days I understand it. It helps with the work a lot! It actually makes everything more concise and accurate.

The rest of the week has been filled with adjusting to the new tools and putting all the information from our book into the iPads. I'm so thankful we have two to get twice the work done! We haven't been able to get it with Max or Amie again. He works crazy hours, and she isn't always home. But we are going to keep pushing. We had taught the restoration to them and it went really well. I know that our message and the Gospel will help them and change their lives. That's something he had said after we taught them. He knew we weren't going to give up.

Guess what?! My little girl gave her first talk yesterday! Actually, both of them did. Sister Wood gave her first as a missionary, and Jalynn gave her very first. I am so proud of them. I knew Sister Wood would do great. Jalynn was nervous, but she did amazing! It was about prayer. It's a great feeling to see someone you've grown to love continue to find success in the church and the gospel. Even though she is still 8, I've been able to see that change.

Some of my studies this week have been on faith and hope, 2 Christ-like attributes. They are so important and connect each other too. I think Alma 32:21 sums it up nicely "And now as I said concerning faith--faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."

You need to have that hope to have faith. You need to have faith in order to hope. And hope is an anchor that we can rely on always for our souls. BUT, it needs to be hope in Christ just like Helaman 5:12 says.

12  And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Thanks again for the love and support. Love you all!

Scripture of the Week: Alma 23:5-6
And thousands were brought to the knowledge of the Lord, yea, thousands were brought to believe in the traditions of the Nephites; and they were taught the records and prophecies which were handed down even to the present time.

6  And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them—yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away.

Love,

Love,

Love,
Sister Pochop