Sister Abram 2.0

November 23, 2015

Halfway through! Many mixed feelings, I'm excited that I've made it halfway, sad to only have half left, and I still don't think it's hit me yet!

So we went to the temple this week. It was AMAZING. I love the temple so so much. While I was there, I felt so much of the spirit. I analyzed my growth over the last 6 months, and I realized that I truly have become someone different, yet someone so much closer to the Lord. 

We saw some amazing miracles this week! After stake conference on Sunday, we were eating dinner with our Branch President, a very active family, and a semi less active family. While we were there, President Ramirez began to encourage the members to invite their friends over and allow us to come teach them. He shared his testimony of the power of their homes. Then, we were invited back over to teach the nephew of the semi less active family who we had accidentally met just a few hours before by knocking on the wrong door. As we left the apartment, we saw a woman sitting outside on the balcony alone. The spirit was whisper-yelling at me to go up to her, so we awkwardly began conversation. Her name was Elvia and she began to share with us all about her struggles with her wayward daughter. Tears filled her eyes and you could feel her pain. We testified to her of the healing power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. We shared with her that we have a glad message that will heal those wounds she hides from the world, in a way that only the Savior can. She accepted us back to visit with her, on the condition that her semi-less active neighbors (who we had just visited) participate in the lesson. This, to me, is an evidence of the reality of my call. Here we are, 20 year old strangers who really don't know much about life or the world, yet this woman felt the spirit confirm to her that we were trustworthy and that she could share the feelings and thoughts of her heart.

The last miracle of the night was with a former investigator. He is part of a part member, returning less active family that we have been counseled to focus on. We stopped in to check up on the family. We spent time discussing the principle of faith with the husband who believes he doesn't have faith. We defined faith as the desire to believe in something you can't see. He agreed that he has that desire, to which we testified that that means he does have faith. The next thing we knew he began to say, "You know why I don't want to get baptized?" and then he proceeded to explain all the reasons why he didn't want to be baptized. It was miraculous because he finally told us of his preoccupations, and we were able to focus on the foundation of his testimony-- God is our Heavenly Father, and how we can have faith in Him. 

As I mentioned earlier, stake conference was this weekend, and it was full of revelation for Sister Abram. I went to the temple on Friday with a question/concern for the Lord. While I sat in the temple, I did not receive any direct answer or inspiration, but I knew He was listening. I was content with that and I had the faith that He would answer me. Then while I sat at Stake conference, I received an explicitly direct answer to my question that was as though the Lord was standing right at that microphone answering me. It was an incredible tender mercy. 

As a final note, I would like to share something from the Saturday evening session of Stake Conference (which everyone must go to). One thought shared was a story from Pres Eyring: 

"When we render any service in the kingdom--be it teaching a … lesson or dry pack canning at Welfare Square--it will be of much less value to us if we only see it as a ‘To Do’ item. … But if we visualize ourselves laying on the altar to God our talents or our time commitment, such as in attending an inconvenient church meeting, then our sacrifice becomes personal and devotional to Him.”

A story shared by our beloved associate, Elder Henry B. Eyring, illustrates this principle of commitment still further. This story is about his father, the great scientist Henry Eyring, who served on the Bonneville Stake high council. He was responsible for the welfare farm, which included a field of onions that needed to be weeded. At that time, he was nearly 80 and suffering from painful bone cancer. He assigned himself to do weeding even though the pain was so great that he pulled himself along on his stomach with his elbows. The pain was too great for him to kneel. Yet he smiled, laughed, and talked happily with the others who were there that day weeding that field of onions. I now quote what Elder Eyring said of this incident:

   “After all the work was finished and the onions were all weeded, someone [said to] him, ‘Henry, good heavens! You didn’t pull those weeds, did you? Those weeds were sprayed two days ago, and they were going to die anyway.’

 “Dad just roared. He thought that was the funniest thing. He thought it was a great joke on himself. He had worked through the day in the wrong weeds. They had been sprayed and would have died anyway.

 “… I [asked] him, ‘Dad how could you make a joke out of that?’ …

   “He said something to me that I will never forget. … He said, ‘Hal, I wasn’t there for the weeds.’”

We accomplish great things by doing them for the Savior. As Thanksgiving approaches, I invite all of you to focus on the things you are asked to do in your individual lives and reflect on all that was done for you by our Savior Jesus Christ. 

¡Que pasen bien y espero que disfruten su día de acción de gracias! 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Abram 

Sent from my heart