To all my favorites
So sad to hear about the recent natural disasters down in the South! Nothing is more heart warming to hear about, then how the communities have all come together to support one another! I am praying for all the families that have been affected!
Today I'd like to share some of the things I have been learning over these past weeks here in Richmond.
The adversary, Satan, is real. He is a miserable man, and "he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." 2 Nephi 2:27
God is our loving Heavenly Father. He loves us. We are His children, and I know that He has so much in store for us. Satan knows that too. He understands our divine potentials and he has no desire for us to reach them, or to be able to experience all of the blessings and joy that God has in store for us. Each of us go through so many challenges and trials in this life. Sometimes we feel like we are in the dark, sometimes we feel like we'll never be good enough, or like we can't possibly overcome the 'next seemingly insurmountable hurdle'. We each experience it, but I know that the hope of God's light is real. He loves us so much and that is exactly why He sent his son, Jesus Christ, to the earth. We don't have to do it alone, and in fact we can't do it alone. But I can promise each and everyone of you that God makes up the difference. It doesn't matter how far we have fallen, how lost we may feel that we are, or how confused this world leads us to be, through Jesus Christ we can overcome all.
One of our biggest miracles this week was Betty. Her experience, coupled with others I have had this week, are a testimony tome of the power of the adversary, but that God is ever near. He knows us and He knows exactly what we need and He will continue to guide us.
Betty is a recent convert to the church. I have never met her before, she is from Burnaby. Well, on Saturday, Sister Gartside and I felt good about trying to contact at this park. So we get there and it's not really the park we were thinking, and there was barely anyone in sight. We stopped to talk to this woman and she saw our name tags and said, "You are from the Latter-Day Saints?" We said, "Yeah! How do you know that church?" She said that that was her church, but that recently she has been really confused. That she has been wondering if it really was the right church any more. She said so many of her friends and others have been saying such terrible things about the Book Of Mormon and that we're not Christian and she has just been feeling confused. She didn't understand why people were being so mean about all of it. But she immediately felt as if us being there that day and stopping to talk to her, must've been an answer to her prayers. We were able to bare witness to her that it indeed was. And that God knows her so perfectly. She shared her conversion experience and we were able to help her confirm her own testimony, and to truly remember, like the scriptures teach us, those experiences God had given her in the past. She was so happy, and amazed that God continues to answer her prayers.
I was so happy that day to have been blessed to be a tool in Gods hands. To be answer to one of his dearest children's prayers. And I know that is something that each of us can do as we act on the promptings of the spirit. It was an answer to a prayer of my own that day.
(Stealing this from one of my favorite missionaries e-mails the other week. Some of you know sweet Sofia and have already read this poem.)
I'd been in that hole for a very long time.
In the dark and the damp, in the cold and the slime.
The shaft was above me; I could see it quite clear, but there's
No way I remember the world way up there,
So I lost all my hope and gave into despair.
I knew nothing but darkness, the floors, and the walls,
When from off in the distance I heard someone call,
Get up! Get ready! There's nothing the matter!
Take rocks and takes sticks and build up a fine ladder.
This had never occurred to me, had not crossed my mind
So I started to stack all the stones I could find.
When I ran out of stones, the old sticks were my goal,
For some way or another I'd get out of that hole.
So I soon had a ladder that was really quite tall,
And I thought, "I'll soon leave the place for once and for all!"
Then I climbed up my ladder, it was no easy chore
For from lifting those boulders my shoulders were sore.
So I worked and I climbed and at last had to stop,
For my ladder stopped short some ten feet from the top.
I climbed back down the ladder and felt all around,
But there were no more boulders nor sticks to be found.
I went back to my ladder and started to cry.
I'd done all I could do; I gave my best try.
But in spite of my work , in the hole I must die,
And all I could do was sit and think, Why?
Was my ladder too short? Or my hole much too deep?
Then from way up on high came a voice: "Do not weep."
And then hope, love, and faith entered my chest,
As the Voice said to me that I'd done my best.
He said, nothing's the matter. There is reason to hope.
Just climb up the ladder; I'll throw down my rope.
You have worked very hard, and your labor's been rough,
But the ladder you've built is at last tall enough.
I climbed up the ladder, then climbed up the cord.
When I stood at the top, there stood the Lord.
I've never been happier, my struggle was done.
I blinked in great brightness that came from the Son.
I fell to the ground; his feet did I kiss.
I cried, what can I do to repay thee for this?
He looked all around Him, there were hole in the ground.
They had people inside, and were seen all around.
There were thousands of holes that were damp, dark, and deep.
Then the Lord turned to me and He said, " Feed my sheep."
Then He went on His way to help other lost souls,
And I got right to work, calling down to the holes,
Get up! Get ready! There's nothing the matter!
Take rocks and take sticks and build up a fine ladder!
It now was my turn to spread the good word.
The most glorious message that man ever heard.
That there's one who is willing to save one and all,
And we've got to be ready when He gives the call.
He'll pull us all out of the hole that we're in,
And save all our souls from death and from sin.
So do not lose faith; there is reason to hope:
Just build up your ladder; He'll throw down His rope.
I love you all so so much and I know that God is always with you. He will protect you and He will help you to overcome the temptations and doubts of the adversary. There is always hope.
Love always,
Sister Robertson
Pictures for the week:
1) Malika is from Quebec a.k.a France, and the Sisters had found her right before I moved to Richmond. She is absolutely wonderful, but we had to say our goodbyes because she is heading back to Quebec!
2) MIRACLE. I can't remember if I had the time to share our experience about Jerry in my past e-mails. But God certainly knows His children.
3) The Chinese (speaking) Sisters <3 They live two floors below us (:
