9/8/14 The Faith to be Limitless

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow. What a week.
The past few weeks have been really good and really tough. I'm really mixed on emotions about it all. A few weeks ago Woodland was on fire! Well, we went through a massive dropping spell the week before last, and finished it up this past week. We had some of our most solid people tell us that they didn't think this was the best decision for them (Aaron and his not wanting to live the law of chastity...) and some others. We also had investigators who had family crises and living condition crises and moved away without telling us where they moved to. We also had investigators avoid us, and so we finally dropped them. We also had some that we haven't dropped yet, but they keep cancelling appointments week after week. And then Eli... his new job has been taking him all over, and he hasn't come to church the past two weeks, and we don't know if he is going to permanently stay in Sacramento, or move back to Woodland, or Davis. We are afraid to transfer his records because we don't want him to get lost... this is a precious time for him and he cannot afford to be moved into a ward where they don't keep up on teaching him the new member lessons. Also, Lynn has been having some health problems and it's been rough, but we did meet with her... once.

This week was a very rough week. We taught a total of 9 lessons. That's not good. It's been very stressful.

Also, this mission is big on obedience, which I totally agree with. Well, we have lots of new rules coming up for us. The only one that will affect me getting letters from all ya'll is just that we can't check our emails throughout the week anymore... only on Mondays. So yup. Just so you all know. :)
Also, we aren't doing Facebook as a mission anymore... for now. This mission was the first to have Facebook, but that was because they had worked really hard on obedience for many many years.

Okay... Now for miracles and all the good stuff. :)

We taught Lynn this past week and we had a wonderful lesson. She loves the church and got approval from her mom, who is in a rest home. We actually know her mom, funny enough, and taught her a lot of basic things about the plan of salvation etc, and her mom was really happy that we were teaching her daughter. Lynn later told us that her mom used to not like Mormons, so that's good that things have changed. She didn't come to church, so we'll work on that.

We also taught this family named the Kaur family. They are from India, and were originally Sikh. They came to America and became Christians, and we have been trying to meet with them for the past month and a half, to no success. We had the weirdest lesson I have ever been in. The father was completely drunk, but that was why they wanted us to come and teach them. They need help. There was just so much chaos in that house... so much noise and commotion. They were trying to listen and learn, but so much was going on... the phone ringing, the television upstairs and the noises from outside, and the drunk father who was trying to express things to us, but he kept talking to us in Punjabi.... it was crazy. Satan was working so hard, but so was Heavenly Father. The mother accepted a baptismal invite... the father wasn't quite coherent, and the daughter remained silent, but intently listening... Well. We are going back this week. The father is going to go to the 12-step program to get some help, because he really wants to change, and kept asking us for help the whole time we were there.... it was just a strange lesson. I don't even know what to really say about it all except that I love them and I'm looking forward to teaching them because they want to learn and grow. You can see that in them.

We also went to the temple in Sacramento. I did not want to leave. It was so beautiful, the feeling there. I did not want to leave. It no doubt gave me the strength I would need for the rest of the week.

I learned this week in that I cannot do this alone. Sometimes, when we think we are doing it all on our own, Heavenly Father steps back and lets us struggle a little bit so that we realize that we cannot do it alone. He let us be humble, so that we learn to rely on Him. If we are prideful, we are caught up on what we are doing, not what God is doing, but the downfall of that is that we limit ourselves. When we rely only upon our own strength, we lose hope because we have weaknesses. We are limited.  But when we humble ourselves, and we acknowledge the Savior and our Loving Heavenly Father who created us and gave us His own Son, and we rely upon God's strength, then we are no longer limited. When we are humble, and rely upon the mercy and merits of the Savior, we are no longer held back by our own struggles and weaknesses. When our strength is the power of God, we are no longer limited. We are limitless.


I also have a testimony of how we need to build our relationship with Heavenly Father every day. We need His help, and we need it every day. All of us. Everyday. We cannot go a day without feeding our spirit and not starve ourselves spiritually.

I love the Book of Mormon. I have been reading in 3 Nephi and I love it. I love the Savior. I know that He is really the Son of God, that He really did do all that the Father asked, and that He really does have the power to help us. Life is meant to be wonderful, and I testify in the name of Jesus Christ that even when times are hard and when the path of life is steep and treacherous, and we feel that all is at stake, I know that the Savior is right there with us and that if we hold on and don't let go of Him, He will help us and give us directions to make it through even better than we were when we started. He will help us build the strength, and He will be our strength.

I'm always amazed that even when I have a hard week, I look back and there are a million beautiful moments that Heavenly Father sends me to let me know that He is right there, right there with me the whole way.

Sometimes, I even feel the Savior's hand on my shoulder. Those thoughts come out of nowhere.... in the middle of my hardest times and my best times. I can't explain it, but I know that it can't come from me. It comes from Him.

It's the beautiful things like....
And it's all those millions of little moments that make my life a joy. Every moment can be a joy if we look for His Hand in our life. I testify in His Sacred name that it is there.

His hand is there.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Sister Darby E. Miller