November 7, 2016

Ten Animo

D&C 123: 16-17

"You know brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept workways with the wind and the waves. Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power, and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."

These past few days in my area have been really hard, like REALLY hard. This week is a week of holidays here in Panama... And you know what that means??!! That means that everyone is drinking and partying, and the last thing they want to do is listen to a message from the Mormon missionaries. And guess what I am?! A mormon missionary. Can you see the problem?? Needless to say, we weren't having very much success. All the appointments fell through, nobody was answering the phone, and it was just a mess of a week. BUT we had a miracle! We were contacting a street in a neighborhood on the outskirts of our area. We were going along and NOBODY wanted to let us in. Typical. It was discouraging, but as we were walking along I kept thinking about the talk by President Uchtdorf "4th floor, last door"... so we kept going...until the very last house. We knocked on the last door, and a rough, half dressed man walked out. He asked us what we wanted, and we told him that we are missionaries and we would like to offer a prayer for his home. His entire countenance changed. He said "Of Course!!!" with a big smile. We said the prayer, and then started to talk a little bit with him. All of a sudden he said, "Sisters, I want you to know something. You are important! You are doing a great job. You are working for the Lord, don't ever forget that. Be happy, keep going... don't forget why you're here. Tengan animo!". And then he asked if he could say a prayer for US. It was the first time on my mission that that has happened. He said exactly what we needed to hear, exactly when we needed to hear it, and left us with a spirit of peace and gratitude. The Lord spoke to us in an unexpected way that day. And how grateful I am for that.

All of us are going to have days when things just don't go the way we want them to. We are going to have problems, trials, and sorrows. Some days we are just going to want to go back to bed and hide from it all. But we can't forget, we can never forget, that our Savior has felt it all too. He knows. He knows exactly how you feel. And yet, in every instance, he begs us to "be of good cheer". He's the only person in the world who has the right to say that to everyone. I love you all sooooooo much! And our Savior loves you even more.... REMEMBER THAT. Make this week a fabulous one.

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Hermana Van Deusen

Picture: ...one mistep.

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