Lord I Believe, Help Thou Mine Disbelief (November 7th, 2016)

Man this wek has been good! So much fun and many cool miracles!!

So this week had been going really slow. And I mean really slow. We work so hard and it seams like nothing is happening!

Anyway, Friday we went on exchange with our Sister Training Leaders, Sister Smiddy and Sister Wright (holla at my former companion!!) I got to be companions with Sister Wright again for a day!! It was so much fun!!

I learned so much! I will try to put it as simply as I can because this weekend has been blowing my mind!

Things I have been learning:

- A lot of us tend to believe in Christ, but we dont really believe Him. We think that His miracles and his power are real and we have heard of so many other people's experiences and we believe that it is true... for other people. But not for us. Guilty. Almost my whole mission, I have been feeling like this. (For more on this please read Elder Bednar's address from October 2016 General Conference, "If Ye Had Known Me" and Stephen E. Robinson's BYU Devotional on 29 May 1990, "Believing Christ: A practical Approach to the Atonement.)

- It is really easy for anyone to forget the experiences they have had. Blessings that they know are from God, tender moments when a prayer was answered, etc. So easy. Remeber that cool experience I had a few weeks ago about feeling the atonement? I totally forgot about that, and it was so profound to me! I mean just look at Laman and Lemuel. They saw angels and even heard the voice of the Lord and they were so quick to forget!

These are just a few things that I have been finally learning! It is not enough to just recieve answers through faith and beliving what Christ says, but we must remember! It is so impoirtant!

On exchange, Sister Wright shared her recent mantra with a family that we visited together. She has been studying Mark 9 a lot. It is about the father who asks Christ to heal his son and Christ asks if the father believes. The father cries out in response "Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief."

I dont want to just belive in Christ, but I really want to believe Him, what he says and what he promises!! And then we must remember the answers we receive and the miracles we see, otherwise we will take them for granted or feel like we never feel God's presence. So I am adopting her mantra and adding to it, "Believe Him and Remember!"

So, yesterday I took this new "miracles can happen for me too," attitude out while we went finding. And nothing for a while. Time was running out and just rejection after rejection after rejection. And it was cold and raining. Then I wanted to try to single out the one, so there was a guy walking behind a group of teenagers and I turned to Sister Vizaco and said, "He's our miracle!" And man was I right! More than I would have thought! The guy that sister Vizaco and I met is from no other place than... East Timor! That is where my last recent convert is from! Man that was such a personal miracle! I was able to say the two things I know in Indonesian and it was so cool! He is coming to church with us on Sunday!! "There can be miracles when you believe" Him!

I feel like my whole mission I have been doing things with my head, because it was right, because it logically made sense, but while I was on exchange, I realized that I need to start doing things with my heart more. Brains are great, but hearts are better, because that is where the Spirit comes easily. Now get the right combination of both...👍🏼 but I'm still working on that!

Also just for kicks, Sister Wright and I stopped this guy and it turns out he raps, so Sister Wright asked him to do some free style, and he did! And he turns and asks us to do something. Sister Wright immediately says, "I don't rap, but she sings really well!" ... So I sang the first line of BYU Vocal Point "Savior Redeemer of My Soul" to our new friend Levi. Who would have thought I would sing on the street to strangers to bring them closer to Christ?

I know that my Savior lives and He loves me! And I know all too well that I am imperfect, but that is okay! That is why we need a Savior! And I know that I am learning to believe him, and all it takes is trying and the basic 3. 1. Study your scripture, the word of God. 2. Say real, sincere prayers, asking God questions and for help coming closer to him. 3. GO TO CHURCH! Give yourself the opportunities to feel the spirit! Where else will you go?

I also know that this is a novel, so I will end it here:)

I love you all! Until next week!

Love,

Sister Lisa Haynie!