Nov. 25, 2013
Dear family and friends,
First off, happy belated birthday to Bryce and Alexandria on the 24th and 22nd, respectively, and happy early birthday to Keri! (Alex, your card should get to you pretty soon, Keri and Bryce, hopefully you already have them!) I love November because there are so many family members and friends with that birthday, and there's Thanksgiving.
I have so much to be thankful for! I'm thankful for members who feed us dinner, for a heater in our apartment, for the park we live next to that we get to run in every morning, for electricity, for the leaves changing colors, for rain, for snow, for wind, for my companion Sister De Rurange, for snacks, for crisp apples, for pears, for pomegranates (THEY ARE SO GOOD), for the smell of baking cookies, for that tingly feeling my nose gets when its cold outside, for good conversation, for Jesus Christ, for the Plan of Happiness, for my family, for the Priesthood and the temple, and because of both, my eternal family and future eternal family, for my mission president and his wife, for my family for writing me letters, for my friends for writing me letters as well...yeah, I could go on and on and on and on!
What are you thankful for this week?
So 2 stories to tell you from this week (well...probably more...oh well). First one: the wind storms here this week!! We had a major power outage on Thursday because of a wind storm! The wind almost picked me up and blew me away - it was crazy! But so much fun - we (we always means my companion and I, by the way) had an investigator (who has a baptismal date: December 21 woohoo!!!) Matthew come to a ward activity at the church...but then the power went out...so we had a "Thanksgiving dinner" and service auction via candlelight and glowsticks. He loved it and thought it was so great we continued with the activity even though the power went out.
The power went out in a pretty large area - driving was pretty scary because it was literally pitch black except for our headlights. It was fun, though, and we ended up having a lot of less-active members and investigators come to that activity, regardless of the weather and the dark.
Also, the rain here is so odd! It doesn't fall in drops - it consistently mists. It mists so much, though, that the roads start to flood. I've never felt a rain like this before. Also, the rain here doesn't smell like anything. It feels very mystical and magical every morning because of the fog that comes in, especially when we run around the lake in the park by our house (Howarth Park - everyone should visit it it is such a cool park).
Second story: my mission president invited my zone to his home for dinner on Thanksgiving!! And I have another dinner 2 hours after that with this British lady, Sis. Reed, and then I have a 3rd dinner a little after that with a service missionary senior couple, The Funks. So don't worry about me on Thanksgiving - I'll be well fed and with good company all the holiday season:)
Another amazing thing this week: I got to go to the temple! The Oakland temple. My companion and I had a young couple in our stake drive us: the Richards. They were so funny and sweet! We cruised in a silver mini van - Santa Rosa is about an hour and a half north of Oakland, so I got to do some good journal writing on the way up and back. And the temple was incredible - it is SO beautiful inside and out. And the view of San Francisco and the bay is amazing! I'd highly recommend going there:) Also, the session we went to had 8 zones from our mission there - it was amazing. The song going through my head the whole time was "Behold, A Royal Army." All of us missionaries dressed in white...it was so powerful, and other people who weren't missionaries in the session were overwhelmed by the Spirit. I've never felt the Spirit so strong in the temple before. It was an experience I will never forget!
I wanted to say more but I'm out of time, so I'll end with my letter I sent to President Alba this week (Oh, P.S. the Creche Festival is an incredible festival held in our church building every year - there's an incredible choir and over 350 nativities and we're going to help set them up Thanksgiving morning):
______________________________
Dear President Alba,
I had an epiphany last night. To be honest, Sis. De Rurange and I have felt some judgment from the other companionships in our zone because our numbers have not been super great, and we feel that others are thinking because our numbers aren't high that we are slacking off. Then I had these thoughts come to my mind: you can always work harder, but you are doing just fine. And I felt the Lord's approval wash over me. Then I realized something that I should have realized when I first came out - God's approval is all that matters. And if I feel His approval, then all the other companionships opinions and judgments do not matter. I shouldn't care, either, because I'm not here to seek the world's approval for the work Sis. De Rurange and I are doing in this part of the vineyard - I am here to be a worthy, hard-working, diligent servant of the Lord. And I am. I am working hard, feeling the Spirit's influence at all times, and I am so happy. It's a little different in the singles' ward - we don't have members who stay long-term very often. For the most part, we have members who stay a semester, or a summer, and because of that we don't have as solid of resources or as grounded of members as a few other family wards. But we are doing the best with what we have and working hard.
If that does not bring their approval, I am confident to say that I feel the Lord's approval - the only approval that, in the very end, matters. President Alba, I know I can work harder. Sis. De Rurange and I have had a few struggles teaching together these past 2 weeks, and also struggling to involve our ward mission leader who is often absent or not motivated enough to help. But we will work even harder. We can do hard things! In Jacob 5 it says that The Lord of the vineyard didn't just send them out to labor, but The Lord went out with them to labor. I feel His influence and know that "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13).
I also love this quote by Dr. Seuss: "Today you are YOU, that is truer than true. There is no one alive that is YOU-er than you!" I feel that I am definitely supposed to be here. That my "me-ness" with all my strengths, quirks, and even imperfections, are touching the people we work with. We may not be quite seeing the fruits of our labors yet, but I know that we have planted hundreds of seeds, and if for no other reason, The Lord wanted Sis. De Rurange and me to learn something from each other. I definitely have. She is such a Christ-like person. I told her the other day that if there were ever a close to perfect representative of Jesus Christ, she would come into my mind. But really! President Alba, she is such a kind, genuine, loving, meek, humble, incredible leader and teacher. She always brings it back to Christ - how it should be. Thank you for putting us together - it was definitely inspired.
Also, the temple trip was amazing on Thursday. Before my mission, I went two-three times every week to an endowment session at the temple for about a month. I've missed the temple and the beautiful feelings and the wonderful tranquility I feel there. I received comfort, too, about Ray and his struggle to come unto Christ. I just KNOW everything will work out perfectly. That Ray will take the first step and be baptized, but it might take some time.
We had a successful blitz as a zone on Saturday, too! We set up hot cocoa stands in 3 different parts of Santa Rosa and made signs that said, "free hot cocoa!" People came up to us and we would give them hot chocolate and a Crèche Festival flyer. We handed out over 300 flyers! And Sis. De Rurange and I have been giving them out like crazy on our own. An amazing lady we're teaching, Natalie, wanted 4 or 5 to give to friends as well!
This week, Sis. De Rurange and I are more motivated than ever to labor in the vineyard of The Lord. We pray daily to find the elect, and we are beginning to truly find phenomenal people! The words "Ask and ye shall receive" are so true. I love you President Alba, and Sister Alba, too! I pray for your health and happiness every day! :) Until next week,
Love,
Sister Nikole Decker
I had an epiphany last night. To be honest, Sis. De Rurange and I have felt some judgment from the other companionships in our zone because our numbers have not been super great, and we feel that others are thinking because our numbers aren't high that we are slacking off. Then I had these thoughts come to my mind: you can always work harder, but you are doing just fine. And I felt the Lord's approval wash over me. Then I realized something that I should have realized when I first came out - God's approval is all that matters. And if I feel His approval, then all the other companionships opinions and judgments do not matter. I shouldn't care, either, because I'm not here to seek the world's approval for the work Sis. De Rurange and I are doing in this part of the vineyard - I am here to be a worthy, hard-working, diligent servant of the Lord. And I am. I am working hard, feeling the Spirit's influence at all times, and I am so happy. It's a little different in the singles' ward - we don't have members who stay long-term very often. For the most part, we have members who stay a semester, or a summer, and because of that we don't have as solid of resources or as grounded of members as a few other family wards. But we are doing the best with what we have and working hard.
If that does not bring their approval, I am confident to say that I feel the Lord's approval - the only approval that, in the very end, matters. President Alba, I know I can work harder. Sis. De Rurange and I have had a few struggles teaching together these past 2 weeks, and also struggling to involve our ward mission leader who is often absent or not motivated enough to help. But we will work even harder. We can do hard things! In Jacob 5 it says that The Lord of the vineyard didn't just send them out to labor, but The Lord went out with them to labor. I feel His influence and know that "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13).
I also love this quote by Dr. Seuss: "Today you are YOU, that is truer than true. There is no one alive that is YOU-er than you!" I feel that I am definitely supposed to be here. That my "me-ness" with all my strengths, quirks, and even imperfections, are touching the people we work with. We may not be quite seeing the fruits of our labors yet, but I know that we have planted hundreds of seeds, and if for no other reason, The Lord wanted Sis. De Rurange and me to learn something from each other. I definitely have. She is such a Christ-like person. I told her the other day that if there were ever a close to perfect representative of Jesus Christ, she would come into my mind. But really! President Alba, she is such a kind, genuine, loving, meek, humble, incredible leader and teacher. She always brings it back to Christ - how it should be. Thank you for putting us together - it was definitely inspired.
Also, the temple trip was amazing on Thursday. Before my mission, I went two-three times every week to an endowment session at the temple for about a month. I've missed the temple and the beautiful feelings and the wonderful tranquility I feel there. I received comfort, too, about Ray and his struggle to come unto Christ. I just KNOW everything will work out perfectly. That Ray will take the first step and be baptized, but it might take some time.
We had a successful blitz as a zone on Saturday, too! We set up hot cocoa stands in 3 different parts of Santa Rosa and made signs that said, "free hot cocoa!" People came up to us and we would give them hot chocolate and a Crèche Festival flyer. We handed out over 300 flyers! And Sis. De Rurange and I have been giving them out like crazy on our own. An amazing lady we're teaching, Natalie, wanted 4 or 5 to give to friends as well!
This week, Sis. De Rurange and I are more motivated than ever to labor in the vineyard of The Lord. We pray daily to find the elect, and we are beginning to truly find phenomenal people! The words "Ask and ye shall receive" are so true. I love you President Alba, and Sister Alba, too! I pray for your health and happiness every day! :) Until next week,
Love,
Sister Nikole Decker
______________________________
I love you all! Have a wonderful week!!
Love always,
Sister Nikole Decker
P.S. Scriptures I found this week:
John 16:32-33
John 14:26 (the Godhead are one in purpose, but 3 separate beings - see if you can count all three being talked about as separate)
Alma 32:26-37
Proverbs 31
Psalms 24:3-4
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