Saturday, December 12, 2015

JESUS: ALL HIS WAYS, ALL MY DAYS




Missionaries in my District

A Radiant Picture of Sis. Child's and me.

Hello all,
Firstly I want to remind you all that "YOU ARE SPECIAL"!  There is a children's book by Max Lucado with that very true title, "You Are Special". If you get the chance to read it I know that it will be a peaceful reminder of the reality of the atonement and the worth of a soul. Here is a short summary: It tells a story of a town full of wooden people who are all made by a woodcarver named Eli. The wooden people give each other stickers for their good or bad deeds. Grey dot stickers are given to those who make mistakes or who have chipped paint or aren't very talented. Golden star stickers are given to all those who are skilled and have smooth wood and say flattering things. One wooden boy who has been given many grey dots is so unhappy and runs into a girl who is free of dots and stars. She says that she became this way by going to Eli the wood carver every day. The wooden boy does the same in hopes to find peace and worth. Eli the woodcarver represents our Heavenly Father and tells the wooden boy, "you matter to me because I made you and that makes you special. The stickers only stick if you let them so once you start caring less about what other people think about you and more about what I think about you then you will know how precious you really are."

I know that this is so true. It is through quality personal time spent with our Heavenly Father that we come to know who we are and how much our Heavenly Father loves us. We will learn that our souls are of un-measurable worth no matter how much our "paint is chipped" or what our "wood" looks like. I think we all need a little reminder that we are special every now and again.

One day this week we had a particularly hard day. From sick roommates throwing up the night before to cancellations and being overbooked, it had been a really hard day. Heavenly Father must have known that we needed a little cheering up. We walked outside and the tender mercies began to come. We said hello to this woman from our complex across the street (usually people who we say "hello" to will run away as soon as
they can) who just walked right up to us and started talking to us. She told us that her member friend had invited her to the single adult activity that the missionaries were serving food at the following night. We saw her there the next night and she said that she wanted us to come teach her and she became our new investigator. She was so absolutely sweet and was a blessing. That same night, as we were serving food at the single adult dinner, a young mother stopped me and said "sister... Zimmerman. You were the one who had helped me at Walmart a few weeks ago. You loaded all of my groceries into my car and you never knew but I was having the very worst day. Life was so terrible and Heavenly Father sent you to help me. Thank you so much." I was pretty astonished that I would ever meet this woman but I remember doing that for her a few weeks ago and not really thinking anything of it. I just remember seeing a woman holding a crying baby and trying to load a car full of groceries into her car. I also remembered my mother telling me stories of times when she was pregnant or had all the kids and was feeling stressed at the grocery store and people were an answer to prayer and went to help her. It was so sweet to know that it truly had helped her that day. Heavenly father inspired her to be there that night to tell me that.

Also that same day we sat outside the church in our car syncing our area books and out walks one of the bishops of our wards. He said "Sisters, if you'll come on inside I have a little surprise for you." We came inside to meet a little girl who is beautiful and looks just like my little sister Ella. She is 9 and comes from a part member family who has been living next door to one of our investigators and wants to be baptized THIS MONTH!!! It was such a blessing and Heavenly Father placed her right in our hands.

Christmas lights miracles are so fantastic. We have people fill out dozens of referral cards a night who will all then be visited by Elders and Sisters in their homes the next day. It is life changing. I wish I could tell all of the experiences I have had but that would take forever. I will mention one next week when I get some more time!

Well, To quote a beautiful Arizona license plate cover "Jesus: All His Ways, All My Days"

Merry Christmas
Sister Zimmerman


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