Donation- 1 Whole Soul

My apologies that this is a super long weekly email.  We're sitting in a car repair shop that doesn't have wifi so I don't have anything else to do other ham write about this week. I also put my email in sections so you only have to read what you feel will inspire you. Don't worry about committing to read the whole thing. Just read a part or two and get some spiritual food for the day!
Well then,
To begin...
YSA wards are the BEST!
This week has been so hard and amazing and I don't even know where to start. WOW! So, sister Colbert and I white washed two wards this past week. This is a new area so we got a new phone and had nothing to go off of for the first little while. We have since become acquainted with our wards and just love it here. We love where we live. We love our area.
But most importantly....
We love the people we are teaching. There are so many people that are prepared here. In YSA wards everyone we teach is a referral so almost everyone is GOLDEN! I'll talk about
one investigator, Lance, that we are working with a little bit later. But seriously we are just teaching non-stop! I LOVE it! Serving a mission has been the most amazing decision of my
entire life.

This week I had the opportunity to speak and sing at Trey & Jayden's baptism! I taught them in my last area for quite some time and it was clear that their mother wasn't going to let them get baptized any time soon. We prayed and fasted for so long and knew that God's will would be done no matter what so we trusted that God would make things happen in His time. I got a message a few weeks ago from Trey and Jayden's step mom who told me that due to some extremely miraculous events the kids mother was going to allow them to be baptized and was even going to be a part of the process in buying a dress and making invitations and such! I cried when I heard the news because I knew just how hard we
had all prayed for her. When I left the area I figured that I would just have to fly back in a year or so to see the baptism... but some miracles are a little faster than that. At the baptism Jayden was baptized first and a little cousin of her's was kneeling right next to the font and said  "I want to be baptized too!"  That was pretty funny! Clearly she also wanted to receive the blessings that come from baptism. It was a MIRACLE and honestly I did a terrible job at explaining how amazing it was for these cute kids to be baptized at this time... but at least you can see how God is so good to all His children.

|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|


In the WRONG place but still in the RIGHT place

We went to visit a potential investigator in a crazy RV park inhabited mainly by Hispanics. I was pretty sure that was where he lived so we went to #115 and knocked to see if we could find our perfectly prepared investigator (words of faith)... but a Hispanic woman came to
the door and began to speak to us in Spanish. With my high school Spanish vocabulary I again explained who we were and what we do. As I spoke the spirit brought some new words to my mind. It wasn't anything super special but I knew that God had given those words to me so I could share the gospel with this woman... but that's not even the miracle of it all! We walked away and I realized that I had taken us to the wrong RV park... there are so many in our area. So feeling rather dyslexic we walked around the RV park back to our car and saw a teenage girl who looked like she could be YSA age. We talked with her and as we were talking I knew that God had sent us there to knock on the wrong door just to meet her. We will be teaching her the first lesson this week!

In our lives we may be trying to do what is right and feel like everything is going wrong... but who knows if God isn't about to set you up for an amazing miracle. Sometimes we have to follow the spirit down the wrong roads to find the most valuable treasures!

|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|


Lance

Let me tell you about an amazing and completely golden investigator named Lance.
Lance is 19. He has been through a lot more than most 19 year olds have been through with family and friends. He lives in a really rough situation right now. When we first met him he had only been taught the first lesson. The sisters told us to be prepared to teach the most
prepared investigator ever... so when we went by the first night we got to know him and asked him to tell us his story, he told us that he felt like he had been searching his whole life for the truth and had been reading from the Book of Mormon for 30 minutes every day and
received an answer from God that it was true. He set his own date to be baptized and meets with us several times a week at his home and at the Visitors' Center to learn all the lessons. W-O-W! He is a miracle!

|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|


SACRIFICE

"Moroni declared the need for us to deny ourselves “all ungodliness” (Moro. 10:32), thus including both large and small sins. While boulders surely block our way, loose gravel slows discipleship, too. Even a small stone can become a stumbling block."




"Real personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed!"
("Deny Yourself of all Ungodliness" -Neal A. Maxwell)


I have nothing to add to that! Amen!

|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|


TITHING

In our YSA ward Sacrament meeting we heard some wonderful talks about tithing.
One person mentioned this scripture: Omni 1:26"And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation,
and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved."

He said... now we can' fill out a tithing slip and put down:

---- DONATION- 1 whole soul ----

But we can give our heart and mind and will to the Lord... we can give our whole self to Him and He will take our small offering and make us into something great!

Another girl shared this thought from the 2001 June Liahona which says: "The first thing we need to understand about tithing is the Lord doesn’t need our money. This whole earth and countless others are His. If He wanted to, He could finance His work in some other way.
He could, for instance, turn the pebbles along the road into diamonds and have the deacons collect them. He could send Church leaders fishing and have them catch fish with valuable coins in their mouths (see Matt. 17:27). Or He could simply make it so the Church’s resources never run out (see 1 Kgs. 17:8–16). He could--but He doesn’t--which means the law of tithing must have a greater purpose than merely financing the Lord’s work."

I know that when it comes to tithing there is nothing we could buy with that 10% that would even come close to the blessings we receive from our obedience and generosity. Trust that the Lord's promises are sure when it comes to tithing and don't hesitate.

|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|


UNSEEN WOUNDS

"As I search the holy scriptures,
May thy mercy be revealed.
Soothe my troubled heart and spirit;
May my unseen wounds be healed."
- Hymn 277 "As I Search the Holy Scriptures"

|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|


An Ancient Tale

"One night in ancient times three horsemen were riding across a desert. As they crossed a dry riverbed, out of the darkness a voice called, “Halt!” They obeyed. The voice then told them to dismount, pick up handfuls of pebbles, put the pebbles in their pockets, and
remount.
“If you have done as I commanded,” the voice then said, “tomorrow at sunup you will be both glad and sorry.”
The horsemen rode on. When the sun rose, they reached into their pockets and found that the pebbles had been transformed into diamonds and other precious stones. Just as they had been warned, they were glad they had taken some pebbles but were sorry they had not taken more."

Are we this way when it comes to being spiritually filled from a Sacrament meeting or getting everything out of early morning seminary or our personal scripture reading. The spiritual sand we pick up only seems like sand to us now... later we will be glad that we picked up
the sand but sorry that we did not get more just like the horsemen from the story. Don't miss the precious gems that God gives us every day. Pick up as much spiritual riches as your pockets can hold and you will be happy to someday realize their value!

|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|

Well this really is the end and if you've actually read the whole thing then I applaud you! Ha ha ha!
Have a fantastic week!
- Sister Zimmerman

|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|

* Jayden and Trey's baptism

* A picture of Lance reading the Book of Mormon