Wow, I can't believe it's Christmas already. And you all know what that means, yep, we get to talk to our sweet missionary!! Everyone is excited to talk to Miri. We have missed her tremendously around here. Here is a couple of highlights from her letter this week:
"Merry Christmas everyone!
It's been really lovely to be out on my mission at this time of year. It has helped me to reflect on the importance of the message of the gospel and how it relates to the Christmas season. I am so grateful for what my Savior has done for me. He makes all of the good things in my life possible. If I trust in the Savior I will be able to be the missionary He wants me to be.
One of the things I am definitely learning is that I of myself am no different than any other member of the church. It doesn't feel miraculously different to be a missionary. What makes me different is my calling, but we don't magically change once we are ordained to a calling. We don't suddenly feel like a perfect missionary. Before I came on my mission I thought that missionaries were lead by the spirit one 100% of the time and that they always were able to recognize guidance when it came. I am learning that it doesn't work quite that way. It comes in small and simple ways just as it did before my mission, the only difference is that I need to work on recognizing and following it more. I've also learned that often we are the Lord's hands for people when we are simply doing our duty as missionaries. We may not even know what influence we have on others, but as we are doing what we are supposed to at the time we are supposed to God is able to use us for His work."
Love, Sister Haubner
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
In the Mish
Yipeee, we heard from Miri last night!! Her first letter in the mission field. Love our sweet Sister Haubner. I hope all of her warm stuff is working and keeping her toasty and warm up there in the cold north. Here are some highlights:
"Leaving the MTC was definitely an adventure! We didn't hear our alarm go off and we woke up ten minutes before we were supposed to be at the travel office and rushed to get dressed and make sure all of our sheets and blankets got to where they needed to be and headed out the door in a zombie like state. What made it even more hysterical was the fact that we were terrified we were going to miss our bus, so there we were, trying to drag three suitcases (I actually only had two. Sister H. was acting as superwoman and pulling four all at once) through the MTC at 2:30 in the morning, frantically trying to figure out where we were supposed to go. Thankfully our traveling leaders found the lost sheep and everything worked out alright. "All's well that ends well." It is quite funny looking back at it, but it wasn't quite as funny in the moment. "
"Yesterday we had an awesome miracle!! We were going through the Branch directory and calling people from the Branch and setting up appointments to meet with them so we could get to know the members. No one was picking up the phone, and a ton of the phone numbers didn't exist anymore, but finally someone answered us. It turned out that the Brother who answered had moved, but his records had gotten all mixed up, so they were still here. We asked him for his address so we could get his records sent to the right place and then we continued on through our list of phone calls and didn't think anything of it. Well, fast forward to that night, we were having dinner with one of the members - she is absolutely amazing!! All of the members here are! They all seem to have gone through incredible trials, but they are still so strong! It is really quite humbling - so, we were at this members house, and she tells us that we had contacted her inactive son earlier that day! It turns out that the one person who had answered the phone that day was her son. He has been inactive for years, and had recently gone through a divorce. She said he normally doesn't answer his phone, let alone talk to missionaries, and on top of that, he gave us his address to have his records transferred!! We were able to be the Lord's hands and we didn't even know it! I was very grateful that she told us though. It confirmed to me that we are being lead by the hand of the Lord even when we don't recognize it! I was so grateful that she told us though so that we could have the opportunity to be grateful and to recognize our Father in heaven's hand, not only in our lives, but in this sister's and her son's lives as well.
Missionary life is wonderful! I think I am starting to get used to missionary routine. The first few days were a little rough, but we've met a lot of the previous missionaries investigators now, as well as quite a few of the members. I feel like I'm starting to catch a vision of how we can be instruments in the hands of the Lord to change and help this area. I have so many things to be grateful for, and I try to remind myself of all of my blessings, and of all of the missionaries out in the world going through similar feelings when I start feeling discouraged. I also found a scripture that has really helped me. It is D&C 100:3-4 It says, "Behold, and lo, I have much people in this place. in the regions round about; and an effectual door shall be opened in the regions round about in this eastern land. Therefore, I the Lord, have suffered you to come unto this place; for thus is was expedient in me for the salvation of souls." I really related to that scripture, especially because we are in the eastern part of the mission. It was definitely a message just for me. I know that we are here for a reason, and that God will use us to help souls come unto Him. "
"Leaving the MTC was definitely an adventure! We didn't hear our alarm go off and we woke up ten minutes before we were supposed to be at the travel office and rushed to get dressed and make sure all of our sheets and blankets got to where they needed to be and headed out the door in a zombie like state. What made it even more hysterical was the fact that we were terrified we were going to miss our bus, so there we were, trying to drag three suitcases (I actually only had two. Sister H. was acting as superwoman and pulling four all at once) through the MTC at 2:30 in the morning, frantically trying to figure out where we were supposed to go. Thankfully our traveling leaders found the lost sheep and everything worked out alright. "All's well that ends well." It is quite funny looking back at it, but it wasn't quite as funny in the moment. "
"Yesterday we had an awesome miracle!! We were going through the Branch directory and calling people from the Branch and setting up appointments to meet with them so we could get to know the members. No one was picking up the phone, and a ton of the phone numbers didn't exist anymore, but finally someone answered us. It turned out that the Brother who answered had moved, but his records had gotten all mixed up, so they were still here. We asked him for his address so we could get his records sent to the right place and then we continued on through our list of phone calls and didn't think anything of it. Well, fast forward to that night, we were having dinner with one of the members - she is absolutely amazing!! All of the members here are! They all seem to have gone through incredible trials, but they are still so strong! It is really quite humbling - so, we were at this members house, and she tells us that we had contacted her inactive son earlier that day! It turns out that the one person who had answered the phone that day was her son. He has been inactive for years, and had recently gone through a divorce. She said he normally doesn't answer his phone, let alone talk to missionaries, and on top of that, he gave us his address to have his records transferred!! We were able to be the Lord's hands and we didn't even know it! I was very grateful that she told us though. It confirmed to me that we are being lead by the hand of the Lord even when we don't recognize it! I was so grateful that she told us though so that we could have the opportunity to be grateful and to recognize our Father in heaven's hand, not only in our lives, but in this sister's and her son's lives as well.
Missionary life is wonderful! I think I am starting to get used to missionary routine. The first few days were a little rough, but we've met a lot of the previous missionaries investigators now, as well as quite a few of the members. I feel like I'm starting to catch a vision of how we can be instruments in the hands of the Lord to change and help this area. I have so many things to be grateful for, and I try to remind myself of all of my blessings, and of all of the missionaries out in the world going through similar feelings when I start feeling discouraged. I also found a scripture that has really helped me. It is D&C 100:3-4 It says, "Behold, and lo, I have much people in this place. in the regions round about; and an effectual door shall be opened in the regions round about in this eastern land. Therefore, I the Lord, have suffered you to come unto this place; for thus is was expedient in me for the salvation of souls." I really related to that scripture, especially because we are in the eastern part of the mission. It was definitely a message just for me. I know that we are here for a reason, and that God will use us to help souls come unto Him. "
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