Sister Ruffner: I'm Stuck in My Religion

Pretty much the saddest thing I have ever heard this week, "I'm stuck in my religion."

I really don't like that word, stuck. We should never be stuck in anything. Always progressing, always learning, always becoming more converted.

This week we went on back to back exchanges with the sisters in the zone. So pretty much didn't have Sister Franks as my companion for two days! But it was tons of fun and I learned so much from them.

First I went with Hermana Coleman in her area and taught Hosman about service from the For the Strength of Youth. So that was fun. I was able to brush up on my Spanish a little bit.

Then exchanges in my area with Sister Lewis who I came out with. We did a lot of finding and found a new investigator! It is very cool to be able to go serve with other sisters and learn different things from all of them. We truly do all have our own strengths and weaknesses.

Pretty much Angel got baptized and we dropped every one else. So that means TONS OF FINDING. Finding, finding, finding, all day every day. Finding is really cool though, because that is when you see the crazy miracles.

FOR EXAMPLE: Sister Franks and I prayed really hard (especially on Saturday) that we would be able to find one person who would come to church. We have a zone goal to get 35 people to church in the next 3 Sundays. And we had no one. So by the end of the day we still did not have any one who would come to church. So we go to church and after sacrament meeting, a member comes up to us and says that there is someone here for us. A little Chinese lady named Fae came up to us and said that she wants to learn more about the church. She had been going to school in Salt Lake for the past year and just moved here to go to VCU. She went to church in Utah and when she got here she found the church and just showed up! It was such a huge miracle! We might not have found any one to come to church with us, but Heavenly Father led someone there. We were able to refer her to the Mandarin missionaries, and they are meeting with her tonight. She is such a sweet lady and stayed all three hours of church and loved it!

Angel got confirmed this Sunday and her family came. Her nonmember dad and less active mom. It was really sweet to see them all sitting together. She is so excited to officially be a member of the church. What a great example she is to her family.

It is interesting for me to compare the power of the world to the power of Jesus Christ. The world sees power as who can be the biggest, who can yell the loudest, who can punch the hardest. When Christ was on earth He did not show His power by creating big storms with strong winds and loud thunder. He used His power to calm the storm. He forgave the sinner. Power in the world is very different than the power that Jesus Christ exercised. I know that we can seek peace in our lives as we choose to remember Him. The world can get very loud and very overwhelming at times. Let us seek His Spirit in the quiet moments of our lives. Don't ever be too busy, or too tired to remember your Savior. He can calm the storm. Jesus Christ asks, "Give me all of you! I don't want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money and so much of your work. I want you! All of you! I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man or woman but to KILL IT! No half measures will do. I don't want to prune the tree here and there but rather I want the whole tree out! Hand it over to me. The whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them ALL over to me and I will make of you a new self in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself. My will shall become your will. My heart shall become your heart." How comforting it is to know of a Savior who loves us enough to give us all we need to be able to have peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come. I cannot accurately express the love I have for my Savior. I have come to know more fully that when we truly take time to remember Him, and give our weaknesses and desires to Him, we will be given the strength and peace we need to accomplish all He asks of us.

HAVE A BLESSED WEEK

Sister Ruffner