He loves his children

We are teaching a woman named Linda Sue. She had a stroke a few months ago. When she first met the sisters before I came, she could barely speak. now she talks real good. She still slurs all her words, but she is able to communicate and she can read! She went to church this Sunday and loved it. Everyone was really happy to meet her. She's amazing.

We also taught a woman named Karen. i want to tell you her story so i changed her name so I can tell you what she's been through. we met her in the parking lot of her apartment complex. She told us that she was from another part of Texas, but her husband and she had separated because she said, "he's mad at me..." After talking to her a little more she told us that she was having problems that she couldn't quite understand and her husband basically sent her away. At first we were thinking, what a jerk. but as we talked to her she told us that one night she was just feeling weird. That same kind of weird that got her sent away from her family. it scared her so much that she called the police and they admitted her to the state mental institution. A week later she was diagnosed with bi-polar with severe depression. They started her on some medication and that's when we ran into her. She was super sweet but so sad because she didn't understand what is going on with her. She was so sad because she said her husband wouldn't say he loved her anymore. She said she was lonely. we taught her about the plan of salvation and tried to uplift her and gave her some scriptures to read. it was sad. but she said she felt better after our discussion. We told her that even though she was lonely, she was not alone. God was watching out for her. We told her that she could pray for the strength of Jesus to help her endure her sorrow. A week later we returned and she was doing much better. She said that her husband had come to visit her. They had talked about things and he seemed to want to support her through her trial now that they had a better understanding of what was going on. She said that one day she was really, really sad, but she prayed through her tears and it helped a lot. I'm not doing a very good job at helping the reader feel how significant this experience was for me. it was just beautiful to see how the atonement works. God had not forgotten her. He sent the missionaries to her so she wouldn't be completely alone. We did nothing, but that which we are taught. We are led everyday to those that need us most. My testimony of God's love for His children has grown so much on my mission because I see the way he shapes His children's lives and places people and blessings in their path to help them.

karen is gone now. She moved back home. We are definitely following up with her to make sure the missionaries go and see her, but we wont work with her anymore. but it doesn't matter because we are just the instruments. this isn't my mission--this is the Savior's mission and i've been blessed with the opportunity to help in His work and His glory.

it makes me think of this woman that i once worked with in one of my areas. she really loved the teachings of the Gospel and felt the spirit really strong testify that it was true. but one day she nervously told us that she had suffered from same gender attraction since she was young and she knew that it wasn't accepted in our church. After she explained sorrowfully her struggle she looked at us wanting to know our response. wanting to know her standing in the church and...well...with God. We said the first thing that came to our hearts. "God loves you. You are his daughter and He loves you so much. He loves you more than you'll ever know. God loves you." We didn't say anything super unique or profound, but in that moment the room filled with the love and the Spirit of the Lord testified that what we had said was true. All of us in the room were touched by that love that God has for his daughter.

People have hard lives, but God is watching out for them and loves them...this i can testify with a surety.

sister johnson