As I'm sure you all are aware it has been a wacky week with all this Corona/COVID-19 stuff & I have to say it is a really weird but also cool time to be a missionary!
But let's start before this Corona stuff happened this week..
Monday we had a really fun lesson with our cute friend Hser Nay & she made us cawnaw & it was so good!
Tuesday we had a tender mercy where some members had us over for dinner unexpectedly & it was very uplifting! Members say that missionaries have a special spirit about them but we say that members have a special spirit about them! They talked about their conversion stories & one of the main points that one of them made was how LOVE WINS. Pride, anger, fear, sadness, hatred, etc never get anyone very far but love ALWAYS wins in the long run! That message has really stuck with me this week!
Wednesday we had a lot of awesome lessons & got to kind of have a day in the life of a Karen person b/c we got rides from some of our Karen friends & we really just had to go with the flow & see where things took us! But it was a lot of fun!
Thursday. Thursday is when things got interesting! The Corona announcements had been happening all week with different updates on what to do/not to do & how many cases were in Minnesota or whatever but Thursday is when the world turned upside down! So we had interviews with our mission president in the morning & he gave us some updates on what was happening in the world & in the mission. Everything was still pretty normal. We had a meeting as missionaries & then we went about our day! THEN we got the email/update from the church that church is canceled! I think a lot of missionaries were going crazy. We were confused what this meant for the people we were teaching & us Karen missionaries were worried about the Karen people! It kind of felt like chaos haha but our mission president came out with some directions & some words of comfort & eventually we realized everything would be OK! Especially at this time of uncertainty, church members especially can be & need to be a source of comfort & hope to people because we really have been prepared by our prophet & we can trust that he will continue to prepare us! This gospel is "GOOD NEWS" & it is HOPE & it is PEACE! SHARE IT :)
Friday we were in a weird place still trying to figure out what we were & weren't allowed to do but we had a really awesome lesson teaching one of our friend's friends! He really believed the message & believed that Joseph Smith really did see our Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ! One of the other people we are teaching kind of acted as our "joint teacher" for the lesson & it was so cool to see him get excited that he knew these things too! I love these people! I love this work! Also the new Book Of Mormon video came out on Friday & IT IS SO GOOD! We actually cried when we first watched it! It is so good! Go give it a watch! :)
Saturday we visited one of my favorite families & they fed us some really delicious pho! We had a good lesson with the person we are teaching & at the end his whole family joined in for the prayer! It was a special moment to see the whole family come together! We also got to go do a lesson with another person we are teaching & I think we had like 10 people come in the room to listen! It's so fun to see people gather together to learn about God! It makes my missionary heart so happy!
Sunday was probably the weirdest Sunday I've ever had in my life haha! We went to a part member family for "church" & did a little testimony meeting which was really cool! I know there is a lot of power in testimonies! Other than that, the rest of the day felt like a normal day! It was weird to not go to church but I also gained a testimony that church is the people & the doctrine we believe, not the place where those people & that doctrine exist! I really love this church because I really love these people & I really love the good news that we believe!
In all the chaos going on right now I hope we can all remember that LOVE WINS & GODS LOVE WINS! We need to love our neighbors & serve each other & bring people around us hope, peace, & joy! Fear & confusion will never solve any problem! But in this time when a lot of people are afraid it is so important that they receive comfort! I've had my fair share of questions for why all these things are happening but I KNOW that God has a plan & that His plans WILL happen no matter what! The only question is whether or not we are ready for His plans to happen. Isn't it so neat that we have a living prophet on the earth today who prepared us & continues to prepare us? President Nelson leads & guides this church with direction given from God. There is no doubt in my mind about that! THAT is was makes this church so incredibly important & true because we NEED that direction from God today just like the people of Moses' or Noah's time needed a prophet! And it all comes down to the fact that God loves ALL people then & now & He continues to guide His people! I know that this is true!
I love & pray for you all!
Love, Sister Freeman ဖီပြံဝါ
Pictures:
1. Just Sister Ricks & me! (But not for long! We've got a new Karen sister coming soon! ;)
2. Some REALLY good Pho that one of my FAVORITE families gave us!
3. Our friend Pawrakay drove us all around St. Paul when we still didn't have a car.
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