Let's all try harder, do more, and lose ourselves in the Lord!

First off, before I say anything about this week, I want to give a big shout out to and express my gratitude for President Thomas S. Monson. 

We were in the middle of our Missionary Leaders Conference (MLC) in Naga when we received the news about his passing away. And I know I wasn't the only one who was sad when we got the news.

Here on the mission, I have really come to love and respect Thomas S. Monson and the other General Authorities and have really drawn strength from their words whenever I am feeling down. I am thankful for the sacrifices that President Thomas S. Monson made for all of us and will definitely miss hearing his talks at General Conference.

So the start of this new year marked the end of another transfer and now we are ready to start fresh for 2018 this week as the new transfer rolls around the corner. To be honest, I am excited for this new transfer to start! With MLC, exchanges and all the extra meetings we have had this last week, I am TIRED and SUPER ready for things to get back to normal. This is the first REAL preparation day we have had since I got here to Daet, and I am feeling SUPER REFRESHED and ready to go.

To be honest, when I woke up Tuesday and started getting ready for the day feeling super tired and stressed about the upcoming exchanges, I just remember pouring out my heart in prayer to heavenly Father saying: "I am really not feeling my best today, but please give me the strength to give my best so that I can live up to what You are expecting of me".

During exchanges, we are meant to set an example of a "model missionary area" so that the other sisters can get some ideas that they can take back to their own areas. But since I am nowhere near perfect, the standard for exchanges is always SUPER intimidating.

But thankfully, Heavenly Father answered my prayer and as the day went on I was amazed time and time again by the miracles He gave us to help push through. Even though many of our planned appointments fell through, we still managed to end the day with lots of new investigators and even more successful lessons.

 It was once again a lesson to me that if you put your trust the the Lord, lose yourself in His work, and just keep praying, HE will never let you down.

Anyways, after that, we had a crazy next couple of days! Wednesday, we woke up early for the 3hr. bus ride to Naga for MLC. As usual, I learned a TON we can take back to our zone and was super grateful for the extra opportunity for training, but by the end I was tired and not looking forward to the bus ride home.

We got home exhausted, but sill had to finish up studies before going to sleep. After that, we had a super crazy Thursday and Friday, where we had to cram in district meeting, working with the other Sisters in their area, District Leaders Conference, trying to cram in all our appointments and weekly planning. So safe to say, I didn't really sleep or even stop to sit down for a minute for the past few days.

By Saturday, we were running all over the place preparing for the baptism of 3 of our investigators and the baptismal interview of one more. It was a little hectic but in the end, it all paid off with the baptism of Zyril, Jedsel and Chrisha which was super spiritual and went really well.

Coming into this area my first week, I remember feeling stressed when Sister Segovia expressed to me that she was worried if we would even be able to have any baptisms in December. So this whole transfer, we have been working and fasting and PRAYING, working, fasting and PRAYING even harder. And I have been amazed and so shocked as I have seen the hand of the Lord providing miricle after miricle for us to meet our goals! After a transfer of hard work, we managed to go above and beyond what we had originally planned with a total of 9 baptisms this last transfer.

I know that it has nothing to do with me or Sister Segovia that we were blessed to be a part of so many miracles, and to have received the privilege of becoming an instrument in the Lord's hand. It is all because of Him. It is all His work, His glory. I am just grateful to be a little tiny part of it.

And it is remembering those miracles, those lives changed, those smiles and prayers of the people I have grown to know and love saying "Thank-you. Thank-You Heavenly Father for all these blessings You have given to me" that push me to keep going and hold out to the end, even when I am tired and my strength is gone, leaving me completely and utterly weak.

But you know what, that is okay with me, because that's what God is here to do. He takes the things that are weak and makes them strong (Ether 12:27; 2 Nephi 33:4). He is the way, by losing ourselves to Him, we will ALWAYS win. I know that is true because I have witnessed it time and time again here on the mission.

So lets take this time to try harder, do more and lose ourselves in the Lord this 2018! I love you all.  Have a great week.

Love,

Sister Matheny