Sister Rachel McIntosh: 25 January 2016 - The Second Week Flies By

People said that about the MTC and it is SO TRUE. Last week it felt like DAYS between meals, but I feel like Just yesterday it was Sunday. The Sunday on the 17th, that is.

I don't have a whole lot of time, but I hope you enjoyed the pictures! In addition to our regular investigators, we taught a couple of less-active members of the church and got to skype a Mormon family in Idaho! We shared a message, talked with the kids about serving missions, and shared a challenge with them - very fun!

Our investigator Leah has come SO FAR. Since she has been meeting with missionaries for 3 years and has a lot of emotional problems (PTSD, depression, anxiety etc) we spent a lot of time listening, talking, sharing scriptures, and praying with/for her. She didn't always say much, and when she did a lot of times it was rambling about her job. At the end though, she asked if she could share a lesson with US. We said okay, and she pulled out a bent nail. She talked about how it's useless in building things and if you hammer on the head it'll only become more useless and bend even more. Missionaries have done this to her. She told us about how they come and pound their religion and "homework assignments" into her head and it only hurts her more. It doesn't help her heal. She said that if missionaries who teach her were to minister more as Christ would, they'd help her where she's hurting, by patting her on the back (where the bend is), by listening, by suffering with her when she suffers, by praying for her, and by trying to help her instead of teach a lesson. She thanked us for being Christlike and told us that the way she felt when we shared with her made her WANT to start praying again. We never asked her to. She had an increase in faith that led to action, just because people were willing to listen to her, and lend a helping hand. She said she's been reading the scriptures more. We never asked her to. Inviting people to make changes can be important, and encouraging people to come to Christ is important, but I encourage you all to look at people with the Love that Christ would, and see what THEY NEED. Missionaries, friends, mothers, fathers, co-workers, anyone can do this.

I'm grateful for all I've learned here and I'm excited to get out into the field tomorrow morning. I can't wait to help people realize the love that Christ has for them, to help them realize that they can have SO much hope for the future because of Him.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Faithfully,

Sister McIntosh

PS - If you haven't studied Alma 5 in awhile, it's a good one.

Our whole district. I love them (Elder Woods, Lloyd, Anderson, Hilsinger, Weber, Sister Me, Anderson, and Whitehead)

My comps with our investigator, LEAH! More on her later...

Our district with one of our teachers, Brother Smith. (first guy on the left)

Our elders, who are probably in a boy band. L->R (Elder Lloyd, Anderson, Hilsinger, Weber, and Woods)

Us with our senior district that went to the field several days after we arrived. The two sisters next to me were my Sister Training Leaders. (tall=sister marstella and short=sister weibye)