May 11, 20235 min read

Being in the middle of a police chase and my relationship with prayer.

Above: On our way to a member's house. She lives in a wooded area. You would have no idea that the city is just a few minutes away. Reminds me of Bountiful without the hills. 😊

This week we as a mission studied the power of prayer!

Check out the definition from the bible dictionary:

As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are His children), then prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of his children are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for us and for others, blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.

I love that whole thing. Especially the part where we learn that God wants to give us so many things!!!

My relationship with prayer has taken a 180!!! I try to take 5-10 minutes to pray before I start my studies. I pray and ask questions and then I sit in silence, then revelation flows. I will ask for specific things and then go to work! When I do this, I learn that the Lord will grant those specific prayers to me. The Lord wants to give us MIRACLES! Will you ask for them? I felt guilty at first, like “can I actually ask God for a baptism within the next transfer?” “Or may I ask to start teaching one new person today.” Well, we must practice what we preach. We ask our friends to exercise faith and see what happens. (But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words. Alma 32:27) We must do the same, pray and see what happens. Have faith, right?

I invite you to pray for specific things. Don't see it as selfish because the lord will give you what you need. Sometimes I pray and I just don't feel good about it. Then I pray again, and I listen, and the spirit tells me how I need to readjust my request!

I can promise you that if you set apart time each day, allowing for there to be silence, the lord will inspire your mind! You will be even more of an instrument in the Lord's hand and feel more purpose and fulfillment in your life when you act upon the inspiration that will come from Him. You will see God's countenance in you as you do what he does. Alma 5: 19 says "I say unto you, can ye look up to God on that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraved upon your countenances?"

You will recognize him because many of his characteristics will be your character!

Above: Happy Cinco de mayo!!! We took this picture just after we had made contact with someone that we haven't been able to meet with in a while! We set up a return appointment it's super cool how God helped us with that.

Above: This is Brother and Sister Mckee! They are mission support leaders. So, they are assigned to a Spanish branch. Neither of them speaks Spanish ha-ha... but they help run the ward! THEY ARE AMAZING. They give rides, train leaders, and teach! The best part is they get to meet people in normal and natural ways, and we benefit from their referrals. I love them. This was taken after going to the temple. We went to Dave's hot chicken! Oh, boyyy was it Good.... maybe even up there with pretty bird... and less expensive... even in California.

A little about the people we are teaching:

Trevon- We have been teaching the law of chastity (which is my fav lesson to teach... Honestly I love it.... Sister Ishoy and the fellowship that was there.... not so much ha-ha) the fellowship said .... Just take a chaperone with you to places you feel tempted! That really made us seem like nuns ha-ha We are praying that Trevon can see the connection with what he is feeling when we are teaching him and realize that it comes from the gospel and the connection with Jesus Christ

Above: This is Kathy. Oh boy is she a character!!! We taught her the story of David and Goliath today. Because she wants to read from the bible.... soooo we said cool here is that story, now here's another one about rocks that's in the Book of Mormon!! Ha-ha

Funny story... We got stuck in the middle of a police chase... we had just had dinner with this member, and we got into our car... pulled down the street to make some texts and suddenly, we heard this loudspeaker. I thought there was a football or baseball game going on over a few streets... you know the one with the big announcers. So, I just ignored it. But then we hear all these helicopters.... and then the helicopters are like right above us. I rolled down my window and heard the helicopters and their massive speakers saying "Give yourself up Raymond. If any of you see Raymond, he has a gray sweatshirt and is armed and dangerous... don't make contact. Raymond surrender yourself. Lock your house. He is in this neighborhood." SOOOOO yeah that was a little scary... But I felt completely calm... we turned on the car and passed all the police cars that were on the street on top... let’s just say we decided not to knock doors in that neighborhood that night.

Above: Pictures don't do the yard justice! I always love going over to Sister L house because she makes healthy dinners! Oh, how I just love salad!!!!

We are still teaching Roy. We are going challenge him to baptism this week, SO PLEASE PRAY. All our friends need prayers. Roy could use prayers that he will be able to feel the spirit (also he is reading in the Isiah chapters now so let’s hope and pray he doesn't lose momentum)