Today my cute niece Alexi reported on her mission to Reno! Jaydan dressed up for the occasion..woot woot! I am so proud of Alexi and the mission she served. She served so well and touched many lives. I visited with a man and his boys who were converted by Alexi because she just wouldn't give up on them. There were a few people from her mission that came to listen to her. She also had many Sisters come too. It was fun seeing all the people that my sweet niece influenced for the better in the year and a half that she served.
Lexi was very humble in her talk and didn't want to come across as being the one that made the difference. She totally gave all credit to the Lord....Father as she referred to Him. Her talk was simple but powerful. The spirit was so strong and I know that everyone in the meeting had to have felt it. There were a few there that aren't members and I know they "feel" the goodness that the Spirit brings. She spoke of prayer, reading the scriptures and attending our Church meetings. If we do those 3 simple things we will feel the difference in our lives and our lives will improve for the better because we will draw closer to our Heavenly Father.
I love the analogy's she used in portraying a few points. Like the visual of us going to Church in our Armor that is all banged up and smashed and dirty because of what the world does to us each week. But while at church we fix those dents and polish it back up and are ready for another week. She gave a few more and I think the way she put things others were able to relate and understand what she was talking about.
I really loved how she shared that if she could take us all back to just one point of her mission it would be the time that she was really struggling. The time that she felt like giving up. The time that she wasn't sure she could do this. The time that she was being broken and made humble so that Father could strengthen her and teach her. That's what happens in life...we are broken and stretched to our limits and that is when we are teachable. (interesting) She shared a poem by CS Lewis about building our home. How Father took down the walls and redone the plumbing or whatever He needed to so that He could change our little Cottage to the Palace that He had planned for us. That's what Heavenly Father does....He makes us better! He knows our potential and helps to reach it.
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” C.S. Lewis
I am thankful that we got to hang out with the Coy family today and bask in their goodness. I love them all so much and each of them have made me a better person. I watch them and learn from them and respect them all. They are the family I chose for myself. God knew exactly what He was doing when he sent Tonya's family to our neighborhood.
As Alexi said "We are all Fathers instruments". He accomplishing His work through us! I know that to be true. I have felt it, seen it and experienced both sides of this plan. What a beautiful, wonderful, spiritual day! A great way to end one week and to start another!
