Mario Time!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! 🎃

Man how the time flies. I can remember last years Halloween in Wilmington perfectly. 

So have I talked about Pearl?  I can't ever remember.  We went tracting a while ago and found her but she wasn't interested.  Very soon after that we received a Bible referral for Pearl and it was the same Pearl! Very weird. SO we stop by with the Bible but it's too small of print for her so we ordered an extra large print one. It was really extra large but she really appreciated it!  We have just kept stopping by her and talking at the door and finally this Tuesday we were able to actually sit down with her.  She totally opened up to us about the trials she has been experiencing lately with her family and how we have kept stopping by through all of it.  We testified to her there was a reason we kept going back to her!  Last night we stopped by her and her daughter and grandchildren were there.  Another neat experience!  Her daughter told us about her family's struggles to find a church. They recently moved up toward Charlotte and have been going from church to church and haven't found one that feels right for their family.  We told her all about our church and that we would find the address for one nearest to her.  Heavenly Father placed us at the right place at the right time so this family could have an opportunity to find the church right for them! 

Wednesday I went on exchanges to Pembroke with Sister Smedley.  It was Sister Hogge's first time taking over the area and she did great!  She found 2 new investigators without me.  So basically she doesn't need me anymore haha I was so proud of her! 

Another cool experience. We were out Thursday night and everyone we tried wasn't home so finally we just said a prayer asking that we would be lead to someone that we could help tonight. Someone who needed our visit.  After we sat there and I started going through to gps again and S. Hogge suggested Sister Alston.  So we start heading over there and I have a bunch of doubts in my mind about it.  But I'm finally just like no I'm not going to doubt this, We prayed, Heavenly Father gave us a name, I'm going to trust that this is right. And I just felt peace.  We got to her house and she was home and she let us in. She was a little flustered and said I wasn't prepared for visitors but we were able to sit down with her and visit.  It's been a really long time since we've been able to do that with her! The spirit was super strong and we were just able to share experiences and help her through the rough time she is going through.  She said "I really needed this tonight," when we left. 

Thomas unfortunately is in the hospital :( He has CDIFF.  We've been to visit him several times this week.  We went Saturday night after the ward trunk or treat in our costumes.  He got a kick out of it! We told him he was Bowser haha.  He is the most positive person I've ever met.  We had a great time Saturday night with him, we just read 1 Nephi 8 with him and had a great discussion about it. 

This week I found an article on LDS. org called "The Perfect Lie". Holy cow that girl gets it!  I had such a spiritual experience reading that article that I volunteered myself to instruct about it at the upcoming zone training.  Which I literally would never choose to do, but the spirit said to and you can't say no to the spirit. One of my favorite parts in it is: 

“Christ never asked us to give more than we have to give. Rather He asks, pleads, and invites us to learn of Him, come to Him, trust Him, and let Him make us more than we are.

That brings me back to one of Satan’s greatest lies—the perfect lie.

Did Christ say, “Be ye perfect, even as I am?” Yes, He did. But He never said we needed to be perfect today, tomorrow, or even in this life, and He definitely never said we needed to be perfect all by ourselves, without Christ.

You see, Satan’s perfect lie takes one simple truth, “Be ye perfect, even as I am,” and twists it until we’re convinced that we need to live a life trying to be equal to Christ...

Nowhere in the scriptures does Christ say that our efforts are inadequate. Never does He say, “If you don’t work hard enough, you’ll never be enough.”

No. His truth and His invitation is “Come unto me, for my grace is sufficient.”

For a perfectionist like me, this was exactly what I needed to hear this week. 

I love you all! 

Sister Dearden