A Dose Of The Holy Ghost

Sister Richardson's Super Split Seconds

Hello, lovely people! We had ourselves a week—ups and downs, miracles, good people, crazy people, cool weather, hot weather, pretty leaves, and mostly just a lot of growth!

We've been having some Halloween fun with our members! It's amazing what you can come up with when you can't sleep at night, lol. See pics below for a sneak peek.

On Saturday, Sister Wallin and I decided that we would see a super cool miracle! We said some mighty prayers, and boy, oh boy, did we see a miracle. We were knocking on some doors, and we met James! James' mom originally opened the door, told us she had COVID, and slammed the door shut. As we were waiting for the next door to open, James rushed out and said, "Wait! Does your church do Facebook ads? Because I think I've seen them before, and I want to learn more!" We immediately responded yes and got to teach him on the spot!

At the very end of the lesson, James shyly asked, while pointing to me, "This is going to sound weird, but are you in any of the ads?" I told him yes, and he replied, "You're not going to believe this, but I didn't just see your church's ad—I saw YOUR ad. Like, I've seen you before!" We were stunned. God is so good. James is so cool! Stay tuned for more James content.

My studies took me to 3 Nephi 20 this week. In 3 Nephi, as many of you know, the resurrected Christ visits the Americas, establishes His Church, and institutes something called the Sacrament. The Sacrament is broken bread and water that is blessed and given to each person weekly as a reminder of the Savior’s sacrifice. As we take the Sacrament, we renew promises that we've made with God, and we, in turn, receive forgiveness for our sins and gain God's Spirit to be with us always.

I've been blessed to partake of the Sacrament weekly for my entire life, but it really wasn't until I left on my mission that I started to understand the depth and significance of the Sacrament.

My understanding grew again this week as I read 3 Nephi 20:9, which says:

"Now, when the multitude had all eaten and drunk, behold, they were filled with the Spirit; and they did cry out with one voice, and gave glory to Jesus, whom they both saw and heard."

This verse tells us that when the Nephites partook of the Sacrament, they received the Spirit and immediately found ways to glorify the Savior for allowing them to receive that Spirit. This idea of glorifying the Savior immediately following the Sacrament was an answer to my prayers. During the Sacrament, I always try to reflect on my week, but I recently noticed that my reflections usually leave me feeling overwhelmed by how much I still need to work on, rather than uplifted by the Savior’s grace! So, when I read this, it was like a light went off—stop focusing on yourself and focus on HIM through you!

Elder Kearon recently said:

"We may have been conditioned to suppose that the purpose of the Sacrament is to sit in the pew thinking only about all the ways we messed up during the week before. But let’s turn that practice on its head. In the stillness, we can ponder the many ways we have seen the Lord relentlessly pursue us with His wonderful love that week!"

I just love this. I was able to put this into practice yesterday, and it was truly transformative. As I reflected on how many times I saw the hand of the Lord, I was moved to tears because it was overwhelming to see how aware the Lord is of me. He doesn't care that I messed up more times than we can both count or that I've been working to become more patient for what feels like an eternity—He just cares that I'm trying and making an effort to include Him in the process. For the first time in a long time, I truly left the Sacrament feeling "His wonderful love."

I love the Savior, and I love being His representative. I know the Savior loves each of you. Thank you for all you do to help me grow closer to Him!

Much love,
Sister Richardson

P.S. Sorry for the long email! You're only getting one more after this, so I'm trying to make them count!






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