Taking the Shots: "Zeitgeist 🕰👻" (Week 72: 1/16-1/23)

Y'all are probably wondering what that word means up there in my subject line, well you see it comes from the German vocabulary. Hopefully I don't get this wrong, lol! It means, the time of the spirit. The English dictionary also mentions it as the mood or spirit of that particular time.

So speaking of spirit and time.... I have really loved my mission and this week was one of the better weeks of my mission. Sister Caswell and I have really made it a goal to be more consecrated. Though we already are, we are choosing different things that we need to work on to be even more consecrated. One goal we set is to listen strictly to hymns/ Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It has been really good and it has allowed our spirits to stay high! You could say that people have been staring at us a lot, probably because we are seriously carrying the Spirit with us, even more than just when we listen to other music. It has been a good change. :) we have also been trying to align our wills' with Heavenly Father's will. It has been a really hard week, especially with everyone being super busy with school starting back up again, but we have been able to see the people who are truly prepared for the gospel message that we share.

One of the people who we have truly found, with the Lord's help is Deanna. Deanna is a student at UVa, and she is studying English. We met her a couple of weeks ago at Barracks Road Shopping Center which is a place where a lot of people shop/eat. It's basically a street mall. Super nice! :) anyways one night we were walking along the sidewalk, and we try to talk to everyone. There was no one else around and we introduced ourselves to her, and what not, and she basically says that she is looking for a church and wants to start coming to church. We exchanged contact information and soon got to meet with her. We met with her on Wednesday this week and we had such a wonderful lesson. We could all feel the spirit so much and she keeps telling us that we came at a time that was most needed. She is really focusing on her relationship right now with Jesus Christ and is taking a semester off of studying. HOW AMAZING! Well we invited her to come to church and she came yesterday! The only down part was that she ended up leaving early. She didn't feel to well. But hey she came and really liked it at the beginning. Please pray for her, so she can continue to feel Heavenly Father's love.

Other than that we had some really cool days with lots of miracles. Some of those miracles happened on Exchanges. So because there is only 2 sets of Sister companionships in the area that I serve, I was asked to kind of help the Hermanas in our Zone. So with that I still kind of have my old calling of being a Sister Training Leader, but now I am also training Sister Caswell. You could say that I am kind of overloaded. Well with that, we still go on exchanges with the sisters here. And so that meant that they would be coming into Sister Caswell's and I's area. We had to plan double the activities and make sure that everything worked out. It was probably one of the most stressful days of my mission, but it allowed me to really turn to the Lord.

One other cool miracle that happened, was yesterday! So we had a less active come to church and he even brought his friend, John. He isn't a member, but we called the less active to see if we could meet up with him and talk to his friend because he showed interest. And so we were trying to find a place close to where they lived, and I thought of the Panera. There are 3 Panera's in the Charlottesville area. (Quick back story! So we have an investigator named Maya, I probably have mentioned her before. We have been trying to get in contact with her and we haven't been able to. We have stopped by her apartment and she is never home. We have emailed her, because she doesn't have a phone, pretty much every day. And we have even stopped by the Panera where we thought she worked.) well during the phone call with the less active, I asked him if he wanted to meet somewhere for dinner... not thinking about it, I received a prompting to go to the Panera (that I forgot was over by his apartment/ Maya's apartment) and that's when it hit me. I realized that we had been looking at the wrong Panera. Haha. We went last night and we found Maya! Finally after 3 weeks of no contact and basically stalking her, we found her. The Lord truly provides miracles to help His children come back to him!

The Lord is amazing and he helps us so much. As I have been reading from the Doctrine and Covenants, I have been able to see how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ truly are aware of our times. There is a scripture that I would love to share with you from one of the sections I read recently.

Doctrine and Covenants Section 67 verse 10:

"10 And again, verily I say unto you that it is your privilege, and a promise I give unto you that have been ordained unto this ministry, that inasmuch as you strip yourselves from jealousies and fears, and humble yourselves before me, for ye are not sufficiently humble, the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and know that I am--not with the carnal neither natural mind, but with the spiritual."

I know as we truly humble ourselves before Heavenly Father we will be able to overcome the natural man and be able to not fear. I know I have many weeks till I come home, but I am honestly freaking out, the future is unknown for me at this moment, and this scripture truly stood out to me in my studies. I know that as we are aligning our will with Heavenly Father we will be able to know that He is there with us, helping us along the way. We won't need to fear, or be jealous, or be scared, because He will always be right next to us. "..... I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." (Doctrine and Covenants 84:88)

Hopefully this email makes sense! There were just so many wonderful things that happened!

I love you all and thank you all so much for the support and the prayers. Have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Pewtress