Bula family & friends!
I hope you all have had an amazing week! It was definitely a fantastic week in Toukley. The work kind of slowed a bit. We have so much potential in this area and we know it really does depend on our exertion as a companionship. We are trying are best to work with everyone we can but we found we have fallen short so many times.
This Sunday, as we evaluated our week, we were a little frustrated. We feel that we are doing a lot, but we can see we need to be doing SO much more. I keep telling Sister Koi "We're not working hard enough." and she keeps saying "Sister Froemming you're going to kill me." lol.
One of the testimonies shared this Sunday really brought peace to my heart. One of our members got up and began sharing the story of Jesus and the woman who committed adultery.
John chapter 8:
1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in themidst.
10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Brother Sita then explained how when he read this, he wondered: why did Jesus forgive her when she had committed a sin with specific consequences? Why wasn't she punished fairly?
And then he realized, that it was in that moment that he made a covenant with her. He essentially said without saying "You have sinned and you deserve to die. But I love you. So I will die for you. But you need to change. Go and sin no more. Go. Try again."
He then compared this to us. Each week, we come into the chapel and partake of the sacrament. We are forgiven. We are made clean. We are redeemed. We fall at the Saviour's feet and He has mercy upon us. He is our advocate with the Father and we are healed through Him.
But then we mess up. We say something unkind. We judge people unfairly. We hold grudges. We break commandments. We ignore spiritual promptings.
And then we come back to the chapel. With head's hanging low, we are presented in front of the Saviour again. We know what we deserve. We know that we have sinned. But just as He did with the woman, He does with us. He says "You have sinned. You deserve to be punished. But I see you are repentant. And I love you. Leave this chapel and try harder this week. Go. Try again."
Each week we are given a charge from the Saviour to "Go. Try again." We will never stop making mistakes. We will never be perfect, but we will improve. We will become more like Him. We will develop His qualities and become more prepared to meet Him one day. He will always forgive. Satan can try us and tempt us but he can only win if we let Him. Because we always have open arms and a fresh start waiting for us.
Go. Try again.
2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in themidst.
10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Brother Sita then explained how when he read this, he wondered: why did Jesus forgive her when she had committed a sin with specific consequences? Why wasn't she punished fairly?
And then he realized, that it was in that moment that he made a covenant with her. He essentially said without saying "You have sinned and you deserve to die. But I love you. So I will die for you. But you need to change. Go and sin no more. Go. Try again."
He then compared this to us. Each week, we come into the chapel and partake of the sacrament. We are forgiven. We are made clean. We are redeemed. We fall at the Saviour's feet and He has mercy upon us. He is our advocate with the Father and we are healed through Him.
But then we mess up. We say something unkind. We judge people unfairly. We hold grudges. We break commandments. We ignore spiritual promptings.
And then we come back to the chapel. With head's hanging low, we are presented in front of the Saviour again. We know what we deserve. We know that we have sinned. But just as He did with the woman, He does with us. He says "You have sinned. You deserve to be punished. But I see you are repentant. And I love you. Leave this chapel and try harder this week. Go. Try again."
Each week we are given a charge from the Saviour to "Go. Try again." We will never stop making mistakes. We will never be perfect, but we will improve. We will become more like Him. We will develop His qualities and become more prepared to meet Him one day. He will always forgive. Satan can try us and tempt us but he can only win if we let Him. Because we always have open arms and a fresh start waiting for us.
Go. Try again.
WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS!!!!!!
-The dreaded mission tan lines have surfaced. Haha, we spent one morning walking to all of our appointments and I unfortunately had my hair in a bun. #baycountyredneck
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| #baycountyredneck |
-Sister Koi is teaching me how to play soccer. She is ridiculously talented with sports. She can play everything at like pro level. So blessed to have a companion who is patient and hardly laughs at me ;)
-I love Filipinos! There are a few in the ward and WOW I have been missing out my whole life. Hilarious, adorable, and the best cooks. I love coming to the other side of the world and meeting all kind of new people.
-I accidently called one of the investigators from my last area lol. OKAY it's pretty funny how this happened. It was totally on accident. We were just calling heaps of people to invite them to the Christmas party, and I had this random number in my planner. Sister Koi and I were trying to figure out who it was. We eventually figured that it must be the recent convert who just moved in and we decided to call him. Next minute, DOREEN ANSWERS! I was cracking up and couldn't stop smiling. I forgot I wrote down her number in my planner because someone emailed it to me. The funniest thing was that when I explained to her why I accidently called she said "Oh well what time does the party start?" Haha, I had to then tell her that it started at 5:00 but it was two hours away from Emu Plains. I talked to her for a few minutes and she told me she is now taking the discussions from Sister Piutau and Sister Wilson because she wanted sisters to teach her. I wasn't able to say goodbye to her so it made me so happy. She told me how much she appreciated the time I spent with her and that she wanted me to come visit. It's so funny how much you come to love people as a missionary. Everyone you work with starts to feel like family. I can't wait to see the day Doreen gets baptised!
-I also got to call Sister Hosea this week because Saturday was her birthday! :)
(Our fav RM in the ward, Fia
)
-The ward Christmas party was CRACK UP. So much 80's Christmas music. Haha, I love old wards!!!! Sister Koi and I were overjoyed when after dinner people started finally getting up to dance. It was so cute to see our ward having fun! Also it was a success because after a ridiculous amount of inviting, one of our investigators came and a less active came to the party and then church the next day!
Have a great week everyone! Please try to prepare yourself each day this week to partake of the sacrament on Sunday.
Au lomani iko!
SF
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