Sister Meservy and her REAL Companion
Sister Harper
At the temple with MTC Roommates
and Sisters they are training.
4th of July Celebrations
Sister Meservy
4th of July Fireworks
Sister Meservy and Harper
Subject: This may come as a shock…
So this week was jam packed with miracles! 🙂
Let me just testify. Fasting is powerful. Prayer is actual communication with God and he is listening. And Heavenly Father loves all of his Children.
I’m learning that I don’t have to be concerned for everyone and worry about every little thing (or big thing) that I don’t know how to do… Because this is God’s work. And he will make up the difference for my weaknesses. I promise. He does it. He fills in all the gaps. Like ice cream. (My wonderful Father taught me that. Ice Cream just fills in the gaps.)
Anyway- our investigators with a baptismal date, Amanda and Eddie, are progressing along wonderfully. They are getting married on July 31 (the day after transfers- so let’s hope I stay in this area…) and then they are getting baptized on Aug. 3. I am SO excited for them! Keep them in your prayers.
SO yesterday, in Church, testimony meeting was great. 🙂
A ten year old boy named Nate got up to bear his testimony and this is how he started:
“So… I’m going to tell the story of when the Egyptians crossed the Red Sea. Most of you probably know this story, but I really like it, so I will tell it now.”
Then, Nate continued by explaining the story. My favorite part was when he told us that as they were running from the Pharoah and they ran into the red sea. He said that they couldn’t walk across because they would drown, and “they didn’t have time to swim across.”
It was adorable. Then, as he finished describing this miraculous story of God parting the Red Sea, he said I like this story because It shows us that “With great faith, you can do really great things.”
HOW TRUE THAT IS. I promise you all that if we strengthen our faith, God will strengthen us. We can do everything with his help.
Remember that you are of great worth. And you have MANY gifts.
Marvin J Ashton explains that there are some gifts that we don’t always think of as gifts.
“Let us review some of these less-conspicuous gifts: the gift of asking; the gift of listening; the gift of hearing and using a still, small voice; the gift of being able to weep; the gift of avoiding contention; the gift of being agreeable; the gift of avoiding vain repetition; the gift of seeking that which is righteous; the gift of not passing judgment; the gift of looking to God for guidance; the gift of being a disciple; the gift of caring for others; the gift of being able to ponder; the gift of offering prayer; the gift of bearing a mighty testimony; and the gift of receiving the Holy Ghost.
“We must remember that to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God. It is our right and responsibility to accept our gifts and to share them. God’s gifts and powers are available to all of us.”
Remember that you are doing great. As Elder Holland teaches us in his talk “Lord, I Believe” We must first notice our strengths before we can fix our weaknesses! The Father who has the faith for the Savior to heal his son, “asserts his strength first and only then acknowledges his limitation. His initial declaration is affirmative and without hesitation: “Lord, I believe.” “
“Remember your strengths and turn to the Lord for help to overcome your weaknesses. 🙂
“And to every man is given a gift” (D&C 46:11). This is true. God help us to recognize, develop, and share our gifts that all may profit thereby is my earnest hope and plea.
God does live. He does bless us with gifts. As we develop and share our God-given gifts and benefit from the gifts of those around us, the world can be a better place and God’s work will move forward at a more rapid pace.” -Marvin J Ashton
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! Keep being wonderful.
Love,
Sister Sarah Jane Meservy
PS: This may come as a shock to my family, but I think I was born to work with kids. 🙂 We got to speak at the stake youth baptism this week, and it was one of the highlights of my mission. 🙂
Sister Sarah Meservy shared these pictures in her letter this week. . . . .
Here she is with her REAL companion Sister Harper next to her in the front. . . The rest of the sisters are either MTC sisters with her or their companions.
Sister Meservy’s Area
Subject: “O, all ye old men…”
Before I begin this letter, I would like to explain… Last week I got a wonderful email from my brother Jeff. He explained, “I enjoy your weekly email… The only thing missing is a reminiscence of all of our good times together and how they played a vital role in your day-to-day experiences.” I think he was right. So this week, I will try to do better.
Dear Jeff,
(I mean, euh… Dear Family and Friends),
I’m grateful for every letter I receive. 🙂 Also, this week has been incredible. We were teaching a man named Boba, who has an orange three legged cat named Zeus. (I’m not making this story up). . . As we taught him, he told his cat to bite me because I said something he didn’t like to hear. Probably something like, “Boba, if you want to be happier, you need to pray and read from the Book of Mormon every day.” Well, low and behold, about two minutes later, the lovely Zeus sneaked up from behind me and bit my arm.
Really.
So this week, I got bit by a three legged cat.
But Boba came to Church on Sunday, so it was worth it.
And Jeff, He probably came to church because of how well I reacted when his cat bit me. If it weren’t for you, I may have hit myself where I had been bit- but you’ve taught me that hitting my injuries is not the most effective method of recovery. Thanks.
Now Speaking of Boba coming to church… It seems that every time me and my companion bring a new investigator to church… Our ward seems to be talking about Family History- which can be terribly confusing for them. Luckily, the church is true, so we haven’t lost an investigator over it yet! 🙂 The feelings people have when they come to church, feel the spirit, and feel welcomed by the members trump all of the confusion that investigators get about taking our ancestors names to the temple to perform saving ordinances. 🙂
Jeff, I think you taught me this same principle when we would read the Sunday Funnies together every Sunday, because even when you made me read the comics that I didn’t understand (and thus, didn’t think were funny), I always enjoyed being there and reading with you. 🙂 …Precious. I know.
I also believe that all those times you pushed me on the rope swing at the cabin had a vital role in who I’ve become. 😉 I always knew that if I asked you to come out and push me on the swing- you would- and I would be able to fly (probably even higher than I wanted to…). It’s this kind of faith that we should all put in our Heavenly Father. This week my companion and I helped wash some clothes for our investigators who don’t have a washer and dryer. They were working on quitting smoking, and one of the steps to recovery is to wash all of your clothes to get rid of the smokey smell. Well Sister Harper and I used 3 homes to was our car full of clothes. When the first load came out, it was obvious that the smell of smoke had not come out. So immediately we knelt down. I said, “Sister Harper, we are going to have a miracle. Let’s pray and ask God to take the smell away.” SO she offered a wonderful, Faith-filled prayer, and every load that came out after was completely smoke free. Then, as we finished we went to put the first load through again and the smell was gone. Let that be what you want it to- but I like to call it a miracle. I know that when we ask God for His help, He is ready to answer. As long as we pray in Christ’s name- which the bible dictionary explains as meaning that we are praying for things that the Savior himself would pray for. 🙂
So yes. The Church is very True. I’m grateful for Jeff Ray and the many other vital life lessons he has taught me. 😉 And I’m grateful for his wife and for their kids. 🙂 I am so grateful for all yall. I am grateful for life and for missions…
Remember to rely on God, and keep his commandments. We don’t want to be like the wicked Nephites and Lamanites in Helaman 4 who had to fight man for man, and “therefore they did not prosper.” We want God on our side! Be like the righteous Nephites in Alma 2:11, who were called the Nephites, or the people of God. and also in Mosiah. . . “And they were called the people of God. And the Lord did pour out his Spirit upon them, and they were blessed, and prospered in the land.” We can prosper if we rely on God. Let him be your strength. Have faith in him. He loves you. And he is willing and ready to come out and give you a big push on the rope swing. 🙂
Consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. 🙂
MUCH MUCH LOVE,
Sister Sarah Jane Meservy
PS: We may have accidentally left the reference to Mosiah 2:40, instead of Mosiah 2:41 on a sticky note on a 60 year old mans door.
verse 40 begins, “O, all ye old men…” The Church is Still True! And always will be! 🙂
SUBJECT: Sometimes we tract for hours in the RAIN . . . .
Dear Family! and Friends!
Man. It was a good week. So… I got a new companion… she’s in the first picture attached. 😉 Her name is Sister Harper, she is from Sandy, Utah- and she is 19. She trained horses before she came. She’s so cool. 🙂 And happy.
Also- we had a WONDERFUL MISSION TRAINING! Elder Peiper of the first quorum of the seventy came to our mission and spoke to us, and it was SO great! Why, you ask?
Reason #1: Elder Peiper is awesome.
Reason #2: Elder Dowse (from madrigals) , Elder Hall (from seminary council) , and Elder Cantwell (just another kid from my high school) were all at the meeting- So we had a nice little Bingham Class of ’11 Reunion! 🙂 A picture is attached.
Reason #3: …. Okay… So I was feeling a little overwhelmed by the end of the training- because sometimes I just want to be a perfect missionary… Then, after the meeting, one of the Assistants came up to me and told me that Elder Peiper wanted to interview me. SAY WHAT!
He apparently felt inspired to interview some of the missionaries… 🙂 In the interview he made me promise to do a few things… one of them was to email my family and tell them I love them. 🙂 Hopefully you know that I do. And all my friends as well. I love you. We’re all family, right? 🙂 The next was that I had to tell yall that Elder Peiper thinks I am a wonderful missionary and I am doing a great job on my mission.
. . . So now you may know one of Sister Meservy’s weaknesses: I don’t think of myself as a very good missionary… And I have reoccurring dreams that I get home from my mission and I regret how I served the last 18 months… Which makes me think God is trying to tell me to shape up… then I look at all my weaknesses. Then I’m not as able to follow the spirit- and it’s a terribly prideful spiral downwards of self pity and selfishness.
Then the atonement comes in. Whether I’m reminded through a blessing, or scriptures, or though kneeling in prayer, or through many tender mercies and miracles all around me- or even the occasional: God sends a member of the Seventy to tell me to “get those thoughts out of my head like I would any other bad thought.”
I want to testify that God is real. He answers prayers. I know this more and more every day. I also know, that God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. He expects us to take our lives one step at a time. I think for a while- I put my mission in a different category of my life. I knew that in life I didn’t have to be perfect, but I thought missionaries were suppose to be perfect.
Well Folks- that’s not true. Missionaries are people, and God will always be working with imperfect people. The beautiful thing, is that our loving Heavenly Father looks at us and loves us for all the effort we are putting in! President Uchtdorf explains it this way:
“Satan would rather that you define yourself by your sins instead of your divine potential. Brethren, don’t listen to him.”
“We have all seen a toddler learn to walk. He takes a small step and totters. He falls. Do we scold such an attempt? Of course not. What father would punish a toddler for stumbling? We encourage, we applaud, and we praise because with every small step, the child is becoming more like his parents.”
“Now, brethren, compared to the perfection of God, we mortals are scarcely more than awkward, faltering toddlers. But our loving Heavenly Father wants us to become more like Him, and, dear brethren, that should be our eternal goal too. God understands that we get there not in an instant but by taking one step at a time.”
Everyone, take it ONE STEP AT A TIME. I will too- I promise. 🙂 We may not be perfect, but the Lord doesn’t require perfection right now! Even for the missionaries. 🙂 And if we learned anything from the broadcast yesterday- We should ALL be missionaries, right?
God loves you. I love you.
This is the true church. 🙂 HOLD ON. and if you have let go, GRAB HOLD and never let go again! The blessings exceed what you can imagine or dream up. 🙂
Love,
Sister Sarah Jane Meservy
PS: Sometimes we tract for hours in the rain… and people still don’t invite us in. It’s like they don’t want you dripping in their home. It’s times like that you just have to splash your companion with the puddles… and laugh when you step out of the car into a puddle up to your ankles. 🙂 Good thing I love rain.
Sister Meservy at Missionary conference . .
with Elder Dowse (from madrigals) , Elder Hall (from seminary council) ,
and Elder Cantwell (just another kid from my high school)
Sister Meservy with ???
Sarah says this is Sister Harper but she looks so young
(TURNS OUT THIS WAS A GOOD JOKE. . . . .)
SUBJECT: Letter to ALL . . .
Alright, don’t be mad…
This weeks letter is going to be short.
BUT! GOOD NEWS! We got transfer calls last night-and I GET TO STAY IN MY AREA! And I’ll be training a new missionary again. Wonderful, right? Yes. Also, my companion was shipped off to Brazil today, so I will get my new companion tomorrow! 🙂 It’s wonderful.
Today I got to go fear busting! 🙂 And guess who I got to fear bust!? Sister Haynes!! Bergen Haynes… (that may be spelled wrong) But she and I got to go out and tract together! She is adorable and she will be a wonderful missionary. She IS a wonderful missionary. Maybe I’ll get to train her? haha- We’ll find out tomorrow.
Anyway. Missionary work is THE BEST.
Real quick I will share something cool I studied. . .
Pahoran, one of my favorites, is such an example to me in Alma 61 when he responds to Moroni’s pretty intense letter… Pahoran is so patient and forgiving, and just says, “In your letter you have censured me, but It mattereth not, I am not angry, but do rejoice in the greatness of your heart.”
I have really tried to have that attitude to EVERYONE and I hope I can be more like Pahoran.
But I was reading in Alma 55 (i think) the other day… and Moroni writes Ammoron a pretty passionate and intense letter… but Ammoron, being wicked, doesn’t respond quite so well. Even still he ends his epistle telling Moroni these things matter not. BUT DOES HE REALLY THINK THAT? no. Read the epistle. Compare the two.
In both letters, Moroni threatens to come and kill these men. And they say the same thing in their responses… but mean totally different things. I realized that I not only need to say “It mattereth not, I am not angry, but do rejoice in the greatness of your heart” BUT I NEED TO MEAN IT! ALWAYS! 🙂
I love God’s children.
I love yall.
Keep up the good work. Chin up.
Love,
Sister Meservy
On a side note Lynn and I got to meet Sarah’s mission president’s wife, Melonie Mullen at a wedding reception of her daughter in Orem last Friday. Sister Mullen said some wonderful things about Sarah. Said, “she is always so happy.” Does that surprise anyone? Sarah got quite a kick out of this picture when I attached it to my weekly email.