Hermana Lancaster's Mission: "It's not about the numbers, It's About the Love"

Hello everyone! this past week has been pretty great!

This Sunday, we had a lesson with Nicole and Natalia. Nicole is a member and she invited Natalia to church a few months back and she has been coming pretty consistently. Natalia told us she was interested in learning more about our church and we set up an appointment to visit them both. They are both starting the 8th grade, and are really excited and a little stressed. We talked to them about how they are daughters of God and how they have been saved for these last days! We talked about the 2,000 stripling warriors and how they didn't know how to fight but that they had faith in God that everything was going to be okay. After the story we asked Natalia what she thought. She said, "Well they were probably really scared because they didn't really know what they were doing but they trusted in God and knew everything was going to be okay. I can apply this to me going into the 8th grade because I don't really know what is going to happen but I am going to put my trust in God like them." LEGIT! I was so amazed. Here is this 12 year old applying this story to herself. She is awesome. We went over to her house again on Monday with the elders to give her and Nicole school blessings. It was so fun because her 2 nieces were just running around crazy. I don't even remember much after the blessings because they were just wild! hahaha!

After we visited these girls we went and saw a less active, Teresa. She is going to England this week to start her major! She is awesome. The elders gave her a blessing of comfort and we watched some bomb Mormon messages. http://www.mormonchannel.org

Then she told us that at the end of last school year, she prayed that she could find God again in her life. She told us that this summer we showed up and helped her back on the path. I was so amazed. Heavenly Father used me as an instrument to help Teresa remember how much she loved the gospel. WHAT!? I love love love love love my mission. Because of experiences like these that just show me that it really isn't me at all. Heavenly Father knows all of us so well.

Every other Monday we go and visit Marta Santiago. She is probably 70 and was baptized a year ago. She moved into our ward about 4 months ago and we didn't even know she lived in our area! She is so amazing. I will forever remember her, and oh how much I love her! This Monday we talked a little about families, the theme of our Sunday School class, and then we talked about where she is in the Book of Mormon. She is starting in Ether and then going to 1 Nephi. In chronological order. :) She was like, "So.... who is the brother of Jared? I can't find his actual name anywhere and I am confused!" Then we were like "ohhhhh hermana! His name is really long so they just refer to him as the brother of Jared." she was like, "Okay!" She is so awesome and just wants to learn. I love her so much. I sometimes think of myself becoming somewhat like President Monson in the future, visiting the widows in the ward. :)

Last night, we went to a new less-active, I say new because we didn't know he existed. yes, this is the Bronx, not Utah. He wasn't home but his wife Candy, his mom and his daughters (one who is named Ashley) were home. We got to know them and then we talked about prayer. We read in Enos about praying. IT WAS AWESOME! She was like, "You know, I really want you guys to keep coming back." We were like, oh for sure! :)

This past week, my companion (Hermana Dunn) and I found something amazing. We all know that going on a mission is going to change us. We all know that it isn't going to be easy, and that we will not always get cheerful smiles. But we don't go on missions to accomplish something, we go on missions to become something. We aren't here to get the highest number of lessons taught in a week. We are even told that numbers don't matter. Unfortunately, we are all human and the competitiveness in us says that we should be better than others. This is Satan telling us this. He wants us to think that we are not good enough. I have been feeling this way for the past little while. That's because I am not a leader and other sisters, who are younger both in the mission and in real life, are leaders. I felt I must not be doing something right, or that I am not good enough. But this is not what is important. I invite you all to read the amazing talk by the amazing President Uchtdorf from October 2012. My companion and I applied this to our very short life here as missionaries, and we are changed! I now understand the true reason to be here......to be more like the Savior. Here is a link to President Uchtdorf's talk:

Of Regrets and Resolutions

I love my Savior so much for providing the perfect example of someone who loves.