Lay Hold of Every Good Thing

Hello!!

 

I cannot believe we're getting to the end of October! Where has the time gone??? I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had this week to put the name badge on each day, and even more importantly to wear it on my heart too!

 

This week I have learned so much about how it is only through the Saviour that we can lay hold of every good thing. And, all good things come of Him. I loved learning this, because many times in my life, I have failed to lay hold of every good thing. I have only layed hold to a part of it. But, in this scripture it clearly shows the way we can to this.

Moroni chapter 7 says:

 

19 Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ. 20 And now, my brethren, how is it possible that ye can lay hold upon every good thing?
21 And now I come to that faith, of which I said I would speak; and I will tell you the way whereby ye may lay hold on every good thing.
22 For behold, God knowing all things, being from everlasting to everlasting, behold, he sent angels to minister unto the children of men, to make manifest concerning the coming of Christ; and in Christ there should come every good thing.
23 And God also declared unto prophets, by his own mouth, that Christ should come.
24 And behold, there were divers ways that he did manifest things unto the children of men, which were good; and all things which are good cometh of Christ; otherwise men were fallen, and there could no good thing come unto them.
28 For he hath answered the ends of the law, and he claimeth all those who have faith in him; and they who have faith in him will cleave unto every good thing; wherefore he advocateth the cause of the children of men; and he dwelleth eternally in the heavens.

I've italicized my favourite parts of this passage. EVERYTHING is centered on the Saviour, and how through Him we can achieve eternal life.

I am so grateful for the many miracles we have seen this week. I'll write 2, and you'll justt have to hear the rest from me in a couple of weeks.
L4. We met L4 GQ'ing on Wednesday and he seemed like a pretty cool guy. He had grown up with a belief in God, but due to family problems had lost his faith. As Sister Miller and I were talking with him and trying to help him understand how the Saviours atonement is for everyone and that there is hope and healing waiting for him if he chooses to accept it, I was overhwelmed with Heavenly Fathers love for this man, who was hurting so deeply. We tried so hard to set up a return appointment/details, but he wasn't having it. We ended up just giving him a card with our number on it, in hopes that he would contact us and the spirit would soften his heart. Thursday morning we woke up to a long text from him. He said he had been thinking for hours about our conversation on the street... and that we wasn't ready yet to believe that the Saviour can help him. He thanked us for changing his day and sharing a friendly smile with him. He said he couldn't remember the last time a stranger smiled to him on the street. I was so incredibly humbled as I read this text and so grateful that Sister Miller and I were able to be instruments in the Lord's hands.
A6. A6 is a huge miracle! He showed up right after church ended on Sunday and was asking for us. Sister Mohr and I met him on July 11, almost 4 months ago! We tried meeting with him for a few weeks, but it never panned out and contact was lost. Then he just randomly turned up at church! He said that when we woke up, he had decided to come to church and nothing was going to stop him from doing it! He knew vaguely where the church was, and was anxious to come. He was taught in Ireland a year ago and was almost baptized. If you ask him, he'll say he's mormon. and now, he soon will officially be one :) MIRACLE! Only bummer is, he now lives in  the Elder's area... so we won't get to teach him. But that's ok, it doesn'y matter who does the teaching as long as it gets done!
Here are some pics:

 Me standing on one of the towers of Lincoln Castle, with Lincoln Cathedral in the the background :) we had such a fun p-day at the castle/catherdral. We got to see the dungeon too!!!

 Some yummy German Christmas bread called Stollen... my german companion is getting me hooked on german things!!

Life is so so so so good :) This should be an exciting/ busy week :)
Love,
Sister Roscher!

A God of Miracles

Well, opening up my emails this week and seeing the good news waiting for me pretty much just confirmed what I was going to write about this week! For all of those who know me, finally getting into a nursing program truly is a miracle!! (Sister Roscher found out she was accepted to SUU's nursing program this week!) I won't lie... I might have shed a tear or two at the computer... Heavenly Father is just so good to me! He not only gave me an incredible mission experience, but He's provided something for me to do when I go home too!

 

On to some other miracles!

 

This week has been such a happy week. I have learned and felt so much!

 

Some of the miracles we have seen this week (in no specific order):

 

Teaching J2. He's pretty incredible and has very strong faith in Christ. It was a little bit tricky because his English isn't so great, but hey, the Spirit is the greatest communicator. It transcends any human made language.

 

We also had a first lesson with D5 this week. He is a potential from several weeks ago that we just managed to meet with. It's actually funny, because we couldn't quite remember who he was... so we were just starting from scratch. It's actually pretty cool, because the D5 we met a couple weeks ago and the D5 we taught this week are two very different people. He's got a truly sincere heart and real intent. He feels like most of his life he's been in a dark place and he's ready to get out of it.

 

We have working breaks on our bikes now (thank you, Elders!) We've had some fun, but scary moments biking down the hill with less than steller brakes. We have definitely been protected!

 

Each and every person we have met this week has truly been a miracle...I am so lucky to have the privilege of meeting and teaching these wonderful children of God. Heavenly Father is so aware of their needs and all that they need in their lives. We as missionaries are there to help them. They need to be made whole through the atonement of Jesus Christ (as we all do) and we are the Lord's authorized servants to teach the restored gospel to non-members. How incredible! The message (and commitments) we bring give them the opportinuty to choose to be made whole.

 

Something I have observed a great deal as a missionary is the love which keeps the world moving (charity- or the pure love of Christ). Sometimes I have been a bystander, sometimes the extender of the love and sometimes the reciever. In all situations the truth which Presdient Monson taught 2 conferences ago has been confirmed to me. Love is the essence of the gospel.  I have had countless experiences where this has been confirmed to me. I've seen it in missionaries who go above and beyond to help and lift others, even when they are bone-weary and struggling themselves. I've seen it in a faithful visiting teacher, who quietly goes about ministering to those she is assigned to look over, who works miracles through her efforts. And I've seen it in so many more people.

 

I love this work.

 

Sister Roscher

 

 Kinder surprise!!! A snack on the train :)

 A delicious Sunday dinner

*** Sister Roscher's homecoming talk with be at 1 pm, November 9th in Chubbuck, Idaho. If you'd like to attend, comment below or send a message to Meghan's account on Facebook***

I hope this email finds you all well! It's hard to believe that we are getting towards the middle of October. I'm not sure where the time went!!

 

This week has been a pretty incredible one. It's been full of laughs, joy and miracles! I have just been so happy doing the work! It truly is amazing.  

 

This gospel is one of happiness. When we choose to live the gospel willfully and joyfully we experience more happiness then we ever thought possible. We see things with different eyes than we did before and we are able to take on anything which may crop up in our lives.

 

This week, I want to focus my email on the Saviour. Through the many experiences which I have had in the last 17 months, and specifically in the last couple of transfers, I have really gained faith in my Saviour and in His power to make all broken things whole, to lift us to heights we never thought possible, and to change every circumstance and situation to work together for our good.

 

My love for Him has grown so much in the past 17 months. He has been with me through so much and has helped me have peace and happiness. This is His church. And when our faith is truly united in Him and the miracle of His life, ministry and atonement we cannot fail!  I have felt it and seen it my life.

 

A couple of cool miracles of this week:

Sister Mohr and I found a potential investigator over 3 months ago. His name is J3.  We introduced ourselves and gave him the Book of Mormon and committed him to read it and learn more. He lived in the Elder's area, so we passed his contact details over to them and then contact was lost. I didn't think too much about it, because this happens all the time. This week his name popped into my head, and I thought that I should call him. The first 2 times I put the prompting aside because his phone number was back at the flat, which we were away from, and it wasn't a convenient time to make calls. Then Saturday, Sister Miller and I were committed by our disctrict leader to find someone to bring to church. By about 5 o'clock we were starting to get desperate. We had faith the Lord would provide a way as we talked to everyone we saw and invited everyone to come to church,  but we were a little at a loss. All of our normal finding areas weren't panning out very well. So, we said a prayer. I very clearly had his name pop into my head. This time I took it seriously. We headed home to eat dinner and called him during dinner time. And, he's so cool!! He's been reading the Book of Mormon every day! We're meeting with him Tuesday. I had forgotten about this man, but Heavenly Father had not. And he knew exactly who was ready to hear our message!  

 

All I can say is that Atonement is real, that it works miracles,  and that sharing the gospel is amazing!!!!

 

 On exchanges this week

 

Love you all!

Sister Roscher

The Things I Love :)

*** As of today there is less than a month until Sister Roscher will be home! November 5th will be here before we know it***
 
This week has been kind of a blur... I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing!

We struggled to meet with our investigators this week which is always dissappointing, so I really only have A3 to tell you about this week.

We've needed to teach her the Law of Chastity for a couple of weeks now, and we knew it was an important commandment for her to begin living immediately, but over the past couple of weeks it just never felt right. We'd plan for it then feel that we needed  to teach something else instead. It just never seemed right. This week we finally found the right time and the right way to teach her this important commandment Heavenly Father has given us. The Spirit was there as we taught her and I know without a doubt that we were able to teach it to meet her needs and in such a way that it stengthened her faith and her self-worth in the process.  It was a cool experience because Heavenly Father knows our investigators so much better than we do. He knows what they need and when, even if it defies logic sometimes. (The same thing applies to us!)

This week I have learned so much about compassion and how it is one of the things which Heavenly Father wants us to learn. I particularly liked what Henry B. Eyring said: 

"It is a human characteristic to become hardened to the pains of others. That is one of the reasons why the Savior went to such lengths to tell of His Atonement and of His taking upon Himself the pains and sorrows of all of our Heavenly Father’s children, that He might know how to succor them.Even the best of Heavenly Father’s mortal priesthood holders do not rise to that standard of compassion easily. Our human tendency is to be impatient with the person who cannot see the truth that is so plain to us. We must be careful that our impatience is not interpreted as condemnation or rejection." I've italicized my favourite parts of this quote.

We all go through times in our life where we experience growing pains (well, we actually constantly are) and this has definitely been one of those weeks. I've been up and down and all-around, but in the end, and with the help of general conference and personal revelation I have a clearer understanding of the things which Heavenly Father wants me to learn and do. And while coming to this understanding was no easy thing, and will demand my best efforts to accomplish, I know He will help! His way is the only way to true and lasting happiness!!!

A scripture that I particularly liked in my study this morning : D&C 67:13 "Ye are not able to abide the presence of God now, neither the ministering of angels; wherefore, continue‍ in patience until ye are perfected."

What peace this scripture brings to me! I am not perfect... I am far from it. BUT I can continue in patience with myself and with others around me and know that I can and will be made whole through the atonement of Jesus Christ! 

And as for general conference, I don't even know where to begin. It was truly uplifting and edifying! :)

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

Sister Roscher

 Sister Miller and I after interviews

Ok.. it might be hard to see, but it's the coolest district picture ever!! All of our name badges in the front, and then us in order in the background. One of the others has a better picture... I'll have to try and get it!

 This is a picture of the kitchen in our new flat. I'll take better pictures this week :)

Eating porridge with the toothbrush because we had no utensils or fridge... Now we do!

I'll now attach some pictures in a couple different emails!

1-

2-ok.. it might be hard to see,  but it's the ocolest distrcit picture ever!! all of our name badges in the front, and then us in order in the background. one of the others has a better picture... I've have to try and get it!

I Like to Move it, Move it

This week has been mental! Amongst the other craziness happening we managed to still teach lessons and find some cool new people. I don't know how we did it though!

 

Monday was spent packing, moving, getting the keys for our new flat etc. and at a dinner appointment. Tuesday we had a really busy day with appointments and didn't have time to do any packing or cleaning. We did have 2 really amazing  lessons though. One was with Sz, who is so cool! It was our first lesson, and right off the bat she said through her life experiences she's learned to recognize the sSirit and knows Heavenly Father is there, but she feels like the missing link in her spiritual progression is Jesus Christ. I literally almost cired when she she that. Jesus Christ is the center of our message and the center of the plan of salvation. She came to the right place to strenghten faith in Christ, that's for sure! She's what I would dub a golden investigator!

 

We also had an amazing lesson with A3 this week and I could tell that she really understood and could feel the things we were teaching her! It was the first lesson with A3 that we walked out of and I 100% felt it went the direction and way that it needed too, and she was glowing at the end of the lesson. It was such a good feeling!

 

Another cool moment: This guy F4 we stopped on the street is SO cool. He's a phD student here at the University of Lincoln and is very very christian . We had a really good conversation with him and explained briefly the restoration and the Book of Mormon and gave him a copy. He was eating it up! It just made me so happy to see! What's even more amazing is he said he couldn't shut the door on out message until he'd studied it and prayed to know if it was true. His academia had taught him to never rule anything out until he's researched it thoroughly!

 

On a lighter note, we had a couple of funny things happen with the move-

 

We had no utensil's, no fridge and no beds for a day or two, a whole lot of unpacking and furtinure assembling and some seriously funny things! It's been an adventure.

 

Also, on Friday night I ended up at the accident and emergency (the ER) because I fell off my bike and rolled my ankle really bad. I heard it crack twice and thought I'd broken it. A couple of nice strangers in cars who saw the accident pulled over, got me into the car, locked our bikes up and gave us a lift to the hospital. Nothing serious, just a bad sprain. I'm pretty sure I was protected, because it was a bad fall. Our ward missionary and the Elders saved the day (well, night really) because they gave me a blessing and went to rescue our bikes so they dind't get stolen. My ankle is feeling better every day though!!! 

 

I'll have to send you pictures next week because we only got an hour to email this week due to the library being closed in the morning :(  Our flat is way nice though.

 

This week should be a really exciting one :)

 

Love you guys!

Sister Roscher

Good Gifts

This week I think the theme has been recognizing that God only gives good gifts. There have been many gifts this week, some I (being my natural self) would classify as good, others bad. But, I have a testimony that He only gives us good things. As I have reflected on this during the week I have come ro realize- they're all good!

 

Some of the gifts of this week:

- Hannah (and amazing YSA) took us mini-golfing and our for ice cream on P-day last week. It was so much fun and I enjoyed doing something a little different then the usual. 

- Through my intensive studying and marking in the Book of Mormon challenge, I am coming closer to my Saviour. I feel His life changing mine to be better. I see His role as the Saviour and Redeemer, as the Son of God in a much more far-reaching way. Step by step it's changing from the Saviour to my Saviour. 

- Heavenly Father is opening doors for the work in this area. We've been so busy this week, not onlyt only teaching lessons to investigators but also contacting and teaching less-active members. One of them really needs contact with the church and has already been taking steps (like reading the Book of Mormon on her own before we knocked on her door). She also has a 10 year old daughter who would like to take the missionary lessons with the intent to be baptized. What a beautiful miracle!

- Another is a woman, S2, who used to be a member of the church. She has not been a member for over 10 years though. Through life experiences and a new boyfriend though, she brought herself back to church and introduced herself to us. We were able to go by and teach her and her boyfriend, R5, who is Methodist. He had never heard of Mormons before or of the Book of Mormon. We are excited to teach them both! The other cool part of teaching them? They both live on canal boats!!! There are loads of canals here that people live on. It feels very much like being in a caravan (trailer home... I can't remember the American English word for it???) when you walk on. I can officially say I have taught people on the land and the sea hahaha

- D4 is doing well. He is still making progress in the right direction. He unfortunately won't make his date for baptism this Saturday but he will definitely be baptized. We're hoping for the 12th of October. We watched the Restoration DVD with him this week and he loved it. He also accepted the law of tithing in a heartbeat, which truly was a humbling experience for me because he's got so few earthly possesions and not a lot of money, yet he's willing to give 10% to the Lord.

-A3 is doing better than we'd hoped. We'd lost contact with her for about a week and a half and we had really been worrying about her. When we lose contact with people it's usually not a good sign. However, she's doing good! She's been reading and praying and has just been out of town a lot and ill. We hope that this week we will see her faith continue to build and that she will be able to come to church again.

-This one brings a tear to my eye. On Sunday, a YSA who had been inactive for over a year came back to church for the first time. I don't know what happened in his life, but he's back and he wants to stay. The look on his mother's face when he walked into the building,the way she continued to glow throughout the rest of our meetings, and the warm welcome back from all the ward members were so touching to see. It's never too late! And, when people come back we should always welcome them back and extend a warm hand of fellowship and support. Coming into the church for the first time (investigators) and coming back to the church after a long time (less-actives) is often challenging and scary at first- they need our support!

-Lastly, we're moving flats!! It's transfers on Wed. and Lincoln is getting another set of Elders. So, there will be 2 sets of elders and one set of sisters. We are moving to a new, very nice flat ( I know because we were the one's who did the viewing for it) right on top on the only big hill in Lincoln. We're pretty excited. We'll be working in a new area, but still know the ward. I'll send some pictures of the new flat  when we move in. Not only is it bigger and nicer, but I'll be in really good shape from biking up and down the hill all the time! :) We should move in tomorrow (hopefully) because the Elders have to move into ours on Wednesday.

 

I hope you enjoyed this really long email!

Here are some pictures:

 

 Mini Golf!

 We found Aslan!

 

Love you all!

Sister Roscher

The Living Water

*** We found out Sister Roscher's release date! She'll  be home November 5th- that's only 51 days away :) ***

Family, this week has just been amazing. I don't even know where to begin! It started off with a fun district P-day and then Zone conference on Tuesday. Zone conference was back in Leicester! I've been so blessed. In the past 3 months I've been back to Leicester twice for various things.

 

Zone conference was absolutely inspiring, and helped me recognize just how amazing it is to be called and set apart from the world as a missionary. Miracles happen each and every day. We are not alone in this work!

 

This week was filled with constant spiritual nourishment. I can only begin to describe even a small part of the things I learned. 

 

A couple of things I really liked from Zone conference : 'No pain, no gain' a common, but true saying. If we're not experiencing some pains, then we're not progressing and growing.

 

Another: 'Total conversion is total repentance.' A pretty cool statement which I think we all can benefit from.

 

From the European women's broadcast:  Elder Bednar challenged/promised us that if we read the Book of Mormon and we look for (and mark) all the references to the Saviour and the Atonement "You will find Him, know Him and increase your dependence upon Him." What a powerful promise from an apostle of the Lord!  My companion and I have taken this challenge and are reading the Book of Mormon from start to finish together, underlining the references we find. It's been amazing already and we're only on page 50!

 

Stake conference: Elder Massimo DeFayo from Italy was presiding, and it was amazing! All the speakers were amazing and had definitely qualified for the Spirit as they presented their messages. 

 

Elder DeFayo talked a lot about having real faith. and something he said has struck me very deeply "Miracles don't depend on how big the problem is, but rather how real our faith is."

 

He then proceeded to give 3 steps to seeing the miracles in our lives :

1- Don't listen to the voices around you. Focus on you individual relationship with the Saviour.

2- Keep the commandments- qualify for the Spirit by obedience

3- Develop faith that is stronger than the circumstances of life.

 

It has been an uplifting and edifying week.

 

Along the way we have also seen miracles with some of the people we're teaching! N3, our very decided atheist, isn't going to be atheist for much longer if the Spirit continues to touch his heart like it did in our lesson on Wednesday. It was a powerful teaching experience!

 

D4 came to the evening session of stake conference and really loved it! He'd been having a bad day and didn't want to come, but we promised him if he came he would feel better and happier and guess what? He came. And at the end of the broadcast, he was practically glowing!

 

This week our schedule is already looking pretty full, so it should be an exciting one! Can't wait to tell you all about the miracles we will see as we apply our faith more. This is His work. And it is such a privelege to be serving Him at this time, to be an instrument in His hands.

 

Now, for some pictures!  

 

 Pre-Stake Conference picture

 This is a really cool war memorial we stumbled upon!

 Look at the rays of light in this picture! Isn't it pretty?

 With a couple of amazing YSAs (Tammy and Hannah)

 Swindon-Reunite!

 

Love,

Sister Roscher