Week #36: HOME! – March 14, 2017 – March 20, 2017

Sister Vranes in Ipoh

Guess where I am?? I'm currently back home...in Ipoh!! We're just staying for today and tomorrow for a Zone Meeting, where we will be trained more on missionary work. This week, we traveled to KL for Zone Conference with President Simmons, and Elder Evans (in the Asia Area Presidency). The Spirit was so strong with Elder Evans, and he is truly inspiring. We talked a lot about our missionary purpose, and setting goals to achieve this work. Before we left, my District Leader, Elder Barney, gave a short training on setting SMART goals. Is it specific? Is it measurable? Is it attainable? Is it realistic? Is it timely? I also learned, the difference between attainable and realistic. Attainable refers to you, are you doing everything in your power to achieve the goal? Realistic refers to the situation. When we arrived back into our area, we were so inspired and motivated to start making SMART goals. This has truly improved our work in our area and has helped us focus. I know for sure each one of us has goals for ourselves. Now, the next step is to make the plan. Try using the SMART goals technique :)

Exchanges in Kuala Lumpur

One miracle this week was visiting some less active members. There are a couple of less active families I have been really working with each week since I had arrived in Penang (over 6 months ago). As we've been visiting them, they have been gaining their own testimonies and slowly coming back to church. This week, however, was a miracle for me, to see them be willing to say the closing prayer with us! This is such a small miracle, but has great meaning behind it. It means they are willing to reach out to God, they are willing to show their faith, and they are willing to progress. It's these silver lining moments that are small, but seem to make everything worth it!

Sometimes, we get so caught up in having large miracles. We hear stories, and we expect to have those same miracles. In the end, we realize it's the little miracles--the silver lining moments. This helps us to have hope and joy. This week, I'm starting to learn that joy only comes when you successfully defeat Satan, each and every day. Every day is that constant battle against Satan. When you spend a single day not fighting, that's when you are allowing yourself to be defeated. This battle could be the fight against losing a temper. Perhaps it's the fight against wanting to do something you know is not right. Perhaps it's the fight against a negative thought. Whatever the fight is, remember that there is hope and joy that comes by having a loving Heavenly Father and the Savior, Jesus Christ, who are helping aid you in this battle.

Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur