Faith

I don't know if it's stupidity sometimes or faith in the Lord, but there are things that I do as a missionary and places I go as a missionary that I would never do if I wasn't wearing a black nametag!  For example, right now we are teaching a handful of families that live on the same street.  There is one part of the street that is a little dark and doesn't have any houses.  Sure it's kind of spooky, but the sun always sets at 5:00 so I'm used to walking around the streets of Guarabira in the dark.  The first day my new companion arrived, we were walking in this street and she asked me, 'Is this street safe?'  I shrugged, 'I haven't died yet!'  That night, every family that we talked to (3-4) mentioned something about how dangerous that street was.  Not only because it is a little dark and sketchy, but also because there are a lot of dogs that have been known to bite people.  Everyone was surprised when we told them that we hadn't been attacked by the dogs yet!  Needless to say, my companion and I have found a different road to walk on.  The Lord protects His missionaries!

Lately, I've been pondering a lot about faith and 'the trial of our faith'.  At times I feel like I have faith that the Lord will bless me in my missionary efforts, that we'll be able to find elect people to teach, that an investigator will come to church, that a family with study the scriptures together, that we'll be able to accomplish certain goals that we make.  I believe that with the Lord's help and a lot of hard work we can do anything, yet when nothing happens I wonder if I am lacking in faith.  Yet, as I studied more about faith I learned that the Lord doesn't try our faith simply by holding back blessings or waiting long periods of time to answer our prayers.  The trial of our faith is learning to accept the Lord's will even when we can't understand it or see how it will truly bless our life.  When we seek to understand and know the Lord's will, we will stop fighting against the Lord, and start working with Him.  In every aspect of our lives, and especially missionary work right now, I need to seek to understand the Lord's will.  Once we our both on the same page, we truly can accomplish anything!!!