The Power of Prayer

1- Sister Bonner and Me with the Anderson family - one of my favorite families here in Memorial Springs. :)

2 -We saw this bridge a month or so ago, from the other side of the gully, and we finally found out how to get on it a few weeks ago.  We celebrated by taking pictures. :)

3 - This one's a little belated... but happy Easter! :)

4 -  I decided we never take any pictures of the more mundane things of missionary work... so here's a picture of weekly planning. :)

Hey y'all!

This week has been kind of crazy.  But mostly good. :)  I sure have learned a lot from my experiences this week - that is for sure!  Especially about the power of prayer.

We had specialized training this week, and the APs led a great discussion where we talked about the mission standards and how we can accomplish them.  Of course one of the keys is consistently having the spirit with them.  One of the APs, Elder Hildebrant, said this: "Teaching without the spirit - it's like trying to eat a brick." I thought it was funny.  And so true!  Without the spirit, nothing moves forward with missionary work.   We specifically talked about the power of prayer in helping us to come closer to our Heavenly Father, to have the power of the spirit with us, to ask for the direction that we need - basically prayer is awesome.  And that's one thing I've really learned throughout my mission - prayer is a conversation with God, and we need to use it like it is, not like we're talking to a wall.  Anyway, it was an awesome training.  

The very next day - I had a very personal experience with prayer, and with the priesthood.  I woke up sometime in the middle of the night with a terrible kink in my neck.  I tried to work it out, but nothing I was doing was helping.  I managed to find a position where I could lay and be somewhat comfortable, so I fell back asleep, thinking I would deal with it in the morning.  Well, I woke up about an hour later, finding that it had gotten worse - I couldn't move my head at all without having a sharp pain shoot through my neck.  To be honest - it terrified me.  I had no idea what had caused it, what I could do, how permanent it would be...  And through it all I couldn't move.  Thoughts kept running through my mind at a frantic pace, and I fell into a major panic attack.  My companion, bless her heart, was fast asleep in the bed next to me - she's a deep sleeper... So as I'm having this panic attack, not being able to move, I did the only thing I could do - I prayed.  I plead with my Heavenly Father to take away the pain.  It was probably the most fervent prayer I've said in a while, and I've said a lot of sincere prayers on my mission.  I continued to pray for 5 or 10 minutes, and eventually I felt the spirit guiding the prayer ( I'll be honest, every time I've read Chapter 4 in Preach My Gospel - the activity where you're supposed to rate your prayers on the scales that it gives you (I'm pretty sure it's chapter 4...) I've been a little confused at that part - having the spirit direct the prayer.  It's hard to explain, but I definitely understand the concept now.)  Anyway, I started asking for different things - to be able to calm down and think clearly about the situation, and for my Savior, who had already experienced the pain and fear that I was experiencing at that very moment, to be with me and comfort me, because I felt so scared and so alone.  A few minutes later, I had calmed down, and was able to think clearly, even though I was still in pain.  I discovered that a muscle in the back of my neck was seizing up, and once I realized that, I could force it to relax, which helped the pain go away.  I still could barely move without that muscle tensing, but at least I could understand a bit of what was going on.  Of course I prayed again, thanking my Father in Heaven for the peace and help that He had sent.  I was able to sleep for most of the next hour before the alarm went off.

When Sister Bonner woke up I told her what was going on, because I still couldn't move because of the pain.  She called the mission doctor and explained to him what I had explained to her - turns out I had woken up with a minor case of Raw Neck Syndrome. (If that was just a minor case - I do NOT want to experience a serious case, for sure!)  He said to put heat on it, take ibuprofen, and move it as little as possible.  Sister Bonner also called some of the men from the ward to give me a priesthood blessing, after which I was able to sit up so I could take the painkillers.  I was able to sleep for a bit longer, more comfortably, and when I woke up I was able to move around with much less pain.  We ended up staying in for all of Friday and most of Saturday, and I had my heating pad with me at our meetings at church on Sunday.  It's still a little sore today, but MUCH better than when I woke up Friday morning.  This whole experience helped me recognize the power that our Heavenly Father and our Savior have to help us - we just need to ask for their help through prayer!  Prayer is SO powerful, and I am SO grateful that we have the ability to communicate with our Father in Heaven.  I love Him so much, and I am so grateful that he loves each of us so much and wants the best for us.  He will even help a poor sister missionary who is alone and afraid in the night. :)  I know He loves and cares for each of you so much - He knows each of our pains, our fears, our trials, and He wants to help!  I don't know what I would do without the knowledge that I have of our Heavenly Father's love for each of us - it certainly would have been a MUCH longer night without the peace that the knowledge of the gospel can bring.

Well, that was the most exciting thing that happened this week... The rest of the week was much of the same - talking to people, trying to make them realize that they are missing what the gospel has to offer.  We did see Betsy again this week.  She's trying to find a good foundation to build her family on... hello!  What could be better than the gospel?!  We had a good conversation with her, and invited her to church, as we always do.  Unfortunately she didn't come... :( next week, though!   And we saw Jo and Lesa.  Lesa joined us for the prayer, but not the lesson, as usual.  One day soon here, we'll be able to make a path for the gospel to enter her heart.  She did invite us to spend mother's day with her and Jo, which will be AWESOME because Jo is basically a grandma to all the sisters here - I LOVE her!  And Lesa is great too - spending the morning with them before church will be great. :) 

I love y'all so much!  The church is true, and God loves each of you!  :)  I Hope you have a great week!

Sister Ririe

Alma 31:35