Learning Sacrifice, Seeing Miracles‏

These pictures are of Sister Skaggs blowing a kiss to her mom....the third picture is of her catching the kiss I blow to her. It's a sweet mother/daughter thing we've been doing for years. I just wanted to share them with you. She sent them in last week's e-mail home.

Caught it!

Can I just say I love you all so much! :)

As usual, I have no idea where to start because there is so much to say but in so little time. Haha, gotta love it when a lot is happening in life!! Well maybe I will just start with probably the biggest miracle of my whole mission!

They Said YES!!

As of June, this little 9 year old girl, Daphne, will have been taught by the missionaries for a year. But there is a little problem - she is still not baptized. Her parents wanted to her to be taught for a full year to make sure she completely knew what she was doing because far too often people become baptized and then go less active. And for her parents, they didn't want her doing that. At this point Daphne has been taught EVERYTHING multiple times. About 3 weeks ago Sis. Moore and I were discussing where she is in regards to preparing for Baptism and we both felt strongly that there is nothing more she could really do to prepare to be baptized except to be baptized. She is only 9 and with that, and like everybody else, she isn't going to be perfect in the gospel. Trust me. I remember how I was when I was 9. Was I good at everything? Yah, I was far from it because I was 9 and just didn't fully understand. So Sister Moore and I felt that in order for her to progress in the gospel and really make a stronger effort to apply everything we needed to move her baptismal date up like 4 months. We decided, and felt we needed, to invite her for March 28th which was only 3 weeks out. We were a little nervous as to how her parents would react to this. That afternoon we went over and at the end we mentioned to Daphne and her parents that we wanted her to prepare to be baptized for March 28th. Let's just say we expected their reaction. Fast forward another 2 weeks, we have not mentioned word one about the baptism, however it is in a week and so action needs to be taken in regards to planning for the baptism. We were sitting down doing weekly planning on Thursday and I was a little hesitant to plan for it because we had not received the go ahead to do it yet. I realized that who was I to say we needed the permission before we could start planning it? It was in that moment that I realized if we had the faith that it was going to happen and we took the necessary steps now showing Heavenly Father that we had the faith then all would be okay. That's what we did. We started planning and preparing for the baptism even though we hadn't received her parents permission to go through with it. Then Friday happens!! :) That is the day we were going over to see if we could make the necessary plans for her to be baptized or not. Well at around 11 AM we receive a text from Daphne's mom, who, by the way, is not a member of the church, saying this, "I just finished ordering Daphne her own Book of Mormon/Doctrine and Covenants/Pearl of Great Price/Bible with her name embossed on it, a tote to go with it, her own children's hymn book, a CTR ring and a necklace as a baptismal gift." Yah, you could say we were just completely shocked! That afternoon we went over before she got home from School and asked what their thoughts are in regards to the baptism being 4 months early and next Saturday. Her mom said, "Yah, we are still planning on it. I'm having the stuff expedited just in case (1-2 days) but it's a surprise so don't tell her. And we are planning on being there. We don't want to do anything but we will be there for her." 

Our "Yes, they said YES!" faces.

 After the lesson Sis. Moore and I left. Words just can't express the gratitude that we had and still do for this simple miracle that Heavenly Father allowed to happen. I honestly can't describe everything that has occurred. We are still seeing MANY miracles right now in regards to her baptism, which is really just showing to me that as you have the faith, miracles will happen. It is proving to me that this is 100% the Lord's work. Yesterday at church Daphne informed us that she would like Bishop to perform her baptism. We had a slight problem - the baptism was scheduled for 11 in the morning but Bishop wasn't going to be flying in till later in the afternoon from Tokyo, and the building was booked due to the Women's Broadcast. We talked to the Bishop's wife and after several phone calls she let us know that he could do the baptism at 6 PM. It was just really humbling to see everything fall into place. It really just proves that Heavenly Father has a hand in all things. As we have the faith miracles will and can happen. We just must trust in him. We are excited for this Saturday. We will have her baptism at 6 PM and then right after we will have the General Women's Broadcast! I'm just grateful for Heavenly Father and for his hand in helping move the work along! We just continue to have the faith and pray that things will continue to move forward for her Baptism this Saturday.

The Gift of Tongues is Real:

One thing I wish I knew was Spanish. When we go tracting here we are ALWAYS tracting into Spanish families. But it has really been neat to see simple miracles come from meeting them. I haven't taken a day of Spanish in my life. However, for some reason, I have been able to understand pretty much everything that has been said so far. Can I speak back to them? Well, not really. It is neat to see that when you have the faith, the Lord will help. The other day we were talking to this older lady at her door and she was speaking with very poor broken English. It was a blessing to be able to stand there with her and have a 20 minute conversation with her and I was actually able to teach her a quick Restoration lesson on her front door. As we were talking with her I just had this silent prayer in my heart that I would be able to understand her and share with her the things she needed to hear. She ended up accepting a Spanish Book of Mormon. It is moments like this where I truly am just grateful for the help Heavenly Father gives us. As we have the faith that he can help us, he will. It will be according to his time and his will but he will help us.

I do have to say, I wish I knew Spanish. It would really come in handy out here!! We receive about 2 Spanish referrals a day. The Hermanas (Spanish speaking Sister missionaries) we serve around are pretty happy, that's for sure.

A Time of Sacrifice:

For some apparent reason lately I have been learning a lot about the importance of sacrifice and giving everything we have to the Lord. Yesterday, in Sunday School, we taught the lesson on Sacrifice. As we were discussing the importance of Sacrifice in modern days I found myself thinking about "what are we willing to sacrifice to the Lord?" There was a General Conference talk from this past General Conference that I was reading the other day that talked a lot about the choices we make. It talked about Patriarchal Blessings and making better choices. As I was pondering on the message he shared, it made me reflect on what we are willing to give up to the Lord to see promised blessings fulfilled. Life may be great. I can honestly say I love life right now. I love my mission. Is it the hardest thing I have ever done? It is indeed the hardest thing I have ever done. But what am I willing to give up to come even closer to my Savior? I may have something so great right now in my life but what greater choice can I make that will allow me to take a step closer to my Savior? What are we doing to see these promised blessings fulfilled? We must not be stagnant with our life. This time is a time for us to prepare to meet God. Christ was always finding ways to grow even though he was perfect. As we follow his example, what are we willing to do, to sacrifice, to come even one step closer to Him? What is one thing that is holding us back from achieving all of these promised blessings?

I love you all and am so grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary and to see the miracles that are unfolding in the lives of the people here. The Gospel is true and it's a privilege to see the people take the Gospel and have it change their life. I love the time I have to be out here. It's sad that it is ever so slowly coming to a close. There are only about 3 weeks left until I will be back on a plane headed to Temple Square. I hope you all know just how much your Father in Heaven loves you! Continue to do all that you can to gain his trust. Be that instrument for good in his hands. Have a great week and know I love you all!! Oh and be safe!

Love ALWAYS!

Sister Skaggs

Pictures of Sister Moore and Sister Skaggs just "letting their hair down".