Sister Jennifer Skaggs: Patience With the Lords Timing‏

From 08/31/15

To All I Love,

My zone roaring like lions! Brigham Young was nicknamed
"Lion of the Lord" because
he was always sharing his testimony.

To describe this week and all the emotions and simple miracles of hope would take an eternity. All I want to say though, is that we must be patient with the Lord's timing and look for the small and simple things. That is probably one of the biggest lessons I learned this past week. Enduring this week was a hill to climb but I know that the things I learned and grew from this past week will shape me into who my Father in Heaven needs me to become. Of all things my relationship with Him grew. I learned to recognize how he answers me and learned to seek the simple things. To say I learned A LOT about myself would be an understatement. The Lord showed to me far too many weaknesses, allowed me to be stretched, to be humbled, to let go of pride, to rely on Him and only Him, to find joy in the simple moments, to accept correction, and many more. But most of all, I learned to be patient with his timing when all else fails. From the sound of this email you're probably wondering what in the world happened. Missionaries lives aren't always picture perfect. Sometimes I wish they were, but it's through our trials that we grow. The Lord stretches us as we learn to rely on Him and only him. I will be vary simple with my email this week as to not go into a whole lot of detail. But I can explain more after the mission. As simple and plain as I can get, I would like to share with you what I learned from this past week and how it's ultimately applied to each of us.

Seeking Further Direction:

Making homemade
lasagna

With the week being a bit more of a struggle than usual I was forced to ultimately turn to my Father in Heaven more than ever before in my life. A lot occurred throughout the week, but the one moment I will never forget would have happened on Thursday. I remember being at a point where I literally had no one else to turn to. I couldn't talk to other sisters, I was counseled to not really seek further direction at that point from my leaders as to how to handle the situation, and my companion wouldn't open up to me. With so much happening I remember for the first time in a long time feeling completely alone. The only hope I had was that my Father in Heaven would be there and through my Savior Jesus Christ I would feel some sort of love or peace. One of the simplest ways of feeling our Father in Heaven's love is thru prayer. As I sat kneeling on the floor I literally poured EVERYTHING out to my Father in Heaven because it was at the moment that I literally had no one I could turn to but him. I haven't cried so hard in such a long time but at the same time I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was there for me and that he loved me. It was in that moment that I was completely forced to submit my entire will to him if I wanted to seek that true inner peace. We aren't going to find true solace from turning to our fellow man. But true solace comes from turning to him. The only source of true and perfect love. I could lie and say things got easier from there. Did they? Not necessarily but I was reminded of what would get me through these times. It was my Savior. When I felt alone, or I had no one to turn to it was my Father in Heaven that I could reach out to and that because of what my Savior suffered through I would be okay.

My comp and me!

For many reasons we've had to go home early and we haven't had much time if any to do missionary work this week. Many minutes and hours this week involved me sitting there in patience and love. I have had a lot of time to just read my scriptures. There are several verses that were a means to receiving solace and further direction this past week, or in other terms, a beacon of hope. The first would be Alma 38:3-5. I'm pretty sure those are my new favorite scriptures! When times got hard I knew from what those verses said that all would be okay. I just can't explain to you how powerful those verses are especially when we input our own names into the verses. The last two verses that I have developed a new love for would be Alma 37:6-7. In order for God to ultimately bring about his Eternal Purposes it comes through the small and simple things that are done to do so.

While this week has been a challenge and at moments I felt I was walking alone, the Lord showed me that he is never far as we reach out to him and keep our eyes open and seeking that further light and truth. Here are some of those miracles that occurred!

Always Set A Good Impression:

Sisters Brito, Mederios, Skaggs
and Brooks

On Saturday evening we had an opportunity to go to the Square and take a motor-coach. It was 45 English from Australia, New Zealand and Dubai. About 1/3 into the tour this couple I was standing next to turns to me and says, "Sister Skaggs we don't expect you to remember us but last year after we talked to you I forgot to ask if you were related to Boz (idk how to spell his name, the famous person) Skaggs?" I replied by saying, "Well somewhere down the line I bet I am. I wish I was directly related. That would be cool." This couple proceeded to tell me that when they first saw me they immediately recognized me and my name as the Sister Missionary they talked to when they came here just under 1 year ago. They pointed out that they were sitting at this particular bench with some family friends of theirs and my companion and I came up to them and spent a good amount of time talking with them about many different things. It completely shocked me that they still remembered me after one year. They said, "It was an absolute pleasure to meet you last year." For me it was a simple miracle that the Lord was able to show me. They are all the way from Australia and despite everything and all that occurs in 1 YEAR they still remembered the Sister Missionary that talked with them on Temple Square. It shows just how much as members of the Church we must watch what we do. Especially as missionaries because people know and are aware.

Opi Got BAPTIZED!

Yummy shrimp filled dough by
Sister Lin

One of our investigators got BAPTIZED!! Opi from Liberia finally got baptized! I haven't officially talked to him yet but I talked with his Dad yesterday. I'm sooo excited for him. That fact that he was finally able to take this step and make this covenant with his Father in Heaven will bless his family for generations to come and will bless the rest of his life, even into the eternities!

Surprise, It's ELDER COOK:

HAHA - one of the biggest sacrament meeting surprises I would have to say was walking into Sacrament Meeting yesterday morning, looking over and well, there is Elder Cook sitting on the stand talking with Elder Poulsen.... Ummm yeah when does an Apostle ever just out of the blue show up to church?? He was given some moments at the end of the service to speak to us and he mentioned that he woke up this morning and said to his wife, "Since we won't be able to partake of the Sacrament today due to all of our meetings, let's go to church with the Sister

Sister Skaggs and Butler

Missionaries and partake of the Sacrament there since it's also the earliest meeting around." Well, that caught us all off guard. What he said was powerful! He spent a lot of time going in depth as to how our mission calls are assigned. He says, "All things go through the Prophet. We are then each selected as to when we will be assigning missionaries to their missions. We gather in the fifth floor of that building right there (Admin building). A member of the missionary department has everything set and ready to go. On the left screen is your picture - he laughed and said - the better the picture the more easy it is for us to receive that spiritual manifestation as to where we are to assign you. Then we have a picture of all the missions in the world and then a very detailed screen of all of your information. We look at your picture and then your information very closely and we receive revelation as to where we are to assign you." He said, "We will assign you to your mission for one of the following reasons: You need to learn that language, you will be a blessing to the people there, experiences you will have will prepare you to be a future wife, Husband, Mother and Father, We may receive a distinct manifestation that certain people are to be called to certain places because they know that someday the church will be significantly impacted by where they serve. It won't be now but in the future, (he said that) as apostles we don't know what it will be but we get the distinct manifestations that that is why you need to be under the direction of that particular mission President and his wife." That is what he said to us as he discussed the process of assigning calls. Elder Cook then mentioned that "We may continue on and as we move to the next one the assignment may not feel right. I will move to the next one and if I continue to have that unsettling feeling I will go back and re-fix that assignment until it is right. We may have missed a detail in your background information, a note from your leaders that we didn't catch." But he will then stay at that person until he knows for a surety that they have been called for the right reasons to that particular mission. Elder Cook commented that this past Friday he assigned 330 missionaries to their missions and he said, "3 of your fellow sisters will be joining you shortly as I had the privilege of assigning 3 of those 330 missionaries here to Temple Square."

Elder Cook went on to bear his witness of the Savior. It was a powerful witness that bore to me that the Savior is real and he lives, that he stands at the head of this Church. What occurred yesterday morning was a powerful experience and from all that occurred I know that this Gospel is true. Where we are called to serve is where, for WHATEVER reason it might be, is the place that we are to be. The Lord knows best, and where we go may not even be for us. It may be because the Church will forever be impacted in a positive light because of it. I know this Gospel is true! I know my Savior lives and it is through him that we will be able to return to live with our Father in Heaven again! And that we NEVER stand alone as long as we are standing shoulder to shoulder with our Savior Jesus Christ.