Sister Emma Petty Charleston West Virginia

  Hi friends! I hope you are all having a great week! I can't believe it's Monday again, haha, but here we go! This week we recieved some really sad news about one of our friends baptisms- it won't be going forward for the time being... We felt at peace with the decision, but we were heartbroken for her and her family! She wanted to be baptized more than anything.  We got to talk with them this weekend and they had quite a few questions for us. They were a little confused and hurt, and they brought up hypothetical situations trying to show why this rule is not fair. As they talked I had a voice come to my mind that just said " hypotheticals do nothing when  speaking about truth "  Why waste time worrying about something less than reality?? There's already so much going on RIGHT NOW, we should focus on the truth that can be taught in this moment!  As we continued to talk, I realized everything the Lord does is out of love for us. Every single thing! It may not ...

  Hi everyone!! Goodness gracious it has been a CRAZY week, but so so good :) We had transfers this week and... I'M STAYING IN MARTINSVILLE!!! But I got a new companion- Sister Collotzi! And I love her :) We seriously have such a good time.  I've been studying a lot about happiness this week, and I thought about something that President Lindahl told me one time- "It's not the big things that will make you happier, it's the little things" We have had SO MANY little things this week!  Sometimes we set expectations for our happiness, and when life doesn't meet it we feel disappointed. What a waste of time! There are so many reasons to be happy now :) Life is so meaningful, but sometimes we just need to take a second to slow down and notice it.  So I hope you take a second right now to notice a little bit of happiness you have had today. And if you can't find anything- go make something!! We can start happiness too, and I think that's pretty amazing.  ...

  Hi everyone! I hope yall are doing great :) To be perfectly honest with you all, this week has been a bit on the rough side for me. It seemed to have a lot of lows, and I spent the majority of the time looking for the highs that just never seemed to show up. One of our really progressing friends threw a Book of Mormon in my face this week and told us to leave. So that was rough.  Through all our rejection and down moments I just felt like there HAD to be something good around the corner! A miracle waiting to happen at the next door we knocked on! But no... that wasn't the case this time.  At first it was all really frustrating, but then I learned something really cool:  following Jesus Christ is not easy . It's not supposed to be! Even Jesus says "if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you." (John 15:20) Jesus Christ told us that we would be blessed for following Him, but that does NOT mean it will make our lives easier. I was reading this week in Joh...

  Hi friends!  Can I tell you a miracle from this week?? Yeah? Ok, great. I've been trying this new thing lately to help me stay focused in my prayers. Before I start to pray I write down all the things I want to talk to Heavenly Father about.  One night I just felt like I needed so many things! I wrote a page long list of all the things I needed from God, but then I had the strongest feeling that I should say a grattitude prayer instead. So I did :) Let me tell you, it was really hard to take my list of needs and find the grattitude in them, but after a minute I started to realize that God has given me so much more than I could ever think to ask for! He was all over my "I need" list, even when I didn't notice it. There were miracles happening all around me and I just needed to take a second to open my eyes and see them :) I read in Mormon 9 this week, where Moroni testifies of a God of Miracles. Verse 17 really stuck out to me:  " W ho shall say that it was not ...

  HI EVERYONE!! Happy August!  This week has been just amazing, seriously. I can't put it into words. I have seen so many miracles and so many tender mercies, I am just blown away by the goodness of God. But one stand out story was getting our friends a ride to church!  We had tried EVERYONE- and nobody could take them. We worked all day long and asked every single person we could think of, pretty much the entire Martinsville Ward. No luck. By the end of the day on Saturday I just felt defeated. We had some friends that wanted to come to church, but we couldn't help them! I was just so sad! So we prayed and prayed and I just felt like maybe we should ask their son... who I happened to be friends with on Facebook! So I texted him! AND... he didn't answer. Big letdown.  I felt like I had done EVERYTHING in my power, and now it was up to God. I decided go turn it over to Him. We said one last prayer before heading to bed, and right as my companion said "amen", we got...