December 21, 2015

Sorry it's gonna be short today - but I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! It's been beautiful preparing for this wonderful holiday, with ward programs, community projects, decorations, anonymous gifts, caroling, and best of all, teaching about the Savior. I love sharing the message of his gospel, teaching people about the joyous news of its Restoration and how we can experience it's promised blessings here and now. We went tracting last night, inviting people to the annual Calgary Christmas pageant produced by the church. At one door we had invited this family, and gotten a return appointment. As we left, I casually said "Merry Christmas!" And I will never forget the look on this man's face as he paused and said how he would much rather hear Merry Christmas, then the typical happy holidays. He thanked us for simply saying "Merry Christmas." I think we sometimes take for granted the tiny opportunities throughout our day to stand for our beliefs in a world that is turning farther and farther away from Christ. How blessed we are to know the reason for the season, to know the significance of his birth and subsequent life. All because a Father loved us enough to give His Son as an enabling sacrifice for sin. We have great reasons to declare with the angels, "Hosanna! Glory to God in the Highest, and peace on earth, good will to men!"

"Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfill all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets. Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfil all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and to do the will, both of the Father and of the Son ... And behold, the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given."    (3 Nephi 1:13-14)

I would like to leave you with my testimony that I know my Savior lives! I know Jesus Christ is the son of God, and that he has shown us the way to find the greatest peace and purpose in this life and eternal joy in the next. I know he experienced all our pains, sorrows, struggles, temptations - He knows how to help us become better. It is through using his atonement that we can become clean from the burden of sin. I am so grateful for him, and I love him with all my heart.


Merry Christmas!!


Lots of love,
Sister Patterson

December 14, 2015

Hey everyone!

So guess what?! Transfer calls came out and neither Sister Page nor I are moving!!! SO happy. :)

We have been trying to keep busy - turns out the holiday season is both good and bad for missionary work. Good because we can go around sharing "Christmas messages," but bad because more people are out of town, or just "busy." Oh well. :) Our zone had a fun finding idea, where every few days we meet up together and go caroling in someone's area. We use the church's pass along cards for "A Savior is Born" and look for opportunities to come back and share a Christmas message. So far it's been really fun, and people seem to be more open to that approach. :)

This past Sunday there was a homecoming talk for a sister in one of the wards we cover. She served in the New York, New York mission. She spent half her mission in Harlem. As she spoke, you could tell she had a really rough time, that the mission was a fiery furnace. She described the unkind words and actions directed towards her, and how in a city of millions, she had never felt so alone. And yet, she has also never felt so close to the Savior as during that time. So when people spit upon and mock and persecute us missionaries, whether figuratively or literally, we are experiencing a small portion of what Jesus Christ went through, and unlike His own experience, He will never leave us to bear it alone. And I can testify that that is all true.

We had a stake carol festival, with a couple hours of just musical performances by various groups. It was a fantastic experience! So many people came, even a lot of nonmembers from the community. It's always beautiful to see how the Christmas season brings people together from all walks of life, Christ is always a unifying influence for good. One of the songs sung was called "what if the cradle was empty." The song gave a beautiful reminder that if he hadn't been born, there would have been an empty cross. How grateful I am for this season of remembrance and celebration of our Savior Jesus Christ, knowing that because he was born, we can all be born again.

I hope you all have a good week and are enjoying the season!

Lots of love and prayers,
Sister Sarah Patterson

November 2, 2015

Greetings from the snowy north! Today we woke up to the first real snowfall of the season!! Time to break out winter stuff - again.

Hope you all had a fun Halloween!! We ended up having clear weather for it. So, for missionaries we have an early curfew that night at 6pm. We spent the day walking to contact people, and ended up misjudging the amount of time it would take to get home. It was getting late, and we really needed to get in, but were on the complete opposite side of our area. My companion and I prayed really hard (mostly because we were exhausted) and bam! answer to prayer came in the form of a member sister as she came around the corner with her group of trick-or-treaters! She offered to give us a ride home - which was a huge tender mercy for our sore feet and allowed us to make it home in time. Members - be aware sometimes you are an answer to a missionary's prayers when you give them a ride, come to a lesson, or just feed them a last minute meal. :) We ended up spending the rest of the evening hanging out (too bad movies aren't allowed!) My companion accidentally ate a super spicy pepper at supper, and we proceeded to spend an hour laughing at her painful experience. We just moved to a new apartment, and hadn't gone grocery shopping yet, so that meant NO bread or milk to stop the burning. It ended up being pretty funny. :)

Happy Halloween!

Oh, and happy Daylight Savings! Happy because it felt like we got that much-needed extra hour of sleep - a rare and tender mercy as a missionary. :)

SO, this past week was another transfer week. I got to say goodbye to Prairie winds after our long summer together, and got moved to Calgary South Stake. But with the added surprise of whitewashing (or as we call it, purging) into the new area! That means both my companion Sister Page and I are brand new, so we don't know anything or anyone! PLUS we cover 2 huge wards! So yeah, huge new challenge for both of us, a little scary, very stressful. Prayers please. :)



Me and Sister Page

I love you all!!


Love,
Sister Patterson

October 26, 2015

I hope you all have a fun and happy Halloween!!!

Sister Tolbert and I at the Temple

October 19, 2015

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving :)

So we had a cool little miracle the other day! We were at our Bishop's house for supper, when they Young Men's group came in for an activity. With them was one of our teenage investigators, whom we have had a hard time getting a hold of and meeting with lately. He ended up sitting with us to eat, and for our dinner message we got to share the message of the Restoration. The Spirit was really strong, and having the Bishop there to testify was perfect! The young man was really touched by what he heard and want's to keep learning. It was exactly what he needed.

So, when my companion first came out to the east, she suffered a bit of culture shock - with so many different immigrants in the area it was definitely not what she was expecting. And as expected, we have been fed some strange foods. We have joked back and forth about her being a picky eater, and then in my studies I found the best scripture (and here's a shout-out to all those countless missionaries who have had far stranger experiences!) It's in Luke 10:7-8 . It's talking about missionaries going out:

"And in the ... house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give ... And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you..."
It's hard to argue with the scriptures :)

Anyway, on October 12th we got to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving!! We were invited to a dinner, and discovered a nontraditional Latino twist - but it was a fun experience. Felt super strange to be having Thanksgiving before  Halloween though!!!

On a final note, I just wanted to share some thoughts from a talk by President Uchtdorf, "On Being Genuine." He talks about how the gospel and church is a place of growth and healing, and no matter what level our testimony is at, that we can always building on whatever strength we do have as we apply gospel principles daily.
   
"With patience and persistence, even the smallest act of discipleship or the tiniest ember of belief can become a blazing bonfire of a consecrated life. In fact, that’s how most bonfires begin—as a simple spark.... So if you feel small and weak, please simply come unto Christ, who makes weak things strong. The weakest among us, through God’s grace, can become spiritually strong, because God “is no respecter of persons. He is our “faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments. "

To this I add my own testimony, that the minute we turn towards  the Lord again, acknowledging shortcomings but with the determination to press forward anyway, He will lift and strengthen our hearts in enabling our desire to become a reality.

I love you all!


Love,
Sister Patterson

And... We're Back!

For those who don't know, Sarah's sister Angela has been in charge of posting her emails to this blog. I apologize for the missing posts- we had our baby! But, I'm back and will be posting her emails in a semi-timely manner again. I have caught up on the ones I missed and adjusted them to say they were posted on the dates they were sent.

Thanks!
Angela

October 5, 2015

Hey everyone! I hope you've all had a wonderful week! It's been crazy here in Calgary. We got a little snow this weekend, so I was especially grateful for Conference as an excuse to stay inside longer and avoid the cold. But we did have some investigators show up - a cute little family from Southern Sudan - and they really enjoyed it! On a side note, we as missionaries acknowledged one of the great mysteries of the church - why chapels area always freezing cold for sisters and too warm for brothers! Seems like Canada is not immune to this phenomenon :)

Anyway - I forgot to share a mini miracle we had last Sunday. We had our fast and testimony meeting a week early for conference. Near the end, Sister Tolbert and I spotted a man walk into the foyer, obviously not a member. So we got up and ended up standing in the parking lot for a couple minutes talking with him. He had just wandered in to see what we were all about, and commented how he had felt really good listening to a couple of the testimonies born. He couldn't stay for the whole meeting, so after our exchange he left and we went back into the building - super excited at a potential investigator. Now here's where it get's weird. As soon as we walked back into the lobby (it had been maybe 5 minutes), we noticed a discernible difference - the spirit had flown out the window and there was an air of uneasiness as we walked into the chapel to see half the congregation missing. Something had obviously happened. We came to find out that in those few minutes, a man had taken the opportunity to get up at the pulpit and express his "anti-Mormon" feelings. Luckily the Bishop intervened and dismissed all the kids and leaders, and had a counselor close the meeting with a powerful testimony while the Bishop and said individual left for a chat. Now you're probably wondering why this was a mini miracle: that gentleman who walked in off the street stayed just long enough to hear and feel the power of the Holy Ghost manifest in that meeting, testifying of gospel truth to his heart. But he walked out just in time to miss the Spirit leave in response to negativity and disrespect. We were so grateful, for one that he was able to experience the truth and recognize it, and second, that we were able to recognize a real difference in the lack of the Spirit. It reminded me that truth is truth, regardless of people's opinions. And wherever truth is, there the Spirit will be, and that is what helps us recognize and understand.

And that is what brings me back to the subject of General Conference. I hope you all were able to feel the Spirit in those meetings as prophets and apostles testified of Truths. I especially loved what one said, that the future of our faith is not determined by chance, but by choice! We are created to be agents for ourselves, to think and act, not just to be acted upon. I discovered this in the decision to come out on the mission in the first place! For a long while I just prayed, wanting to be shown which direction to take with my life, thinking I would do whatever He wanted, but not making a decision or taking action either way. I was immobilized by fear of being wrong. But over time I learned that Heavenly Father has given us the gift of agency for a reason, and expects us to use it! We can choose to be happy, we can choose to take a leap of faith. We can choose to follow promptings from the Spirit, or not.  Moving forward with hope and desire and trust is the definition of acting in faith, and according to what we decide and the diligence we apply, our faith grows or diminishes. And "without a firm foundation of faith, our power to endure will crumble." (Elder Henry B. Eyring)

I'm sorry for the rant, but this is something we have been really trying to help our investigators and less actives understand - that our daily decisions determine our eternal destiny. 

"There is something we can take home to God, in achieving which we find true happiness, and that, is Character - what you have made of yourself during this mortal existence. Character - it may be weak, it may be strong. You must decide. But whatever you make it during the 20, 30, 50, 70, 80, 100 years that you spend here will be what you take back there. Character, and the service you have rendered will determine your position and place in the next world." (David O. Mackay)

I love and pray for you all


Love,
Sister Patterson