Sister Christina Thacker: Week 16

Hello family and friends!

First things first, It was transfers this week, and I stayed in Saratoga Springs! Sadly, Sister Geddes got transferred

But I like my new companion Sister Sessions! She is great!

We have had quite the week! On transfer day, I drove to Syracuse, a 3 hour drive there and 3 hours back.... in a blizzard... but it was fun! I got to talk to a Sister who was going home so I got some great advice from her.

In other news, the work is booming here in Saratoga! We have had a lesson every day and we have a few friends getting ready for Baptism!!!
Jessica is the first one, she called us on Thursday and wanted to meet with us. She had been reading out of the Book of Mormon and she felt that she needed to meet with the missionaries! She already has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and after reading 3 Nephi 11, she told us that she wants to be baptized... during the second lesson! What?! It's amazing!!! She is so eager to learn and also to share the Gospel. She even invited a friend to church yesterday! She is absolutely amazing and I cannot wait to teach her more and help her come unto Christ.

The next people are Pete and Lou Ann. They have been reading the Book of Mormon and have been wanting have a direction with reading it. So, we introduced the Come, Follow Me manual to them and they were so excited! Now we just need to get them to church again!

We also have Eduard who speaks another language (he knows English, but it's not his first language), however, the Bishop and two other members speak the same language! So that's awesome! He wants to learn all he can! He came to church yesterday and the ward was so welcoming, he loved it!

We are so excited for all of our friends and the progress they are making towards Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

For one of my New years resolutions, I am reading all of President Nelson's talks and I have found some amazing things!
One that I want to share is from his talk, "Joy cometh in the Morning".
"in order to experience true joy in the morning, or at any time, at least three factors are needed. You need to feel good about the people with whom you live and work—your companions in life.
You must feel good about yourself—not in any sense of conceit, but simply a proper esteem for yourself, well deserved.
And possibly most important, you must feel good about your relation to God and sincerely love him.”

I wrote these down and I have read them daily to remind me to have Joy in the morning.
When you have Joy in the morning, it sets the tone for your whole day. When we are Joyful first thing, we can continue to be joyful throughout the day, no matter what happens.
This has been something I have needed to focus on this week. As we have been out tracting and spreading the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, opposition has come. As the Prophet Lehi taught his son Jacob in 2 Nephi 2:11 "11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things..." People use their agency to reject the message of Christ.
One man we talked to while he was in his driveway, told us to "never come back or he would call the cops" after we told him we were sharing a message about God and Jesus Christ.
It is very sad to see our brothers and sisters reject the Savior, and His important message. But we know that God is aware of each of them, He loves them and one day they will know the truth.

I love you all! Thank you so much for the support.

Sister Thacker

P.S. My address is still the same