"Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities"

Well, another amazing week. And an incredibly hard week. Always filled
with the pains, the sorrows the joys of missionary work. I never
thought that serving in the same area for a long time would be really
hard, but I also never imagined I would be the missionary to stay in
an area for a long time. It drives you kind of crazy in a way I can't
quite describe. It's like pretty stressful, being the companion who
does all the talking, the leading, and so basically if somethings not
going right it's all on your shoulders! I was just feeling pretty
lost, and was feeling kind of like a mess wondering what I could do
more for Rome 3, not feeling like I could carry the weight of this
area on my shoulders any longer. The week before we only taught one
lesson the whole week! You know what it's like to teach only one
lesson the whole week as a missionary? It means a lot of rejection, a
lot of getting yelled at, a lot of being outside and not inside a warm
place. It means a lot of putting your most precious and treasured
beliefs on the line everyday, and not getting anything out of it.
(Shout out to all the faithful missionaries in Russia.)  Like I've
been here since July, things should be going better shouldn't they?
Well anyways, I prayed a lot more and studied a lot more and worked a
lot more this week.

I came across a scripture in the bible. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul
talks about how he was having a bit of a trial also. He describes it
like a "thorn in the flesh", pretty uncomfortable stuff. He asked the
Lord THREE times to take this trial away from him. But in the end, he
was grateful for it. Because it made him weak, he became stronger
through Christ.  (2 Cor. 12:8-10).

Thursday night I prayed for about an hour, pleading and waiting for an
answer, but I didn't get anything. Instead I did get an answer to my
prayers Friday morning. It was a pretty awesome morning, but I won't
describe it all, but I'll just say that Heavenly Father definitely
answers prayers for all of His children. His plan is perfect and He
has not forgotten or abandoned any of us. Most of the time it's just
us who are too impatient or not really keeping an eye out for the
blessings that there are.

After my prayer was answered I felt bad that I ever doubted, or was
impatient! I felt so full of gratitude, I even felt grateful for the
capacity I had to feel so much gratitude! Like missionary work is
straight up joy! It's super humbling in every way you could imagine
and it's so awesome because of it.

Yes, there are castles everywhere, but what about that modern art? Haha, too good.