Who are we truly???

Okay. This week was awesome! We are seeing SO many miracles! We are finding and teaching so much. The people here are so open and amazing. We are crazy busy every day which is my favorite thing. 

One thing I've noticed about being a missionary is that the more you open yourself up to the Lord, the more He will work with you. As I have changed, I have seen this taken place. I am more willing to accept and do the Lords will then my own. I think the biggest miracle I have seen on my mission is my own conversion to this gospel. I now know who I am and who He wants me to be.

I have studied a lot lately about who the Lord wants me to be. Here are some things that have stood out to me:

1. Value Beyond Measure by Joy D. Jones “God is your Father. He loves you. He and your Mother in heaven value you beyond any measure. … You are unique. One of a kind, made of the eternal intelligence which gives you claim upon eternal life. Let there be no question in your mind about your value as an individual. The whole intent of the gospel plan is to provide an opportunity for each of you to reach your fullest potential, which is eternal progression and the possibility of godhood.”

2. Remember Who You Are by Elaine S Dalton "You are not alone! Though you may be the only Latter-day Saint in your school or your group of friends or even your family, you are not alone. You can rely on the strength of the Lord...I learned about what I now call “deep beauty”—the kind of beauty that shines from the inside out. It is the kind of beauty that cannot be painted on, surgically created, or purchased. It is the kind of beauty that doesn’t wash off. It is spiritual attractiveness. Deep beauty springs from virtue. It is the beauty of being chaste and morally clean. It is the kind of beauty that you see in the eyes of virtuous women like your mother and grandmother. It is a beauty that is earned through faith, repentance, and honoring covenants."

3. Certain Women by Linda K. Burton "May we remember the many certain women who refused to abandon our precious Savior during the excruciating experience He suffered on the cross and yet hours later were privileged to be among the certain witnesses of His glorious Resurrection. Let us be found staying close to Him in prayer and scripture study. Let us draw ourselves near to Him by preparing for and partaking of the sacred emblems of His atoning sacrifice weekly during the ordinance of the sacrament and as we keep covenants by serving others in their times of need. Perhaps then we might be part of the certain women, disciples of Jesus Christ, who will celebrate His glorious return when He comes again."

Reading these conference talks, other scriptures and my patriarchal blessing have made me know who I am. I am confident that I am a divine daughter of Heavenly Parents. I know that Heavenly Father wants us to understand who we are. We understand who we are as we understand who Christ is. I know this to be true.

*D&C 121:45

Sister Rodabough

Mission Tours!!!

Y'all this week was crazy!!! As you know we combined with Christiansburg for a week because a Sister went home but we just got back to the normal swing of things. So we are just serving in Blacksburg now and it is just the two of us. But we did get a car! I am grateful but also sad...mostly grateful haha. Anyways, here is the update:

"Jane" is super great! She drank a couple times again but I know her heart is changing because now she HATES drinking. She just wants to stop. I love "Jane" though because she just pushes through no matter what and she just motivates me. I am so sad that I wont be able to teach her anymore though because we are back in Blacksburg but I am still going to write her so that we can stay in contact! She was also able to come to stake conference but she got nervous with all of the people around her so we just went to one of the separate rooms where it was played over the intercom and I actually liked that a lot more too haha. 

Stake Conference was super sweet I got to see everyone from the Radford ward and it was like a big reunion!!! I saw my recent convert (Haley Stone) and other amazing people that I love! I also learned a lot. I learned that the point of ministering is to just love! We don't need to make it into some complicated thing because God doesn't want that. He just wants us to serve and care and love each other. I made a goal to look for people who need help each day. Okay that idea actually came from my amazing mother who set that as a goal but I am going to do it too because in the end all we can do is find opportunities to help and love others. :)

The day after Stake Conference (Monday) we had the mission tour! Elder Bennett is our new area 70 and he came to talk with us. He is so cool. He spent 7 years in Russia serving as a missionary and a mission president so he had some AWESOME stories! Here is one of them: As an Elder he was walking down the street and this lady comes up to him and says, "My husband passed away two years ago, what do I need to do to get sealed to him in your temple?" He taught us that we too can have experiences like these if we obey with exactness. And this whole time I was like, wait what even is exactness? Because we will never be 100% exact. He said that exactness means a complete performance. He said as long as we try our best to complete the performance, the windows of heaven will pour upon ourselves and our mission. That got all of us so excited because the Spirit was SO strong! Ever sense then we have tried to be exactly obedient and we have seen so many miracles! 

Sorry for the essay...it was just an awesome week haha! Thanks for tuning in and I'll talk to y'all next week!

This is Sister Rodabough signing out.

*Luke 22:40-42

Three Sisters, Two Areas, and Three Wards

So much has happened this week haha. Lets see if I can narrow it down to one email. One of our dear missionaries and one of my good friends had to go home to get back surgery so her companion (Sister Nicholls) is now in a trio with Sister Coombs and I AND we are combining the Christiansburg and Blacksburg areas. Crazy huh? Right when I think normal things are going to happen Heavenly Father is like, "Haha silly child." And then does something crazy. I will give an update on what is happening in each area.

Christiansburg!!! We got there on Friday and met a few investigators then we had the Relief Society BBQ and met a ton of members so that was awesome because it gave us a chance to get to know the ward.

Saturday! We met Jane! She is awesome and she is my favorite human! She is 18. And she grew up in a really rough situation. She was born to her mom who was an alcoholic and growing up her parents gave her alcohol and Jane started drinking at 16 and never tried to quit until now. She has now been sober for over a week and a half for the first time in her life and it is SO hard for her but she is doing it because she knows it will help her get closer to Heavenly Father. She has so much faith and she is so open and willing to do anything to get to the temple. We are doing the 12 set program with Jane because I have a behavior I want to get rid of too!!! I am really glad we are doing this with Jane together because now she doesn't feel so alone.

Sunday! I'll tell y'all what we did in two steps

1. Went to church for 8 hours
2. Tried different potential investigators

That is what we did all day that day haha. We didn't have time for anything else.

This new change is honestly such an answered prayer because a lot of things were distracting me and I just need to stay as busy as possible. It is also so fun because we would just be driving in the car and we would sing High School Musical with the windows rolled down so yeah it is a party every day.

I also just want to say HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD! Thank you for always supporting me, and being there for me when I need you. I love you so much dad!

*Ether 12:23
Sister Rodabough

Blessings and Comfort

Hey y'all! This week went by so fast. I don't even know what to do with myself anymore haha. I guess time flies when you are having fun!

Monday: Did the usual Pday stuff and then we did service for the Hibbert family. Sister Hibbert wants us to do a lot of painting and remodeling in her house and I am SO EXCITED because A. I love painting B. I love hard work (because we never get to do it as missionaries) and C. It will give me some good experience for interior design! We also met with the Wilson family and we painted prayer rocks with them so that was a good time.

Tuesday: We picked up Hoda as a new investigator! She is from Europe and she is super excited to read the Book of Mormon and discover more about God! It is so interesting to teach these people because my whole mission I have taught Baptists and now these people don't even know who Jesus Christ is so it is a very cool teaching experience. After that we had dinner with the Litham family and their house was so stinking cute! They also have two little boys so yeah it was fun. Their little boys remind me a lot of my boys back at home so that was kinda different haha.

Wednesday: Very cool day. My companion currently is having some heath issues so we got a blessing from bishop and it was cool because he talked about how the angels of those around us are cheering us on to talk to their people. It is awesome to know that we are being supported on both sides of the veil. Then we found Zach! He said that he does have a belief in God but doesn't like the idea of organized religion. Which I understand but God is a God of wisdom and order so yeah. He is super cool because he just wants to read everything haha.

Saturday: Low-key a long day. We wanted to just so something fun so we called Molly (a YSA member) and we went to Sweet Frog and had frozen yogurt so it was a good time.

Sunday: LONGEST DAY EVER! I swear fasting just makes the day 1,000X longer but I always feel so good after I fast. While we were fasting we got more Priesthood blessings. Sister Coombs found a lot of comfort that she needed. And my blessing was really awesome. Bishop didn't even ask me why I needed a blessing but he knew exactly what to say so it really helped me.

Today we are going to play games at some of the recreational fields on campus so I am hyped. The weather is just so nice, its like 75 out so it is perfect!

Thank you all the help that you all give me, I hope that this week is AWESOME for y'all!

*Alma 22:18
Love Always,
Sister Rodabough