"young, dumb, and broke"

This week I walked around with 10 bucks in my bank account. I'm still really trying to figure out this whole money thing. Hopefully someday I'll be a functioning adult, but until then I'm "young dumb and broke" (Thank you Khalid for my song lyric title this week).

But in all honestly, I think emotionally, we can all feel "young, dumb, and broke." At times, it feels that my efforts and my contributions are completely void and insignificant. It's easy in this world to feel like we don't matter and that we don't belong.

This week, I had a few experiences that reminded me that I'm here for a reason, and that although I, at times, feel small, God can use me in those small ways to touch hearts and create significant differences.

So there's this guy named Kevin me and Sister Larson have been trying to meet with. He's a member of our congregation who we've been wanting to help, but haven't had much luck except for a few text conversations. That is ... until I went on an exchange with some other sister missionaries on Friday.

I woke up Friday morning completely overwhelmed and unmotivated. The thought of having to leave my area and comp to go somewhere else on an exchange sounded like the biggest task in the world. After some tears and an act of faith, I gathered the strength to put on my shoes and walk out the door.

As I was on this exchange, strength from the Lord saved me. I'm not sure what happened, but we saw miracles. I felt joy, and we were in the right place, at the right time, to have many lesson with people who needed us, including a guy named Kevin.

I discovered that the sisters I went on the exchange with had planned on stopping by to see a guy named Kevin who had the exact same last name as the Kevin me and Sister Larson were texting and trying to help. I considered it could be a coincidence, and brushed it off. But when we knocked on the door and out walked this guy, I knew it was the same Kevin all along. He proceeded to tell us that he was actually at his dad's house, and that had we come 10 minutes earlier or 10 minutes later, we would have missed him.

The longer we talked, I noticed Kevin's eyes were a bit red, then as we proceeded, I could tell he was actually holding back straight tears. Something in me knew I had to share a scripture, even if these people didn't want to hear it. After some persuasion, they agreed. We read a verse, and at that point, Kevin had tears streaming down his face and told me to text him to set up a time to visit.

Sunday at 3pm, after months of effort, we will be sitting in Kevin's living room.

As we drove away, I marveled at the goodness of God. I wondered how it was even possible. I determined this experienced couldn't be explained in a way other than a miracle. I realized that God loved me enough, to put me in a place where I could experience His goodness. but more importantly, God loved Kevin enough to have 3 sister missionaries show up at his dad's door to remind him God was aware of him, and to help him feel the spirit once again.

My anthem for this week and the verse we shared with Kevin:

"press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father, ye shall have eternal life."

Life gets rough and sometimes having the strength the move forward is tough. Whatever your situation may be, whether you're pressing forward through a mission, or a move, or a divorce, or loss of a loved one, or sickness, or depression, or anxiety, or any other hard thing, I know that Jesus' main job, the purpose of his whole existence, is to heal you.

Jesus fixes things.

Life is hard, but the joy we will feel at the end of all this as we rely on Jesus Christ, will be worth it.

Don't forget that Jesus loves you,

Sister Wallace

Pics:

1. My cute comp making everything better

2. Life just be like this sometimes in a 3 hour meeting

3. I got to see Hermana Babcock!!!

4. Cute sisters on exchanges

5. Grateful for watermelon season

6. We love the Book of Mormon