I'll Be What He Wants Me to Be

First off, since I am not in America, you all have to promise me that you will eat a piece of turkey for me this Thursday. Okay? Okay. :)

Sister Renda and Sister Laxton in Saint John, New Brunswick

 

This past week was filled with blessings from the Lord. Sister Laxton and I had so many wonderful experiences with finding people and teaching them. We had a concert in St. John, New Brunswick this weekend. It went pretty well. I wasn't nearly as prepared as I would like. We didn't even run through all of the pieces in the rehearsal beforehand, but somehow I survived! It was the last concert of the Orange Blossom Special series. We won't have another concert until the end of January.

I feel so blessed to be a part of this work. Yes, it's hard, but it is so worth it. I continue to learn each day about how the Lord wants His work to be accomplished and who He wants me to be. More than anything, He wants me to be changed by this experience. As long as I serve Him with all my 
"heart, might, mind, and strength," I will be a successful missionary. We had a lesson this past week with a recent convert, who asked us why we decided to serve missions. He said that he keeps having thoughts about serving a mission. His question made me think about my decision to serve. As we bore testimony about the power of the Atonement to him and I reflected on my experiences of the last month, the Spirit was so strong. I know that this is where I need to be right now. It may not be easy, but I need to trust the Lord that He knows what is best for me and that He can mold me into the person He needs me to be. It's easier to give Him my heart and my will than to continually wage a war between the Spirit and the natural man.

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, wherever you may be this week! Love you!

Love,

Sister Maren Renda

PS We're going to Peggy's Cove today! I'll send pictures next week.

PPS We have a Facebook page for the missionaries serving in the Halifax YSA branch. Like us so we can spread the word! It's "Mormon Missionaries on Campus-Halifax." We don't have a picture of Sister Laxton and me on there yet, but there is a picture of Elder Clark and Elder Nzojibwami. We're hoping this will help in sharing the gospel with YSA.