Burying Weapons of War

Dear Family,

On Tuesday we buried our weapons of war with Cha. You would be proud of me because I put on my Vans with my skirt.. and I dug a hole. I dug a hole! Whoo hoo!! My daddy taught me how to do that! It was a special experience. Cha really didn't want to do it.. but she did. And she wanted to help dig the hole too. And while she dug she handed me her stuff to hold... I (not thinking about it) held it for her. Yeah.. I held marijuana. Where's the first time I ever held marijuana? On my mission!!! I was freaking out inside like "AH AH AH What am I doing?! Someone take it?!" Haha Oh the memories...

Then Cha didn't come to institute and it was just hard to get a hold of her and she didn't come to church.. it was a rough week teaching wise. We're really going to focus on bringing members with us to teach her because she said she feels uncomfortable at church because she doesn't know anyone and she misses her old church. It's just so hard to get Young Single Adults to come with us and Cha doesn't do set appointments.. it's always call about 30 minutes before and see if she's home. We've tried calling her a few hours in advanced but she never knows where she'll be.. it's tough. I've been doing a lot of praying for her this week.

Other than that.. this week we have been organizing our area book. It's been tough. A lot of info is missing. We are trying to map out our former and potential investigators so we can go visit them because tracting this week with Thanksgiving isn't a good idea. And that's pretty much all we had planned after dinner Thursday so instead we're using 70 miles to do member visits!! Whoo! It's been a hard week for Sister Giles because we have such low numbers relating to lessons. We both had to accept the fact that we were still working hard, just in a different form.

Saturday night we went to a Thanksgiving dinner with the Young Single Adults at the Tolk's home.
                                                                         

Sister Rokovitz, Juliet and Kyle

The Tolks are in the Green Hills ward and they're a sweet old couple who have the most beautiful home I've ever been in! It was massive!! And such a privilege to eat there. They had a black grand piano and multiple large Christmas trees. And as we all sat after dinner and sang Christmas carols... I thought.. I know the church is true. It was peaceful to be surrounded by so many members who know it's true and who love the Lord. I had to stop singing and just look around and be thankful for where I was at. This week was awesome spiritually... we taught hardly any lessons but I grew a ton!

Saturday as I started Personal study I wrote several spiritual questions in my notebook and asked myself what I was going to do about them. -Keep FULL FAITH! My Heavenly Father is there! He hears me and loves me and wants to cheer me along! The Book of Mormon is my greatest possession and it will guide me as I search and study it. SATAN CANNOT MAKE ME THINK OTHERWISE! I read D&C 6 over again.. which I have titled my revelation chapter. It was a good study! And as I closed it with a prayer I covenanted with the Lord to faithfully and diligently carry out the work of the Lord... nothing wavering. And to never doubt. Also, Saturday I had a very very special moment that added to the day. We were in the library for Sister Giles to do Facebook teaching and I was just pondering.. and I thought "I'm going to write down everything I am thinking right now" So I did. I had several questions and thoughts going through my head. I knew I needed to ask Heavenly Father to help me find the answers and to have the mysteries unfolded unto me. I must ask. So I prayed. In the library. I completely zoned everything out and just prayed. I wrote down my answers after I prayed. This experience was incredible. Un-describable. I literally felt the presence of God with me. I came to know my Lord that day.

Dad... thank you. For telling me I can. I know I can. My testimony still has a ton of room to grow.. but at least now I'm fine. I would have a very hard time understanding my Heavenly Father's love for me if I didn't have all the love from you. I wouldn't be able to understand. I always think of you when I try to imagine my Heavenly Father's love. That's a whole lot of love. Thank you.

That's about it for the week. It was just a good week spiritually. I learned a lot. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I love you a whole lot. And I am really grateful for you especially as I read about the missionaries in the Philippines and the storm that was destructive to many and could have been us. I am so thankful for a lot right now. And I'm very blessed. Thank you.

Have a fantastic week... without me... And I'll have fun with the Tennessee ways of Thanksgiving.

~Sister Rokovitz~

Digging the hole to bury our "weapons of war"....in my Van tennis shoes and skirt.

Jumping on the shovel, just like my Dad taught me.

Holding "you know what" while Cha digs the hole. 

(Weapons of War are things that cause us to distance ourselves from God, or things that we know are destructive to ourselves or others. Things we may over-indulge in or that we are trying to cut back on.)