God's Favorite Color

Well hello!
I love life! haha well, this week was just so busy and so good!
First things first, Sister Hallam and I both survived transfers! We
are staying together! Woo!! I am so excited!! I love being here and I
love being companions with Sister Hallam.

This week was so fun. We went on a mini mission with the one of the
youth here. Her name is Susan and we had SO much fun!! Susan also gave
us a referral named Theresa and we picked her up as a new
investigator!! It was awesome!!

Volunteering with the Monks is probably my favorite service that I
have done so far!! It is so fun!! They feed us lunch after service and
they make the BEST homemade bread and lemonade!! Mmm.. I love it!

We also picked up a new investigator named Sonya, who is great! We
also set a baptism date with our investigator Marion.

Wednesday night the ward had an ice cream social which was so fun!! I
really love the ward here. They are so awesome! Plus our investigator
Lorriane went to the party too!!

On Saturday we went on exchange with the Brewer Sisters, Sister
Castillo and Sister Johnson. I went with Sister Johnson and I was so
fun. I love getting to go on exchanges with different sisters every
week. I feel so blessed to get to be in a position where I can learn
from and serve closely with all of these wonderful sisters.

On Sunday a less active named Myrt, who we have been working with a
lot, came to church again!!! Woo!!! I so love it when the gospel
changes people's lives for the better! We set a date with her as to
when she will go threw the temple and we are so excited for her!!

This coming week is the Stoker's last week as my mission parents. It
is slightly killing me inside because I love them so much, but I am so
lucky to get to have two mission parents to love and to serve with!!

Well for my spiritual thought I would like to talk a little bit about
how getting answers to prayers works. I always under the impression
that the scripture, "ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be
opened unto you" meant that we would get the answer we want right then
and there.

I learned this week that is quite the opposite. It all started when
Sister Hallam told me of this exercise that missionaries do to help
them figure out how they receive answers to their prayers.

Its simple, all you do is ask God what His favorite color is. Sister
Hallam said that everyone who has ever done this has gotten the same
answer. I thought that was so cool! So I decided to ask.

I prayed, and I asked and the color purple came right to my head
immediately. So I rushed over to Sister Hallam,
"It's purple, isn't it?!?" I burst out
"What?" she asked confused.
"Purple. God's favorite color. Its purple, right?"
"uh.. nope not that I have ever heard of."

I was crushed. I went back into the study room and laid on the floor
and had a personal temper tantrum. What the heck?!? I thought to
myself! Why the heck did purple come to my mind, I was so wrong! oh
my, this totally means I have no idea how to listen to the Spirit! I
started to doubt every single decision I have made. Such a minor error
had led me to the point of doubting every single spiritual impression
I have ever gotten. For awhile I was convinced that I had no idea how
to get answers to prayers or how to listen to the Spirit.

If I couldn't even get an answer to such a simple question, then why
would I ever get an answer to an important question or decision.

After awhile of laying on the floor and freaking out in my head, I got
up and started to study the scriptures. But the question kept going
through my mind, why hadn't God just answered my simple question?

It was then that it occurred to me that God was trying to teach me
something. But, what that something was, I had no idea. So I went to
Preach My Gospel and read chapter 4 on how to recognize the Spirit. I
came across a scripture D&C 6:14-16, 22-23 "Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast inquired
of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received
instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have
come to the place where thou art at this time.

Behold, thou knowest that thou hast inquired of me and I did enlighten
thy mind; and now I tell thee these things that thou mayest know that
thou hast been enlightened by the Spirit of truth;

Yea, I tell thee, that thou mayest know that there is none else save
God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast
your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that
you might know concerning the truth of these things.

Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What
greater witness can you have than from God?"

It occurred to me that prayers are a form of work. When I asked God my
question I hadn't studied it out or even prayed to confirm my answer.
If it meant something to me, I would need to show Him that it did. I
asked Him with my head, but not with my heart. I listened with my
ears, but not my heart either. I am a firm believer that God talks to
us more through our heart then any other way.

I know for a fact that God does hear and answer every prayer, but most
of the time, the answer is not really what we expected. He even
answers prayers about what His favorite color is.

I love you all!!
Have a happy week!!
xoxo
Sister Dickson

ps, ask God what His favorite color is and shoot me an email when you
get the answer!!
(by the way its not purple.)