How do I have a relationship with Heavenly Father? 2-1-2016

Hi!

It's been such a sweet week. We've been serving at Welfare Square every Tuesday and the past 2 weeks have been so dead. No one has come to take a tour so we've just helped in the storehouse and I seriously love it. 

  We get to help people get their groceries for free and re-stock the shelves and talk with all the service missionaries there. It's so cool to me how the church allows for every person who has the desire, to serve in some capacity.

So, last transfer when I was with Sister Howard, we met this lady on the Square who had been in and out of activity her whole life (she's 40 now). Just recently she and her husband split and everything in her life has just started tumbling down. 

  She said she was driving past Temple Square and told Heavenly Father if there was a free parking space, she would take it and talk to the first missionaries that stopped her. 

  So, as she was driving by there was a free parking space (which was actually a miracle because this was when the Christmas lights were still on, so people are everywhere). 

  She wasn't wearing a coat as she walked onto Temple Square so we stopped her and were just like, "Aren't you freezing?!" Then we started talking and she told us everything she's been dealing with and how it's been so hard for her to feel like God is there. 

  We now call her every week and she's come up to Temple Square twice since that day. In studying for her and her issues with God, Christ and the church, I came across a talk by President Hinckley. It's called, "We Walk By Faith."

   In the talk President Hinckley tells the story of a freight train making stops throughout the night. Even with darkness surrounding the train, with it's light shining 500 m ahead, it is able to reach it's destination. 

  He compares that with faith and how often times God only illuminates our path a little bit at a time. But little by little, we get closer and closer to where we need to be. 

  I think it can be harder to come back to church when you look at how far you still have to go but I know as we just take the Gospel day by day and obey with real intent, we will look back and see how far we've come with the help of the Savior.

It was also really cool this week because my whole mission I've had the question, "How do I have a relationship with God, my Heavenly Father." 

  I really feel the Savior close to me each day but I've often wondered how I strengthen that relationship with God. I know that it's only through the Son that we are able to return to the Father and so I assumed that as I strengthened my faith in Christ, that relationship with God would follow. This week I came across a talk by Elder Holland and I want to share a quote from it that I loved! He says: 

 "Jesus did not come to improve God’s view of man nearly so much as He came to improve man’s view of God and to plead with them to love their Heavenly Father as He has always and will always love them. But the love of God, the profound depth of His devotion to His children, they still did not fully know—until Christ came."

Maybe I'm just a little bit slow, but these words helped me a lot in just remembering that God is the creator of the Plan of Happiness. God sent Christ to the earth to live, die and then be resurrected - all for us. Christ came to the earth so each one of us would be able to understand how infinitely God does love us and will never give up on us. 

  Heavenly Father's love was and is manifested in Christ. 

  Anyways, that was just my little personal revelation that as you have a relationship with Christ, you also understand through Him the love God has for you.

Samuel went to church this week for the first time and said that "God is with these people. Nothing will stop me from going again next week!" He's so cool. He really loves God and wants to follow him. It just makes me excited to see people get excited about the Gospel.

Love you so much!

Sister Helton

P.S. Here are some photos from our zone activity last week that I forgot to send.