Editor’s note: Many are familiar with my daughter, Sara Arkell, also known as The Piano Gal. Sara has been called to serve in the New York Syracuse Mission. This is a series on her weekly letters that we will be posting on the site for those who wish to follow along with her mission. You can read her previous emails here.
Happy 2022!!! My goodness that is crazy!
I thought I’d start out this email with a spiritual thought that really stuck out to me. This is from a General Conference talk from October 2021 by Camille N. Johnson called Invite Christ to Author Your Story. “Because He knows our potential perfectly, He will take us to places we never imagined ourselves.”
I LOVE THIS QUOTE! When I look back on 2021 for me, my life went a totally different direction than I had anticipated. I decided to serve, prepared to serve, and started serving a mission all in the same year! It’s not what I had planned but as I’m out here, I can’t picture myself being anywhere else.
God really does know what we need! He knows our potential PERFECTLY, so He’ll put us places we never would have imagined before! Trust in Him and let Him guide you!
This week was great! We found quite a few people who were actually interested in hearing more sometime. Met a really amazing man named Jonathan! It was actually a miracle that we met him. We had one day where we had SIX lessons scheduled with new people! That like NEVER HAPPENS!!!
Well…every single one of them fell through. That was super discouraging! BUT, God put us somewhere else we needed to be. We always plan backups in case lessons fall through so we went to the backup street and we met Jonathan. Had the most amazing conversation with him and we have another lesson set up this week! That was a testimony to me that this really is God’s work and I’m just His hands. He orchestrates everything!
Then another highlight. SUSAN GOT A TEMPLE RECOMMEND AND A CALLING AND BORE HER TESTIMONY IN SACRAMENT MEETING YESTERDAY. She truly is one of a kind! She is so amazing. She’s only been a member for a month and is already doing so much good. She is golden.
As I was sitting in sacrament meeting listening to her bear her testimony about the Book of Mormon and the Church and cool experiences she’s had so far, I started bawling. My heart was so full of joy and gratitude!! It is SO amazing to see people change. It is so amazing to watch someone come to know who they truly are as a child of God. There is nothing better!
Life is oh so good and I am so thankful to be a missionary here in New York! The days are long and sometimes really hard but it’s all worth it. I’m so grateful!
Every year I like to pick a phrase or word to focus on, on top of New Year’s goals and all that. This year is “RADIATE JOY!” It’s going to be fun to focus on this as a missionary because I’ll be on my mission this entire year of 2022 (crazy!), but also just as Sara. I want to find all the joy I can and be known as someone who is always happy!
I challenge you to pick a word or phrase to focus on this year! And I’d love to hear it! Love you all so dearly!! I hope you have the best week!