 |
| Me and Sister Christensen |
Sounds like everyone is doing well. GOOD GOOD - I am glad that swiss days went well and I'm also glad that it is over, you are such a hard worker and I want you to know that I am soooo proud of you. I love showing everyone my gourds and telling them about my awesomely talented painter mom. Tell duke I LOVE HIM and I love everyone else too..
Happy Anniversary to Nana and Papa this week - love you! Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY JORDY!!!!!!!!!!! I'll be thinking of you this week. You are no longer a teen..sadd but happy!!! Blow out the candles for me too ;) love you forever friend.
We have had a lovely week. Just talking to tons of random strangers and wondering why none of them will accept eternal life....people are funny
some are not as nice,
others are very friendly until they find out who we are,
some are looking for the truth but they don't know where to find it and so those are the people we have been called to find and sometimes the task is not as simple as it sounds. But we are doing our best and that is all that Heavenly Father asks of us.
This week we taught Brother Edwards the word of wisdom - he said that he is excited before every lesson which surprises him but we are happy that he is starting to recognize the feelings of the Spirit. He knows that living the word of wisdom is important and he wants to quit smoking but he knows it is not going to be easy. Lucky for him, he can pray and put his trust in God to pull him through. Alyssia also talked to her dad after we told her that we could not continue teaching her if her dad did not approve and she told him how she felt. She texted us later that day and said that he has allowed her to continue meeting with us and that she can come to church. She is so happy and excited. It is inspiring to see that the Lord will always help us through if we put our faith entirely in Him.
A wise and incredible missionary who served here sent me an email and her thoughts on charity struck me especially because I am striving diligently to develop the Christlike attribute of charity into my own character. She said...
"I want to tell you 2 things that I learned on my mission regarding charity and loving our fellow man. Some of you may already know these two things.
The first thing is: in order to truly love someone we must understand them.
The second thing is everyone has a story.
There's always a reason for behavior and it's important for us to recognize that."
I thought that though simple those two lessons are incredibly profound. You can't love someone until your understand them and recognize that we all have a story to tell.
I am thankful that as a
I also wanted to share with you one of the lessons I learned from my Book of Mormon reading this week. I am reading in Alma where Alma is talking to his son Heleman and giving him some AMAZING fatherly advise. He is teaching about the scriptures and how the "words of Christ" will lead us to eternal life - all we have to do is "follow their course" yet people often lose their way because of the easiness of the task..Alma 37:45-47 (I'm not going to write it all out because I don't have enough time but READ IT PLEASE) and I love in verse 46 where he says,
"O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way...The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever."
I love the scriptures. I know they will teach us "all things what ye should do" and that they truly do lead us to eternal life. I hope that I never forget to study them and ponder on their truthfulness because they
LAST THOUGHT - This week I read an incredible talk in the ensign about,
"BECOMING CHILDREN OF LIGHT" by Elder Christensen (I would encourage you to read it if you get a chance) He talks about us as members of the church being children of light, children of the day not of darkness <1 Thessalonians 5:5-8> He poses a question that is good for us to ask ourselves in any situation -
"Do you see any light in that?"
We must only involve ourselves in things that will bring us more light in our lives, more of the Spirit, closer to our Savior who is "the light and life of the world." There is a quote in it by Elder John A Widstoe that says,
"We cannot walk as other men, or talk as other men, or do as other men, for we have a different destiny, obligation, and responsibility placed upon us, and we must fit ourselves to it."
I love that. We must stand apart from the world and follow the true light of the world - who is our Savior. And lucy reminded me of the powerful Spirit and LIGHT our individual testimonies can bring to the lives of those around us. We must let our lights shine. We have testimonies so that we can share them - so that others can see the light and desire to brighten their own. I want to end with my testimony.
I know that this is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ in its fulness. I know God lives and loves us. I know that only because of the infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ can we be made whole, freed from the burden of our sins. I know that The Book of Mormon is a special witness of the Savior, that those people did live and that as we read we will receive strength to continue on the path to eternal life - living forever with God - our ultimate goal. I know that nothing can stop this work from progressing.
I know that I am meant to be here and
I am forever grateful for this opportunity to serve.
I love you all with my whole heart. Hope you have the best week. Eat a birthday cake for me. LOVE YOU!!
Love, Sister G
No comments:
Post a Comment