This
past week has FLOWN BYE! I can't believe I only have two weeks left in
the MTC, I think I have 2 Pdays left.... I'm not for sure, I can't
remember if we leave on Monday or Tuesday.... or Wednesday....... OH
WELL.
I'm
going to start with Tuesday: ELDER GARY E. STEVENSON and his beautiful
wife came for the Devotional!!! and........... I SHOOK HIS HAND!
It's all thanks to Sister Patton, we were in choir which is pretty far
from where He spoke, but he came back into the room and we BOOKED IT..
It was awesome!! ANYWAYS, Him and his wife spoke to us about a
Missionary's Thanksgiving. (I think it applies to everyone though)
1)
We should have Thanksgiving for the change of heart wrought by the
gospel. I sure hope I've experienced and continue to experience this
mighty change. I know I have, I've never been this close to my Savior
before in my entire life. It's so funny, I thought before entering the
MTC I knew what I was talking about. I was like "Oh yeah, my
testimony is so strong!! I've got this in the bag!" I don't think I
knew what I was talking about 😂 I've learned SO MUCH here in the MTC,
and I continue to learn and grow everyday. It's insane, it feels like
I'm in primary/ young womens/ seminary ALL over again but times 100. I
don't know if that makes sense, but I'm so grateful that I decided to
serve a mission, not just for the people, but truly converting myself to
the gospel and the Lord's will.
2) Have Thanksgiving for the Lord and His Gospel
3) Thanksgiving for the Spirit
4)
Thanksgiving for the Restoration. We have SUCH a unique message to
share!! We should always be searching for opportunities to share that
message! Don't be shy, don't be scared, the Lord will help you!
It
was a very simple Devotional, but it was also a great reminder of how
blessed I am to have this gospel in my life and how AWESOME this
opportunity is to share this message!!!
Wednesday
WE GOT TO BE HOSTS!!!! It was so fun!!! but also SO sad to watch all
the missionaries cry and say goodbye to their families. I was like
"WOAH TOO SOON TOO SOON" and I felt super homesick remembering saying
goodbye to my fam bam. It was great to reassure the sisters though and
tell them that they're families going to be taken care of. OH YEAH, and
the title of this email says I cna't speak japanese or english. It's
getting so bad you guys, you can probably notice from my emails, my
english grammar is AWFUL LOL AND the first sister Sister Patton hosted
was from JAPAN!! so we were eating lunch with her, and I was trying
SO HARD to speak some japanese. Nope. Everytime I tried to say "Watashi
wa" (I) I'd say "Saya" (i) I CAN'T SPEAK ANYTHING ANYMORE HAHA. but
speaking of language, it's coming along great!!! TRC was a lot better
and I could understand one of the RM's well even though he was speaking
fast. THE GIFT OF TONGUES IS REAL. But you have to work your butt
off!! The Lord's not going to just hand it to ya on a silver platter. I
have to try everyday to speak as much as I can!
SUNDAY:
AMAZING AS ALWAYS. I hope you guys really truly enjoy the Sabbath
day, try to keep it holy, read your scriptures, watch some mormon
messages, serve someone, visit someone... and always remember your
Savior. So for Sunday Devotional we had the District president and his
wife speak, IT WAS SO AWESOME. It was all about Charity and devoloping
Christlike attributes. So this week, I'm working on Charity, and every
week of my mission I'll choose a different Christlike attribute and do
my best to learn and grow as I follow the Savior's example. I've
realized I really need to tone down the sass! My natural man
immediately gets irritated when things don't go my way... or I don't
understand something right away... and I can get annoyed so easily with
people. NO MORE, I'm really REALLY trying hard to think before I speak
too. my mom has always told me to work on that my entire life and I
never realized how important that is until NOW LOL sorry mom love you!
(; So everyday for personal study I really really study my scriptures, I
start in the topical guide under Charity, and I read each scripture
there and apply it to myself, y'all should see my spiritual journal
it's FILLED. Scriptures are so awesome, everytime I read the same
scripture, it applies to me in a different way.
OH
AND THEN, we watched a talk from Elder Holland. HE'S SO SCARY HOLY
COW. Here's a little taste, "If you plan to go out on your mission and
waste time, THEN GO HOME NOW" but it was also so awesome, I learned
that I really need to take my mission seriously. That every waking
moment, every thought, every action I do needs to be in tuned with the
spirit. He said "You won't ever have this chance again to ever be so
close/like the Quorum of the 12, DO NOT MISS ANY opportunity you have to
be APOSTALIC, it won't ever be like this again. Make your mission
apart of your soul." You should've seen my face, I was in awe, He was
quite scary... but also empowering. Like YEAH I CAN DO THIS.
I'm
gonna quickly share one more experience I had. So at the beginning of
this week, I still felt like I had no idea what I was doing when I was
teaching. I kept feeling waves of discouragement, and I was listening
to those feelings of "You suck, you can't teach with the spirit etc..."
I was feeling so down because I try my best everyday, and I felt like
Heavenly Father wasn't listening to my prayers. So after we teach
Alfred ( oh yeah we have 2 new investigators, Joko and Rianah) Bro.
Blazer comes back in, and asks us how we feel, and I told him the same
thing I just told you. So he's like, Okay let's read in the book of
mormon, We Read Alma 32: 41-43 (it's about faith and it becoming a
tree, when you nourish the seed) BOOM, there I am crying again in class
haha... but I felt chills run through my body, and the spirit warm my
heart, and I knew that feeling was God's love. HE was not not answering
my prayers, I wasn't SEARCHING for them. I learned that 1) I wasn't
having enough FAITH. 2) Heavenly Father will answer your prayers in
sooooo many different ways! For me, Heavenly Father wants me to read
the Book of Mormon more, when I feel discouraged or down or lost,
that's when the Holy Ghost testifies to me, that's when I feel close to
the Lord. If I want Alfred, or Joko, or Rianah to read the Book of
Mormon more and pray about it, I NEED TO READ THE BOOK OF MORMON MORE
AND PRAY ABOUT IT.
I
challenge you guys, whenever you feel down, or lost , or confused.
Like Heavenly Father has abandoned you. I want you to ask yourself
"Can't you have a little faith?" also, read Alma 5:26 and ask yourself
that question. If it's a no, what are you missing in your life? Do you
need to pray more with all the energy of heart? Or do you need to read
your scriptures more and diligently search for the answers of your
soul? Heavenly Father will never abandon you. Christ is always there
for you on the other side of the door knocking. YOU HAVE TO LET HIM IN.
I
LOVE being a missionary, as soon as I figured out what I was lacking in
my life, I've been able to teach so much better, I have better
confidence to go into each lesson without writing everything I want to
say down in my tiny little planner. This week I heard, "Preach YOUR
gospel (yes it's the Lord's) but bare testimony of what YOU KNOW is
true" I love learning everyday, I love my Savior and I know that's He's
always there for me even when I feel lost or confused, and I KNOW He's
always there for you too, Trust in him. Love Him. And let Him in.
HAVE
A GREAT WEEK HAPPY THANKSGIVING EAT LOTS OF GOOD FOOD FOR ME (I'm
trying to cut down, cuz heaven KNOWS I've gained at least 10 pounds lol)
Sampai nanti ya!
No comments:
Post a Comment