I left the area for the first time since my second week in the
mission! I love Montevista and Logan but it was really good to leave
for a day to get a fresh perspective on things. I was with Hermana
Bettey who is brand new in the mission and who is already speaking
Spanish like a boss. It was a great day, we talked with some really
awesome people. I became friends with one guy while he was fixing the
air conditioning in his car. He taught me a little bit about cars and
how they work! He kind of woke up one day and realized that he needs
to go back to church so he can go to the temple with his wife and
kids. And this after a life of not really thinking about the church or
anything. But he has a beautiful dream of the future, of who he wants
to be and how he wants his life to be- centered on the Savior and his
family. I felt how much Heavenly Father loves this guy and wants these
things for him, and I began to really want these things for him too. I
told him he just needs to punch the thoughts he gets from the
adversary in the face when he tells him not to go to church or to lose
sight of his goal. The Lord has such good things coming, we can't give
up yet!
Hermana Bettey and I went on a glorious run in the morning. We ran to
the lake!! It reminded me of home :) but at the end of the run there
was a giant hill. Like literally giant. I was determined that I was
not going to quit, that I was going to run up the entire hill and not
let it beat me. So I sprinted up the giant hill! And when I got to the
top I was so out of breath and tired and my muscles were burning so I
stopped running. Hermana Bettey ran ahead of me and called back,
"we're so close don't stop yet!!" And I was like, yeah okay and kept
walking. Then literally the house right across the street was ours.
As I was reading my scriptures and pondering I felt very strongly that
there are such good things coming. Remarkable things! and I can't stop
running now.
I don't know if I've written about this family before or not. They
were in our teaching pool before but weren't very ready. They
recognized it as a good thing but didn't really want it yet. They've
come back into the picture unexpectedly and we are starting to see
some amazing things. I learned this week that the joy of missionary
work is getting a front row seat to see the Savior apply His love and
the power of His atonement to the lives of others, especially
families. What a remarkable and beautiful thing to see, and I feel so
lucky and blessed to see it. This family has been to some dark places.
The husband found a Book of Mormon in jail and planted a seed then of
the husband and father he would like to be and has never looked back.
The wife has seen the changes that Christ has made in her husband and
can realize the difference there is in her home, but has never really
been interested in the church on her own. But recently some hard
things have been happening in her life and she's had some questions.
And that's when we showed up!
We felt like we should stop by and just kind of gauge their interest,
and we felt like we should sing "I Believe in Christ" for her, hoping
it would bring the whole family to the living room so we could teach
all of them. The spirit was very strongly in the room, and this lady
started to tear up. She thanked us for the song, and then asked us if
it was on YouTube so she could listen to it again! We asked her what
stood out to her in the song and she told us a few parts that we then
taught about and testified of. She recognized the spirit, and received
some answers she was looking for. And since then she has been so eager
to listen so that she can feel the Holy Ghost again. They didn't come
to our sacrament meeting, but they went to an English one in Idaho
(which frustrates me a little but no importa) and the man bore his
testimony about Jesus Christ and the atonement and how he was saved
from a really dark place because of His love, and the coolest part was
that since he doesn't know English his wife had to translate for him!
And she felt the spirit very strongly as she did.
I love this family so much, even though they are frustrating
sometimes. I want them to keep going down the path that they've
started on, and for them to see all of the good things that are to
come for them if they'll just endure and exercise a little bit of
faith. I feel a difference in the way I teach them because of the love
I have for them. I'm not worried about getting through the lessons
like I have been before, but more about teaching them what they need
and helping them take little steps towards Jesus Christ so that they
can have the joy that He has to offer them. And it's so much sweeter
this way!
I absolutely love my mission. Things are good and I enjoy every day 😀
We made empanadas and arepas with a member in our ward. Empanadas are
from chile and arepas are from Venezuela. It was a really fun time!
Sister Michia was trying to describe her favorite Disney movie by saying "The prince that turned into a lamp". We kindly explained to her that Aladdin started out as a poor kid and then found the lamp and then turned into a prince. She said, no, Aladdin isn't her favorite movie, it's about a
prince who turns into a lamp! We were puzzled. "Something about a groove?" she says, and we realize she meant a LLAMA and not a lamp xD. Just laugh, it was funny, I promise.
Another funny quote from sister Rea this week: I LOVE tangerines! Actually I love all fruit that ends with "gerine". Tangerine, uhhhhhh..... Orange..."
This week I studied "deliverance". It's so interesting how the bible
begins mas o menos with the history of Moses delivering the
Israelites. It sets the scene for the entire course of human history
with this concept of deliverance. That's the deal here on earth, we
are given a law and because we are imperfect we become bound to the
consequences of breaking the law. We are in essence in bondage to the
natural man, because the natural man will never be able to return to
Gods presence. We need to be delivered from these bonds and be changed
by our Deliverer. And the way we do that is by making sacred covenants
with God. Covenants give Christ the ability to deliver us and change
us and make us clean even as we live the law imperfectly. There's a
great talk on this called "Search Me O God and Know My Heart" by James
E Faust. And of course the Book of Mormon explains it so well:
13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in
their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort,
for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will
covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.
Christ loves us, even though at the same time He knows all of our faults. He's got our
backs. Covenants are so precious. Make them, keep them!
All the love,
mle
mission! I love Montevista and Logan but it was really good to leave
for a day to get a fresh perspective on things. I was with Hermana
Bettey who is brand new in the mission and who is already speaking
Spanish like a boss. It was a great day, we talked with some really
awesome people. I became friends with one guy while he was fixing the
air conditioning in his car. He taught me a little bit about cars and
how they work! He kind of woke up one day and realized that he needs
to go back to church so he can go to the temple with his wife and
kids. And this after a life of not really thinking about the church or
anything. But he has a beautiful dream of the future, of who he wants
to be and how he wants his life to be- centered on the Savior and his
family. I felt how much Heavenly Father loves this guy and wants these
things for him, and I began to really want these things for him too. I
told him he just needs to punch the thoughts he gets from the
adversary in the face when he tells him not to go to church or to lose
sight of his goal. The Lord has such good things coming, we can't give
up yet!
Hermana Bettey and I went on a glorious run in the morning. We ran to
the lake!! It reminded me of home :) but at the end of the run there
was a giant hill. Like literally giant. I was determined that I was
not going to quit, that I was going to run up the entire hill and not
let it beat me. So I sprinted up the giant hill! And when I got to the
top I was so out of breath and tired and my muscles were burning so I
stopped running. Hermana Bettey ran ahead of me and called back,
"we're so close don't stop yet!!" And I was like, yeah okay and kept
walking. Then literally the house right across the street was ours.
As I was reading my scriptures and pondering I felt very strongly that
there are such good things coming. Remarkable things! and I can't stop
running now.
I don't know if I've written about this family before or not. They
were in our teaching pool before but weren't very ready. They
recognized it as a good thing but didn't really want it yet. They've
come back into the picture unexpectedly and we are starting to see
some amazing things. I learned this week that the joy of missionary
work is getting a front row seat to see the Savior apply His love and
the power of His atonement to the lives of others, especially
families. What a remarkable and beautiful thing to see, and I feel so
lucky and blessed to see it. This family has been to some dark places.
The husband found a Book of Mormon in jail and planted a seed then of
the husband and father he would like to be and has never looked back.
The wife has seen the changes that Christ has made in her husband and
can realize the difference there is in her home, but has never really
been interested in the church on her own. But recently some hard
things have been happening in her life and she's had some questions.
And that's when we showed up!
We felt like we should stop by and just kind of gauge their interest,
and we felt like we should sing "I Believe in Christ" for her, hoping
it would bring the whole family to the living room so we could teach
all of them. The spirit was very strongly in the room, and this lady
started to tear up. She thanked us for the song, and then asked us if
it was on YouTube so she could listen to it again! We asked her what
stood out to her in the song and she told us a few parts that we then
taught about and testified of. She recognized the spirit, and received
some answers she was looking for. And since then she has been so eager
to listen so that she can feel the Holy Ghost again. They didn't come
to our sacrament meeting, but they went to an English one in Idaho
(which frustrates me a little but no importa) and the man bore his
testimony about Jesus Christ and the atonement and how he was saved
from a really dark place because of His love, and the coolest part was
that since he doesn't know English his wife had to translate for him!
And she felt the spirit very strongly as she did.
I love this family so much, even though they are frustrating
sometimes. I want them to keep going down the path that they've
started on, and for them to see all of the good things that are to
come for them if they'll just endure and exercise a little bit of
faith. I feel a difference in the way I teach them because of the love
I have for them. I'm not worried about getting through the lessons
like I have been before, but more about teaching them what they need
and helping them take little steps towards Jesus Christ so that they
can have the joy that He has to offer them. And it's so much sweeter
this way!
I absolutely love my mission. Things are good and I enjoy every day 😀
We made empanadas and arepas with a member in our ward. Empanadas are
from chile and arepas are from Venezuela. It was a really fun time!
Sister Michia was trying to describe her favorite Disney movie by saying "The prince that turned into a lamp". We kindly explained to her that Aladdin started out as a poor kid and then found the lamp and then turned into a prince. She said, no, Aladdin isn't her favorite movie, it's about a
prince who turns into a lamp! We were puzzled. "Something about a groove?" she says, and we realize she meant a LLAMA and not a lamp xD. Just laugh, it was funny, I promise.
Another funny quote from sister Rea this week: I LOVE tangerines! Actually I love all fruit that ends with "gerine". Tangerine, uhhhhhh..... Orange..."
This week I studied "deliverance". It's so interesting how the bible
begins mas o menos with the history of Moses delivering the
Israelites. It sets the scene for the entire course of human history
with this concept of deliverance. That's the deal here on earth, we
are given a law and because we are imperfect we become bound to the
consequences of breaking the law. We are in essence in bondage to the
natural man, because the natural man will never be able to return to
Gods presence. We need to be delivered from these bonds and be changed
by our Deliverer. And the way we do that is by making sacred covenants
with God. Covenants give Christ the ability to deliver us and change
us and make us clean even as we live the law imperfectly. There's a
great talk on this called "Search Me O God and Know My Heart" by James
E Faust. And of course the Book of Mormon explains it so well:
13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in
their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort,
for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will
covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.
Christ loves us, even though at the same time He knows all of our faults. He's got our
backs. Covenants are so precious. Make them, keep them!
All the love,
mle