The pictures we got back from New Horizons mark the first time we as children of our Heavenly Father during mortality have seen this particular creation of our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ, since He created it. Can you believe that? This just struck me as so beautiful! As I thought this week (about Pluto, yes, but also about the plan of salvation) I've come to a conclusion! Eternity is real. This mortal life is a brief little break in eternity, and our mission here on earth is to reconnect ourselves with the eternity our Heavenly Father wants for us. And to help others on their way as well. And the way we do that is by following the Savior!
I read a talk called "Saving your life" this week by Elder Cristofferson and one thing that really stuck out to me is that personal development has value as it contributes to a Christlike character. Our faith in Christ increases as we become better acquainted with Him from study of the scriptures and prayer to God para gain a testimony of the things we learn. We learn of Him and our lives come to be in closer harmony with the way He wants us to live. And when that happens! :
"A deeper understanding of Jesus Christ will give us greater hope for the future and, despite our imperfections, more confidence in achieving our righteous goals. This will also grant us a greater desire to serve our fellowman."
So an experience. Angel is all ready to be baptized but his mother needs to know what's going on and she has an insane work schedule. We prepared a very prayerfully planned lesson for Sara and went at a time we were quite hopeful she would be there. We felt the spirit so strongly as we practiced and prepared this lesson and when we went to see her, she was home! It was a miracle, but agency is still a thing and so she told us she didn't want to talk with us then. We came home and I was feeling sad about it. Lots of questions about what we needed to do kept running through my mind and I didn't feel like we had any answers. I opened the Book of Mormon and was reading from the Saviors ministry in America.
10 And when the disciples had done this, Jesus said unto them: Blessed are ye for this thing which ye have done, for this is fulfilling my commandments, and this doth witness unto the Father that ye are willing to do that which I have commanded you.
Even though S isn't progressing and A hasn't been baptized yet I learned that because I am willing to do what I have been commanded to do (bring people to Christ through baptism) this, doing everything I know how to do and following the spirit, is fulfilling the commandment because of the grace of Jesus Christ. I can't live this law perfectly, but all Christ asks of me is that I have real intent in trying to live the law, and He fulfills it in my behalf.
Keeping the commandments is a righteous goal (see above quote), but we have many imperfections and we live in an imperfect world. But it says despite our imperfections we can have hope through the Savior! So for this reason I have hope that despite the situation now with A and S the Lord will not withhold blessings that A is ready to receive and that we will see miracles this week as the Atonement takes effect in the lives of Angel and his mom, as well as Sister Rea's and mine. The love the Savior has for us extends waaaay beyond the law, way beyond what we can see with our mortal perspectives, and way beyond who we have become. The invitation this week is to pray for and seek for a greater hope in that truth that Christ loves you and that if you turn to Him with a great desire and willingness to pass through what He gives you to pass through, with faith, He will be there! Nothing is beyond His ability to save.
We've been working hard this week but haven't been able to find new investigators yet. We did teach a lady we've had on our list of potentials for a while and she seems genuinely interested in following Jesus Christ! We have another lesson with her tonight so that will be good. We have recommitted to finding with enthusiasm and with lots of faith that God is preparing people in this area and as we search with Faith He will put these people in our path. It's been a rough week for teaching which has gotten me discouraged at times, but Sister Rea, with an incredible spirit behind her words told me, "the Lord is polishing us for the people that are coming! Be faithful!". I promise you all that as you remain faithful and GRATEFUL to the Lord during and for those times of polishing you will find joy and success as you develop a Christlike character and truly make a difference in the lives of those around you.
This week was really a fun week too! We were in a PARADE! For Pioneer Day! There were a tonnnn of people that came out and everybody cheered for the missionaries and gave us high fives and it was just a really happy and exciting thing to be a part of. Every once in a while the zone would group up and we sang Called to Serve Him and it was such a cool feeling!
We played rugby this morning which was pretty interesting 0.0 And then some frisbee and I dove for the frisbee and caught it and then did a little somersault thing. Shout out to Zoe: flashback to that time we nijad around the school and I said I wish I could do a somersault thing. Mission accomplished.
We did a service project for one of my favorite families in the ward. They've been having some pretty intense challenges happening in their family and it had been a while since I had hung out with them. We felt like we should go see them so we got there and they asked us if we could help them paint the house! Inspired timing. And it was so fun! And they are going to take us to the pageant next Saturday (Martin Harris pageant? No se.) and I'm sooo excited! I love this family a lot and I feel like this experience will help them, plus we get to spend time with them.
We also had a ward picnic this Saturday, that people actually came to! Apparently that is a feat on its own for this area. It was a lot of fun. We played frisbee and I got a black lip. Somehow I have a way of getting injured in really anticlimactic ways. We also played volleyball and I included two pictures of me, I got really into it and sometimes looked as cool as I felt and others...not so much xD but it was a lovely time with some great members.
Enjoy the bug/alien video. We die of laughter every time we watch it!
Alright, that's all I've got for today :D hope you enjoy this week!