My Heart

These past couple days have been so amazing.

On Friday we had to do splits because at the same time we had two appointments. Splits are always hard because you don’t have another missionary to help guide the lesson, and I never like doing them! But coming out of the lesson, we all (3 members came with me so that they could get to know the family) were on cloud nine. Walking out into the dark night, all our thoughts and feelings started bursting out, and we had all felt the Spirit so strong.

On Saturday we had a long-awaited baptism!!!!! She came early so we were calm and happy and could talk with her about how she felt. She kept saying she felt calm and sure. But hearing her bear her testimony for the first time after her baptism was even better. It filled my heart to see how much she has progressed. She really and truly knows the sacredness of the covenant she has made and the value of this church she has found. If only everyone could know these things for themselves.

I know that God is the father of our Spirits. I know that we lived with Him before we came here. I know that coming here to earth is part of our Father’s plan for our eternal progression, that He is so worried about us while we are here and just wants us to be successful and come back to Him. He spends all his time and energy trying to make that happen, without overriding our agency. I know that Jesus Christ is our Heavenly Brother and that before sending us to earth, God prepared Him to be our Savior and make our redemption possible. God didn’t send us to earth without all the tools we’d need in order to come back and be perfected and eternally happy, and Jesus Christ is the center. The prophets, the scriptures, and priesthood, families, prayer: the list of tools at our disposal goes on and on. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is sanctioned and directed by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ—it is the church that includes all the tools. I have no doubt. I don’t apologize and I don’t want to apologize—what I want is that everyone could know these things for themselves.

Every single one of us is a child of God, and as such has the right to know these things for themselves—if they humble themselves more than they ever have before, if they truly desire and diligently work for that knowledge. It was not easy for me to truly find out, but it is the best thing I have ever done and has brought me more peace than I ever had before.

November 10: Some very important things you should know

I’ve had a cottage cheese conversión!!! I don’t know how I didn’t like it before. I don’t know how anyone could NOT like it. I thought of Jeremy.

These are the sisters of our ward. They take suuuuuch good care of us. If you want to know how to take care of the missionaries, I’ll give the 411 right now. Feed them on time. They have appointments to go to right after. Hopefully! If not, there’s something else you can do for them: references. You can do that by inviting your friends to a FHE or an activity and there, introduce them to the missionaries. The missionaries will invite your friends to have them over and listen to a little bit more about the Gospel. Don’t make the missionaries come with you to eat if it’s not the scheduled time to feed them because they should be working. Don’t encourage them to be slackers (Dad:p). But if you still want to feed them, send them with leftovers or drop off leftovers at night. There’s no time to cook sooooo it’s amazing!!!! What else? Come with us to teach people!!! The lessons go soooo much further when a member is there. Share your testimony. Don’t take over the lesson haha; reaffirm whatever the missionaries just said.  And invite the person to church! You guys have no idea how much you can help people.

Well, now yall are VIPS. I love this Gospel so much. It is more perfect than an human could ever devise. It is the plan of God, and how incredible that we have this knowledge at our disposal!!!!!!! Take advantage of it, never take it for granted. Share it with others. Serve your neighbor. Remember that good will always win and there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Be fearless. Pray as if God were sitting there on your bed listening. Picture Him there. Be obedient. Remember what is everything and what is nothing. (If that doesn’t make sense, I will say it in a more boring way: Remember what is eternally important and what is actually not important.)

I love you all!!! I love hearing from you. I treasure my friends and family more than ever. (And I already knew you were the best I could ask for before, imagine how I feel now!!!)

October 27: Treasure

Hey everyone! This week was Halloween and check out the adorable Maleficent that came to trick or treat at our house <3 She’s the daughter of one of the less-active families we teach. It was my first time in my life giving out treats and she was the only one who knocked but I was so happy!!! Giving out treats is just as good as getting treats, who knew.

We also got our fair share of treats because on Sunday it was reverse trick or treating, all the kids came up to us with the treats and let us choose which ones we wanted!!!! Hahaha it was the cutest thing ever and I didn’t even have to miss out on the traditional stomachache from too much candy. The only thing that was missing from this Halloween was the candy corn. And chocolate chip pumpkin bread. Oh and you guys!!!!!!!!!!

Dad sent me a picture of the little Grinch hahaha way tooo cute!!!!! Now it’s time for a haircut. Idk what Brig or Rae or my cousins dressed up as for Halloween, but I hope it was fun.

We had Zone Meeting this week, shout out to Meg and Nona for the letters :D Know that I love you all and think about you all constantly!!! You are in my heart and I appreciate all the support. I can feel it, so even though I love hearing from you, even when I don’t hear from you I feel your support and love. I hope you can feel mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Something I read this week in Preach My Gospel, in the lesson about callings in the church, is: One of the greatest blessings of being a member of our Church is providing service. This really hit me!!!!!!!! I mean when you think about all the blessings we have as members of the Church, they are astounding: a prophet and 12 apostles, being able to be sealed as eternal families, and yet, our callings and many opportunities to serve are one of our greatest blessings!!!!!!!!!!

Reading the New Testament is inspiring because you read about the actions of Jesus Christ, and it truly is incredible to even start to think about the magnitude of service he gave. You can’t be like Jesus or apply WWJD if service is not a huge part of your life. So the opportunities in our lives to serve truly are some of the most important and more profound blessings we have.