Friday, February 24, 2017

с днём валентина! (Week 37)

"translation: Happy Valentine's Day!

A week that starts out with 4 of Sister Juchau's snickerdoodles can never be a bad week! It might have been an interesting week, but it definitely was not a bad one. I don't think it's possible to be a missionary and have a bad week. We got to go to a member's house last Monday and make planner covers for our planners for next transfer (which is next week btw). Transfers are always exciting! It was really relaxing to sit back and do some crafts and get this random taste of relaxation and fun together. It's times like that that I am really able to become great friends with Sister Christensen and Sister Hamon. They are so fantastic. There's something about having one purpose and one mind and working together with the spirit. Speaking of which, the interesting part about this week was something that I talked about last week. The more I feel the  spirit in any given day, the more successful I feel about that day when I kneel down at night to account with Heavenly Father. About halfway through the week, the spirit seemed to dwindle in our apartment and in our companionship. Instead of feeling the spirit of missionary work, there was a spirit of tension and over-sensitivity. It's really easy to focus on the little things that go wrong like not being able to go to a baptism because you less active doesn't show up, or breaking the glove box in your car, or missing a bunch of turns and being late or any number of every day things that happen. It's so easy to dwell on the "bad" things that happen. Or, the "bad" things that people unintentionally say.  It's really easy to get to the point where you see love from someone for 23.5 hours of the day, but there's that 30 minutes where you feel left out or lonely or misunderstood and those are the 30 minutes that you are going to remember. It's hard when you just want to fake it til you make it, not cause contention, not hurt anyone's feelings, and just smile through everything. However, that's not how the Atonement works. We have to let ourselves feel what we are feeling and acknowledge it. That's the only way that He will be able to actually heal the root of the problem so that it can in actuality be healed and not happen again or not happen as often, at least.

Jesus Christ told the Nephites:
"Will ye not return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you? if ye will come unto me, ye shall have eternal life. Mine arm of mercy is extended toward you; and whosoever will come, him will I receive. I am Jesus Christ. The Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. Come unto me ye ends of the earth..and be saved."

It's our choice! It's completely up to us! He is ALWAYS there. He doesn't leave. He wants us to come unto him. But isn't that why we are here on earth? To exercise our agency and make mistakes and then realize that we can't fix our own problems or bear our own burdens, but He ALREADY has. Everything has a perfect solution in Christ. It's not going to be easy...we have to suffer along the way a little bit. That's not because God doesn't love us. It's because he DOES love us. Because through Christ we are healed. We have peace. If it was easy then what would we learn? How would we show our commitment to Heavenly Father? He sends us to a neighborhood where He knows that there isn't going to be anyone interested. He doesn't do that for the people that we are going to talk to, He does it for us as missionaries. He leads us there because it gives us the experiences that will help us later in some way. He knows everything. He doesn't send anyone on any type of wild goose chase. I know that everything happens for a reason and according to God's will. And He does nothing save it be for the benefit of His children.

Be proud of me because we did service and trimmed some bushes with some clippers/loppers and they looked pretty darn good when we got done. All those years of clearing out horse-riding trails did me some good, I guess! I'm learning all sorts of life skills that I never thought would come out of my mission.

It was windy, and Sister Hamon was on splits with another sister and so Sister C and I went out and contacted some people. The reason I mention the wind is because my dress was a very light fabric (like, not heavy type of light) and very blowly in the wind type of thing. We were standing on a doorstep and she basically had to talk to this guy alone, trying not to laugh as I held my dress down. I'm just glad that I had a slip and tights on...

All is well in Seattle! We are visiting the space needle and the EMP museum today with our sister training leaders! So excited and we will take a lot of pictures.

Love all of you! Keep killin' it.

-Cectpa Jenne"

No pictures this week, I guess! I'll pester her about that next week. :P

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