Mi Familia,
This week I have been studying a lot from Jesus the Christ,
reading the parables taught and I have learned so much. One quote that really
stood out to me, that has become my core experience with God this week, is one
by James E. Talmage. He said “Unqualifiedly offensive as is Sin, the sinner is
yet precious in the Father’s eyes, because of the possibility of his repentance
and return to righteousness. The loss of a soul is a very real and a very great
loss to God. He is pained and grieved thereby, for it is his will that not one
should perish.” (pg. 461)This really stuck out to me because a goal I set for myself
at the beginning of my mission was from 3 Nephi 11:11 “to suffer the will of
the Father in all things from the beginning.” And my whole mission I have tried
my best to ‘suffer the will.’ But from reading this and from many other eye
opening experiences, I realized that really I shouldn’t have that attitude. I
mean of course living up to, and doing the Father’s will is not an easy thing.
But that we should not be suffering it, we should accept it with a cheerful
heart, full of gratitude. Christ already suffered it for us. I realized this in
our District Meeting as we were trained on grace. Grace is the endless love
enabling us to overcome and be as God is. And as we were talking I felt to
share this quote, and as I did I felt the strongest feeling that my Heavenly
Father’s literal will is to have me and all of His other children return to
live with Him in His glory. He wants to give us everything He has. And by us
not accepting His will here on earth, or fighting against it, we are literally
denying our entrance to the Celestial Kingdom.
I realized again, quite powerfully, the mercy and love He
has for me and all of us. And it makes me want to accept His will, being full
of gratitude, no matter what He asks. My Heavenly Father knows everything about
me and He knows exactly what I need, and so His will is what I need to follow.
Another parable I read was about the 10 lepers. In Jesus the Christ it talks
about how the 9 were strictly obedient to the Lord, but only the 1 had the
after thought to come back and thank the Savior for healing him. It is another
lesson in the fact that no matter what is asked of us, we decide how we act and
what we choose. When we come back to the Lord and thank him for the growth He has
given us, how much better we will be. Our attitude definitely does affect us
and we need to make sure that we don’t let our attitude get in the way.
In practice as teaching as the Savior Taught I learned again
the power of faith. Saturday afternoon to Sunday we saw so many miracles. As it
was the end of the month we really wanted to achieve our goals we had set and
we needed some new investigators and lots of people at Sacrament meeting. We
reviewed what we had done during the week and made some plans to achieve the
goal. Afterwards we prayed together and put our faith and trust in the Lord’s
hands. As we went out we were able to find 4 new investigators in just under an
hour. We couldn’t believe it. We were so amazed that Heavenly Father would
bless us with these precious souls.
We also decided to go and re-invite everyone that we had
already invited to Sacrament and, invite everyone else as well. And as we came
to Church the next day, a miracle happened. We had 7 investigators at Church.
My goodness! Can you believe it? 7?! I think it’s a record for our area. It was so pleasing. And to make it even
better the ones who came absolutely loved it. It
was wonderful. I am truly so
grateful for the Lord trusting us enough for us to be witnesses to these
miracles.
Another thing to be grateful for are the ways in which the
Lord allows us to grow. Not going to lie here, this week was really hard for
me. I felt like I was running on empty all week long, but some how I made it
through each day. And the reason being, is that Heavenly Father helped me
through it all. One night before I went to bed I was praying and I guess I didn’t
realize anything was wrong until I began to speak to Him. I was accounting for
my day and all the things came to mind and I just started to cry. But thank
goodness for a loving, and patient Heavenly Father. He listened to me and as I
gave him all of my struggles I felt him comforting me. After I finished I couldn’t stop crying and I guess I needed
to keep letting it out, so my much needed, best friend/ companion(ish) listened to me. She was patient and she allowed me to let it all out, even
though I was an absolute mess. The relationship the Lord has allowed us to have
has literally changed my life. I have never before had someone be so patient
with me, and challenged me to grow so much, at the same time showing me so much
love. I know Heavenly Father sent her here for me. He knew I needed her at this
turning point in my life. Because she listened to me that night I was able to
overcome things that I have been struggling with for weeks.
I have come to realize since serving my mission that one of
the greatest ways the Lord answers our prayers is through someone else. It is
one of my favorite things to pray for each morning, to ask please help me to be
an answer to someone’s prayer. And then you find that the Lord does just that.
It makes you feel so good knowing that the Lord is aware of not only my needs,
but the needs of all of us.
Later on in the week I was also able to receive a priesthood
blessing, which gave me exactly what I needed. I was blessed with things I
didn’t even know I was struggling with, but it brought the sense of peace that
I needed. I’m grateful for the wonderful gift that the Priesthood is to all of
us.
Heavenly Father has promised us all the same exaltation. And
He has given us everything we need to return to Him. I know that as we
earnestly seek to follow His will, and to become as He is, we will be blessed
even more abundantly then we are now.
Another fun thing that's happened this week....mice...lots
of mice. IN our FLAT! YUCK! And as you all know I really really really really
hate mice. They turn me into this foolish
little girl. Sister Lloyd and I bought traps this week and at one point she was
setting a trap and one ran across her hand. She screamed and jumped and I
flipped out too. Then we left and we caught one, thinking we had gotten rid of
it. Well I'm here to tell you, no. I was walking out of the bedroom and another
little gross creature decides to run
across my foot. So obviously I start screaming and kick it into the kitchen. Sister Lloyd comes running out and I just start laughing hysterically at how ridiculous that must have sounded. I'm so not loving this at all. I wish they would just leave. But I guess it's all fun and joy from the mission right? ha :)
Love you all
Sister Benjamin
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