How are my favorite people? We have had a great week!
We were in Naga on Tuesday for MLC. We set out on our version of the Road to Hana
at 5 a.m. I discovered that it is very
difficult to sleep in a tiny squished van on the Road to Hana. So I enjoyed
watching the world move by rather than sleeping. This included things like
small canoes floating down canals, a man selling coconuts from a large rolling
crate, little children running to school in green uniforms. The elders love Mission
Leadership Conference because of the food. It is always delicious. The cook at
the mission home is engaged to a guy from St. George and he is a lucky man.
This morning we got up early and headed to the beach called
Bagasbas to go running. This is in our ward boundary but the area covered by
the zone leaders. I was in heaven. The combination of ocean
air and running is a magic medication for my soul. I think it cleared the
cobwebs out of my brain.
I have really been thinking about the Atonement this week.
I think I am a decent person but I know I have made a lot of mistakes and
am not perfect. Sometimes those mistakes feel so heavy. I realize how far
I need to. I was reading in Mosiah where it says: 10 And
again, believe that ye must arepent of your sins and forsake them, and
humble yourselves before God; and ask inbsincerity of heart that he would cforgive you; and now, if youdbelieve all these things see that ye edo them.
2 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this
ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the alove of God, and always bretain a remission of your sins; and ye shall
grow in the cknowledge of the glory of him that created you,
or in the knowledge of that which is just and true
I find great comfort knowing that there is not a limit to
the Savior’s grace.
We were teaching the young 16 year old girl I mentioned last
week and she opened up to us about how she feels that she can never do enough.
She has a lot on her plate being mom and dad and big sister. We talked about
how we are never alone because of the atonement; Christ knows us perfectly.
Sister Bersola bore a powerful testimony telling her that she is a
daughter of God. In the first few months of the mission when things were very hard
and I felt quite hopeless, I started to keep a miracle journal. Every day I
would write one miracle that I saw that day. It helped me see that even when it
is so difficult God still cares for us. He will not leave us and I know he will
not leave this young girl. We gave her a small journal to start her own miracle
journal to remember the savior in her life.
I sat in R.S yesterday with my arm around an elderly woman,
which in all honesty, I don’t really know. She was sitting on the back row in a
large purple sweater covering her very small and frail body with tears
streaming down her face. We had her come sit by us and I gave her my handkerchief.
She only said she was having problems with her husband and then sat
shuddering under my arm.
In 3 Nephi the savior tells us to come unto him and he will
heal us.
The atonement is not something I fully understand but I do
know that it will make up for my mistakes, our young 16 year old friend’s loneliness
and this woman’s heart ache if we come unto him.
We start exchanges this week with two sets of sisters and
have interviews with President tomorrow. The first week of the transfer, two of
the sisters stayed at our apartment because theirs wasn’t finished yet. So Sister
b and I slept on the floor - we haven’t moved back into our beds yet cause we
are lazy and the floor is actually more comfortable than the bars on my back
haha.
I think I am told at least 4 times a day (at least once a
day by sister B) that I look like Barbie. I told Sister B that in America, that
is not a compliment. She said oh, okay, well then you look like Paris Hilton. I
told her that is worse. haha)
Daet has one stop light. It is the first stop light I have
seen in a year. The pineapple is still delicious and I love the area and my
darling companion.
William - good luck out there! go get em! Welcome to the
army! You are going to do so well!
Cate - you look beautiful in all your pics.
Owen - stop growing.
Love from the pines,
Sister C
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