November 7, 2017

haha oh man mom this was easily one of the hardest weeks of my life and its only week one in but it was also one of the most rewarding and eye opening weeks of my life and i'm so grateful for that:)

okay first off, on my FIRST DAY HERE i was walking back from lunch in the tunnels casually (hehe) and me and my companion are just talking and i wasn't looking up and then all of the sudden we hear a "hey sisters!" and we look up and its David. A Bednar ahahahha like sorry what???!!! and guess who was with him. 9 OTHER APOSTLES. so on my first day i got to meet 10/12 apostles which was pretty sick they are all very nice and i was freaking out the entire time ahahah

oh ya okay so my comps name is Sister Ratmaet and shes from Thailand and shes very very nice:) its hard at times because she has a very strong accent so I cant understand it very well haha so that's kinda hard but its okay! She knows the history of Temple Square really well and shes taught me so much already! sometimes i'm scared she thinks i'm annoying but the again I am annoying so I just accept it lol 

Oh also some big news!!! two of my investigators are getting baptized!!! yay!!!! One of them is from Alabama (dad!!! thats your mission!!!) And the other one is from Utah so I might be able to go to her baptism:) It makes me so happy hearing my investigators want to grow and come closer to Christ! Seriously nothing brings me more joy!! The one from Alabama getting baptized is from a small island near Australia and then he moved to Alabama ahah random i know but hes so nice and its so awesome!!!!

This week was so hard though because I've learned so hard that I need to be humble. I have had to humble myself countless of times everyday being here. and its so hard!!! I really struggled with understanding why I was called to temple square and tbh I still am but I'm learning to trust the Lord and trust that He has a plan for me that I may not understand right now. 

One of my friends sent me this story and it touched my heart so much. And I hope that everyone reads it and tries to see a way in their lives that they can improve and give their all to the Lord even without knowing the end result!!

Once upon a time there was a King, who had a big castle, on the biggest hill, looking over his kingdom. He was a loving king and loved his people, and the people, for the most part, loved the king. The King got all of his water from the rain, but this particular year was a dry one. The king realized that he was running low on water, and made the following announcement to his kingdom. "I am having a magnificent feast at my castle, and you are all invited. To be accepted into the feast though, you have to bring water." Of course this raised many questions, so the people started asking, "How much water? A bucket, a barrel?" the King responded with "Whatever you feel like giving." The day of the feast came, and the villagers walked up the big hill on which the castle was on, the more generous villagers carrying barrels of water, some carrying buckets of water, and the more selfish ones, carrying thimbles of water. Once the water was given to the King, the king informed them to go enjoy the feast, and leave the containers that they brought the water in outside. And what a magnificent feast it was, with all kinds of exotic foods, and fruits and deserts. At the conclusion of the feast, the King reminded them to not forget the containers in which they brought the water in. When the villagers walked out to grab their containers, in astonishment, they saw that their containers were all filled with gold. they thought the reward for bringing the water was the feast, not even knowing about the gold. That night, the villagers who walked up with barrels of water, walked down with barrels of gold, villagers who walked up with buckets of water, walked down with buckets of gold, and yes, the selfish villages who walked up with a thimble of water, walked down with a thimble of gold. Brothers and Sisters, the work that we put into this life, will greatly reward us in the life to come. Let us use our agency wisely. Agency is not only a choice between good and evil, but also, at times, between good and better, or better and best. It is good that we go to church, but it might be a little better if we put our distractions away and focus on feeling the Spirit. It is good that we read our scriptures, but probably better that we ponder them.

Aw man I just love you all and I'm so grateful for all of you. I am so happy that I am on a mission. I know the Lord loves all of us and He is there for all of us.

Something that my district leader said to me the other day was "Just picture Jesus sitting right next to you, and your head is on His shoulder and you are telling Him everything that you're struggling with. And picture Him comforting you and giving you a big hug." I never thought about it like that! But Jesus DOES know what we are going through. and He DOES love us through it all and He wants us to be happy, he doesn't want us holding on to the things that are holding us back from becoming our best selves. I am so happy and grateful that we have the gospel on the earth, and that it is my job for the next year and a half to bring that happiness to others! 

i seriously dont have any time for pics sooo rip but 

the first pic is my last night at the mtc ahahahh such a mess it was a wreck i cried so much

and then its just me hehe

and then they spelt my name wrong for my tags lol:(