5/27/14
"Knock-knock (Who's there) Boo (Boo-Hoo) What are you crying for?!
You are right. Life is fleeting, but being here on my mission has really helped me see that not very much is important. Before my mission I thought that different jobs were more important than others (as in careers). But I have really seen that that doesn't matter to much. I guess we see people more how Christ sees them. The job, the house, the car doesn't matter. There are plenty of people that have all of those things, but let me tell you - their relationships with their family are really messy! And they don't have any spiritual understanding. Those are the only things that you take when you leave this world. We are really lucky to have parents that have taught us to value the right things. Something that I learned from Preach My Gospel is that we can ask if the Book of Mormon is true more than once. It says that we should ask frequently so that our faith is strong that God will answer other people. I know that if you start really searching, Heavenly Father will help you have the spiritual experiences to stay strong.One thing I have been thinking about is how a lot of people saw Jesus when he was walking on the earth. But a lot of them didn't believe that He was the Son of God. What made the difference? The willingness of heart to have faith and try to seek out the Holy Ghost. "
6/16/14
"The Sabbath Day, yeah, I have thought about that a lot on my mission. I have been reading the Old Testament (one chapter left, I will finish today!) and about how much it talks about the Sabbath Day. The Lord frequently says that the judgements and the bondage come from the Israelites breaking this commandment. It must be pretty important to the Lord, right? Why? One of the reasons I have thought of is that if we aren't willing to take one day to truly serve the Lord and work on His behalf, then he really isn't a priority in our lives. I think that having the Sabbath helps us keep our priorities straight. Doing family history work on Sunday is one of the best ways to use our time, I believe.
What have I done in the last 9 months? Being on a mission is really funny, because sometimes I feel like a completely different person after one week! Nine months ago, where was I? Nine months ago I was setting up a question-answer session with our investigators and the mission president. It was awesome! Since then, 3 of the people who went were baptized! And I have talked to hundreds, if not thousands of people. I wouldn't say that I am that great at talking to people at the Gospel, but just talking to a few every day really stacks up! I think I have learned about fasting, and that I have learned about the importance to actually care about other people's salvation. Ultimately they have to decide if they want to follow Jesus Christ, but we can do quite a bit to help them! I think that the thing that I want to remember most is the role of visiting teaching and being kind to people. How we treat each other is really how people can tell if we are the people of God. If I am gossiping behind someone's back, no one is going to want to come join us. That is not a characteristic of Christ! And I think that I have learned the importance of having the Spirit. The Holy Ghost is really what is going to help people want to change. I can talk till I am blue in the face, but it is from what they feel on the inside that will convince them to follow Jesus Christ. "