Whew!
So yeah, 3 months out. Crazy, huh? Even crazier...*drumroll*...I'm getting transferred tomorrow, AND training! Bah! 'Whitewash training,' it's called. For everyone not well accustomed to mission slang, that means I'll be moving somewhere else in the mission (and probably not be working with Young Singles anymore...though maybe! I have loved it...), and I'll be the first companion of a new missionary who's just come fresh from the MTC. Woot! I'm a little nervous about that, maybe...but who am I kidding. It's gonna be a lot of fun, and y'all know I love to be in charge and start something new...so it's going to be a way fun week. Woot! Alright, down to email business.
An Update:
It's been a great week! Very solid. We were super blessed to have LOTS of people come to church this last week, including Jessica (getting baptized on the 14th) and her surrogate sister, Spencer (who is female. Apparently that name can go that way. Pretty awesome). We did a lot of preparing the ground my first transfer, and it's been wonderful to see that ground begin to bear fruit. It's been so much fun being here, I don't know how I'll cope with leaving. It's going to be super sad to leave Sister Wayman as well. She is a marvelous companion and we've had a lot of fun together. We found cards in our table drawer this week, and most of you know what that means...POUNCE THIS P-DAY! :D More reports on who wins later.
An Experience:
We had a lesson with Hillari this week, who just moved up from Utah and hasn't been attending church for some time. We'd had her read some from the Doctrine and Covenants, and she shared with us some things that had stood out to her from D&C 50. The beginning of the section talks about how false spirits imitate good ones, and she mentioned that for her, she'd been letting a lot of false, short-lasting pleasures take the place of the better ones. She then shared with us (with some emotion) that our coming to her house a few weeks ago was the first time she'd felt the spirit in a long time. That was really cool for me, that she could discern a difference between our being there and not, and she knew what that difference was. It was also cool for me and Sister Wayman to be able to bring that to someone, weak instruments that we sometimes are. She'll be coming to church in the next couple weeks; even with work conflicts, she says that that's something she really wants to do.
A Thought:
Kay, so this one is awesome. READ ON. Sister Wayman and I went to an Institute class on repentance this week, and this quote just jumped out of the page and shook me a little bit. So here it is for you:
"What progress can there be for a man unconscious of his faults? Such a man has lost the fundamental element of growth, which is the realization that there is something bigger, better, and more desirable than the condition in which he now finds himself. In the soil of self-satisfaction, true growth has poor nourishment. Its roots find far greater succor in discontent...The first step to knowledge is a realization of the lack of it; and the first step towards spiritual growth is the belief in a higher and better life, or conversely, a realization of the meanness of one's present state. Repentance is the turning away from that which is low and the striving for that which is higher."
--David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals 12-13
I know that that's true. That as long as we're reasonably well satisfied with ourselves and our circumstances, true growth is impossible. Recognizing the possibility of something better--for each of us--is the first step to coming to a fuller measure of joy. I know it's possible, and that greater joy comes in a greater embrace of the Gospel. As C.S. Lewis says, God cannot give us happiness apart from himself, because he it does not exist. If you want it, or joy or peace or any of that, you've got to abandon yourself and go to the source.
I love you all. And I love getting letters, so don't be shy. ;)
XOXO
Sister Hale
And the address, if it's buried in an inbox somewhere:
Sister Hale
Washington Everett Mission
PO Box 13390
Mill Creek, WA 98082
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