9/3/2013

Whew! Wow. WOOOWWWWWW...wow. Big, crazy week. I'm still reeling a little bit. It's been a lot of fun though, if crazy, and a lot of learning in a very short amount of space. Quick aside: I didn't write yesterday because it was Labor Day and the library (where we get our computer access) was closed. Sorry if you didn't get the memo. But! Let's see...how to lay this out...

An Update:

So! It feels like just about everything that could've changed DID change as part of this last transfer. I am...*drumroll*...NO longer in YSA, I'm training Sister Mailau from Tonga and Utah, we're assigned to a family ward in Oak Harbor (on an island), and I'm on bike. YEAH. AHHHH...so nothing familiar, absolutely nothing. Crazy. I started to sense how similar I could be to my Mom when I was up late at night stressing, not eating a lot etc...but things are better now and my appetite has returned (if the double tacos and brownies of the last few days have anything to say about it), and we have been blessed to see some awesome miracles in the last few days. 

Sister Mailau is awesome. Super motivated, here to serve and work, and eager to learn. I have to do a lot of work to keep up with her. She's also incredibly blunt! In response to my stress of the first few days, she told me that I was "really strange" and that she'd "never met anyone like me before." Very helpful. :P A few days later though after things had died down, she thanked me for the great week. And it's true! Though we've had a lot to organize, we've also been blessed to find good things to do and not run around like chickens with our heads cut off, which is a blessing. One of these experiences cataloged below!

An Experience:

On our very first day walking around we met Mia and Andrew. Mia is a less active member, pregnant with she and Andrew's first child, and very sweet. Her husband is in the Navy and not a member, but he knows the Bible really well and is interested in learning about what the Mormons believed. We continued to run into them day after day throughout the weekend, and I think they're a couple that really needs to be taught right now. Though Andrew doesn't seem 100% prepared, I hope that as we teach him and bring the spirit into their house that he will have the desire to make his family eternal; to commit to the Gospel and find the ways it can bless his family. Moving into family ward my testimony has been strengthened already of how the Gospel blesses Families, and how the family is such a fundamental unit of the church and of society at large. It can become 'a little bit of heaven' as we found it on the teachings of Christ. I know that that's true.

A Spiritual Thought:

D&C 76:53

In describing those who will receive the Celestial Kingdom (eternal life living with God forever), this scriptures says:

"And who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father shall shed forth upon all those who are just and true."

The first time I read this, it sort've bummed me out. That first phrase 'overcome by faith' made me think of someone being overcome by the spirit, overcome by the goodness of the gospel, and rejoicing in it all the time. It seemed like an unreachable standard; that perfect saint that never suffers doubt or fear, that constantly understands where they are before God and what he wants them to do. However, I took a second look at the verse...and I don't think that's what it's actually saying. Instead of saying "and who are overcome by faith" it says, "and who overcome by faith." What? Yeah. At second reading it seems to me that that verse is speaking to people like me, people who encounter challenges and difficulties, and often come short of the expectations placed on them. "Who overcome by faith." I may not be constantly overcome by faith, but I can overcome by faith. Why? Because that is a choice. It may not be a choice to encounter a tough circumstance or challenge to our faith. But it is a choice what we do with that challenge. We can choose to have it eat at us, to dwell on it, to allow ourselves to wander and lose hope. Or--we can overcome by faith. Put our trust in the things we've learned and our past experiences. Put our faith in prior manifestations of the Spirit and journey onward,  'continuing as you are until further directed' (JSH 1:26). I know that that's possible, and that that choice is rewarded in the life after this, perhaps even moreso than being one who is 'overcome by faith.'

I love you all and my prayers are with you. Be safe and continue in the joy of the Gospel!

Sister Hale