9-8-2014

Hey Peeps!

Sorry for the delay with the email last week; Labor Day kinda killed our email time. But here I am now, with some pretty cool news...!

UPDATE:

SISTER VAN LEUVEN AND I ARE STAYING TOGETHER ANOTHER TRANSFER!!! :D ...Wha?! Yep. Doesn't happen all that often. But we're stoked! :D And just with how President has worked the transfer thing, it's pretty likely (I'd say 80%) that we'll be Sister Training Leaders again next transfer, which is nice. I feel really blessed to have been given that assignment in the last little while of my mish. It's so nice to be connected with the sisters that way, and to be trusted with the responsibility...AND TO BE ABLE TO GO TO MLC WHERE WE LEARN ABOUT ALL THE SECRETS!! :D ...jk. I only like the secrets...you know...a lot. Anyway. ;P

PROFILE:

Name: Marvin

Age: 20

Attribute of note: BULGING BICEPS. Obviously likes to pump some iron. Also cool near-emo hair.

Notable accomplishment: Read THE FIRST TWO BOOKS of Nephi even before we met with him the first time. SWEET.

Awesome missionary feature: Real intent! We asked all those missionary questions: "If you knew this was true, what would you do about it?" And he's all "...uh...act? Be baptized?" It's great. :)

Why I love him: He grew up going to an Eastern Orthodox Church with his friend, and he liked it pretty well...but then had kind of a crisis of faith in college, and now is looking for more. We're pumped to give him what we have, and have him come to church and pray about the Book of Mormon!

COOL THING! 2nd lesson, On-date for October 11th. LET'S GO! :D

*Also, side note, he is super smart and really well studied. He knows his Bible really well, but not in a 'this this and THIS prove that the Bible is the ONLY WORD OF GOD EVER,' but like...open about it. And open to more truth. Really cool.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

One of the Elders in our ward shared a really wonderful testimony with us yesterday, and I will paraphrase it and share it with you. He said something along the lines of:

"I remember when I was young and I first tried on a pair of glasses at Walmart. I'd been seeing things blurry all my life, but for the first time, things were clear. And I was like '...WHOA, Walmart!' and then I went outside and I was like '...WHOA, Mountains!' I could see things with so much more clarity. The Gospel is like a pair of glasses. There are many different lenses through which people see the world (Sister Hale's addition: some examples of these=determinism, humanism, secularism, empiricism, ETC). The Gospel is the most truthful set of lenses; it allows for the most clarity and brings the most peace."

I know that that is true, thanks to my experience and the peace that I've received as I've internalized and striven to live the Gospel. If you don't think that's true, or you're open to looking for more truth and peace in your life, try on the glasses! Take the lessons! Even if you're a member and you're searching, ask the missionaries to practice on you! I know I would've loved that at certain stages of my testimony development.

​IN HONOR OF SISTER VAN LEUVEN AND I STAYING TOGETHER! Yep. We had a tea party this week. YSA is way too fun.

Only in Washington. Yep, had to snap that one. :P

Love you all so much! Don't be afraid to write (DALLIN, CATHERINE, ANNIE (always Annie ;P)) while you can still get charity points for writing a missionary!

XOXO

Sister Hale