Im excited to get your email this week again! I really enjoy reading about your experiences. You are a great writer! Really expressive. ðĪŠ
So tell me all about it!! How is your apartment? You said last time that your bathroom was being fixed. What did they have to fix? How is the new Kitchen floor? What is the neighborhood like? Any Pics?
How is your companion? What is his name? Where is he from? Is he a good guy? What is your daily schedule like? Dad and I are still getting up at 6am for scriptures and prayer. We figure its a good habit we don't want to change. Of course, we end up reading a lot more and saying the prayer a lot more often when its just us. ð
You said last email that you were able to go out and teach a lady and that she was almost ready for baptism. Did that happen? Have you been able to teach other people this week? How do you find referrals? Do you go tracting?
We had a fun thing this week. We finally got the opportunity to have the missionaries over for dinner. Elder Periloux and Elder Mulcahy. Sister Dunning was supposed to feed them, but she wasn't feeling well, so we did. We also invited the Linnemeyers to join us since if I am going to cook food we might as well have enough people over to enjoy it! So we had Frickadales and Benson said they were the best meatballs he had ever had in his life!!!ðToo funny!! Cohen was afraid the Mashed Potatoes were actually mashed cauliflower in disguise - apparently they have tried that before at their house. ðĪĢ It was funny! they are a great family! Those kids are all looking up to you! They love you!
OK so I told you we were going down to SLC for Bri's Institute Choir Concert last Sunday. It was awesome!! Last Sunday's concert was a preview for the 2019 Spring Church Music Festival at the Assembly Hall on Temple Square on Friday. The songs performed were winners from the 2019 Church Music Submissions. There were original songs and arrangements of hymns, or primary songs, performed by the choir soloists and instrumentalists. ð We were actually able to watch the performance on Friday night live on a broadcast on LDS.org!https://www.lds.org/church/events/temple-square-events/2019-church-music-festival?lang=eng (just in case you are allowed to check it out)ð The songs and arrangements are available for church use on lds.org too! Ive attached a PDF of one of the songs that was performed by a young man. I think you might enjoy it.
I don't want you to think that I am ignoring the elephant in the room. I absolutely heard what you had to say last Monday. I have been thinking about you and praying for you all week. Of course, I am praying for you constantly, so that is nothing new.ð We also had a family fast for you. I stand by what I said then. You will learn and grow and progress so much more out there, serving the Savior by serving the people there in your mission. I found a great quote by President Hinckley,
"I promise you that the time you spend in the mission field, if those years are spent in dedicated service, will yield a greater return on investment than any other two years of your lives. You will come to know what dedication and consecration mean. You will develop powers of persuasion which will bless your entire life. Your timidity, your fears, your shyness will gradually disappear as you go forth with boldness and conviction. You will learn to work with others, to develop a spirit of teamwork. You will draw nearer to the Lord than you likely will in any other set of circumstances. You will come to know that without His help you are indeed weak and simple, but that with His help you can accomplish miracles."
President Hinckley knew what he was talking about. He had experienced feelings similar to yours. You've probably heard the story about when President Hinckley served his mission but Im going to give it to you anyway. He said,
"When I arrived there I was not well. I felt I wasn't getting anywhere in the missionary work, and I became discouraged. I wrote a letter to my father and said, "I'm wasting my time and your money. I don't see any point in my staying here." And in due time a letter came back from him in which he simply said: "Dear Gordon. I have your letter of [such and such a date]. I have only one suggestion: Forget yourself and go to work. With love, your father."
I pondered that, and the next morning in our scripture class, we read that great statement of the Lord, "He that [saveth] his life shall lose it: ... he that loseth his life for my sake [and the gospel] shall find it." It touched me. That statement, that promise, in conjunction with my father's letter, prompted me to go upstairs in the little bedroom at 15 Wadham Road, Preston, Lancashire, where we lived, get on my knees, and make a covenant with the Lord that I would try to forget myself and go to work. I count that as the day of decision in my life. Everything good that's happened to me since then, I can trace back to the decision I made at that time."
You are not alone in feeling unprepared and unworthy. You are actually in very good company. Most of the people I have talked to that have served missions have said they had personal struggles while serving.
So how to get through this? Forget yourself and Go To Work.
Another quote from President Hinckley,
"I am not suggesting you simply put on rose-colored glasses to make the world about you look rosy. I ask, rather, that you look above and beyond the negative, the critical, the cynical, the doubtful, to the positive and the affirmative."
I pondered that, and the next morning in our scripture class, we read that great statement of the Lord, "He that [saveth] his life shall lose it: ... he that loseth his life for my sake [and the gospel] shall find it." It touched me. That statement, that promise, in conjunction with my father's letter, prompted me to go upstairs in the little bedroom at 15 Wadham Road, Preston, Lancashire, where we lived, get on my knees, and make a covenant with the Lord that I would try to forget myself and go to work. I count that as the day of decision in my life. Everything good that's happened to me since then, I can trace back to the decision I made at that time."
You are not alone in feeling unprepared and unworthy. You are actually in very good company. Most of the people I have talked to that have served missions have said they had personal struggles while serving.
So how to get through this? Forget yourself and Go To Work.
Another quote from President Hinckley,
"I am not suggesting you simply put on rose-colored glasses to make the world about you look rosy. I ask, rather, that you look above and beyond the negative, the critical, the cynical, the doubtful, to the positive and the affirmative."
Remember what Hank Smith and John Bytheway taught - You have to choose to be happy. You have to choose a good attitude. Remember the guy who got shot that told the doctors he was allergic to bullets. His good attitude changed the attitude of those around him. He asked the doctors to operate on him as if he was going to live. He made it. You need to choose the attitude that you are going to succeed, You are going to go out and spread the gospel all over the mission! You are going to have tough days. This is mortality. Choosing a good attitude will make all of the difference.
I know you have made some mistakes. Remember! there is no one on earth who has not. Doctrine and Covenants 60:7 says-
"And in this place let them lift up their voice and declare my word with loud voices, without wrath or doubting, lifting up holy hands upon them. For I am able to make you holy, and your sins are forgiven you."
The best way to make up for your mistakes is to serve the Lord with all of your heart. Get up each day with the attitude that your are going to do your absolute best for Him by serving everyone around you. That includes your Companion, Zone Leaders, Mission President, Ward Members, Investigators, etc. Look for ways that you can be the Lords hands. Then at the end of each day, look back over the day to see the Lords hand in your life that day and write it down. Then, later, when you look back you will be able to see how far you have come.
Jaxon, I know you can do this.
I have no doubt.
We are here for you. Always.
Never Give Up! Never Surrender!!
Bless the Rains!!!!
Love, Mom
