And then there were 11‏

Dear Family and Friends,

Today I hit 11 months as a missionary! It is so crazy to think that this time last year I was at home either just having barely gotten my mission call or about to get it. This week has been a crazy week too! Monday was a work day, Tuesday was P-day, and Wednesday we had interviews with our Mission President. Then for the rest of the week we went about contacting people and finding people to teach. This week though we met with a less active member who is going through a pretty messy divorce. She was talking to us and sharing how she joined the church and then expected all the people and families to be these perfect Mormon homes, and that wasn't the case for her. Well, as she was recounting all this some verse in Mormon chapter 9 came to mind... "30 Behold, I speak unto you as though I spake from the dead; for I know that ye shall have my words. 31Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfection, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been."

     I have come across this verse several times in my studies now and I always think about all the people who have something against the church because Joseph Smith did this, or they knew someone who was Mormon and they did this... and so on an so forth. But, here in this scripture Mormon one of the last righteous people to live on the earth is pleading with the people of today not to condemn those people or specifically the Book of Mormon because of the people, but rather he tells us to thank God that we are able to see those imperfections so that we may learn from them. I love that in this gospel and in life in general we have the opportunity to see those weaknesses in ourselves and maybe in those that have gone before us, not so we can condemn them or ourselves but so that we can become better today than we were yesterday. I am so grateful for the Atonement and the opportunity I have to repent everyday and to strive to become better. We have been given such a great gift!! Yesterday in church we were talking about the concept of perfection and the teacher pointed out that there is a difference between being perfect and being perfected. In this life none of us is going to be perfect. It wont happen no matter how hard we try. However, we will all have the opportunity to become perfected. Everyday, as we end the day and pray to our Heavenly Father we have the opportunity to think over the day and to try to become better the next. How privileged we are!! I don't have a lot of time left so I will leave you with that! I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Love,

Sister Bice