Service... Service... SERVICE!!!‏

Dear Family and Friends!!

     This week was a week of service! We did so much service!! We also had interviews with President Rehm... That was an interesting experience because we had to drive there in the middle of a flash flood. I was a little scared for my life and a lot a bit grateful that I wasn't the one driving the car!! Then of course we had a really fun community service project this week over at a place called the 'slash pit' in Black Forrest. So, if you are like me at all then you are probably wondering right now what in the world a slash pit is..... I thought it sounded really rather scary. But, no worries it is not scary at all. All that it is, is a place where people can bring their mitigation stuff and other branches they have cut off their trees. This place takes it for free and then turns all these branches and ground cover into mulch. So, our job in all this was to help people unload their cars. We got to talk with a lot of people and had a lot of fun! In fact, Sister Perrin and I may or may not have gotten into a soot fight so both of our faces were covered in ash!

      It was so good! We also had a chance to teach the Plan of Salvation to one of our new investigators this week. It was a wonderful lesson, he is a good kid and he has his answer. The only thing holding him back now is that he wants to finish the Book of Mormon before he gets baptized. So, he is thinking he will be baptized in December. We will see though, in August he goes to college and I worry that without that constant companionship of the spirit then he will be so much more vulnerable to the temptations that Satan will throw at him.

      Yesterday, I was reading in Preach My Gospel in the lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and I was under the heading of repentance and there was a sentence that caught my eye. It said simply "Repentance includes forming a fresh view of God, ourselves, and the world." I really like this because just earlier in the chapter it talks about how we need to repent everyday. So, essentially everyday we should be gaining a new and fresh view on God, ourselves and the world. I find that it is easy to let guilt build and weigh on my spirit until the view I have of myself isn't a very nice one. However, if we repent everyday then we will be continually be gaining a new view of ourselves and of those around us. As we do that we develop Charity for ourselves and those around us.

        I know that on my mission I have looked at those around me with a completly new view. I find it crazy that by drawing closer to the Lord and serving and loving him with all of our heart then we are able to develop a new view of not only ourselves but of those we come in contact with each day. I know this to be true because I have seen it take effect in my own life. I know that God loves us and that he is watching over us. I hope you all keep that in mind and know that I love you and that I am praying for you:)

Love,

Sister Bice