Dear Family and Friends,
This week was so good, it went by way to fast... but it was a good
week. We were able to teach our investigator his final lesson this week.
He is amazing and it is so wonderful to watch someone full heartedly
accept the gospel and the truths that are in it. Our new mission
president has been talking a lot about how we are here as ward or branch
builders. Meaning that our job is to help people be strengthened in the
gospel. That can be non-members, members or less active members. I
love that , and I love being able to see the process of change that
someone goes through as they accept the gospel more fully. It is
apparent even in the most active members that we teach. This gospel
changes people.
This week I got to read my favorite chapter in the Book of
Mormon which is in Alma chapter 36 and in verse 5 and it says "Now,
behold, I say unto you, if I had not been born of God I should not have
known these things; but God had, by the mouth of his holy angel, made
these things known unto me, not of any worthiness of myself." And in
Mosiah 28:4 talking about the sons of Mosiah and Alma it says "4 And thus did the Spirit of the Lord work upon them, for they were the very vilest of sinners. And the Lord saw fit in his infinite mercy to spare them; nevertheless they suffered much anguish of soul because of their iniquities, suffering much and fearing that they should be cast off forever."
Now, I bring up these scriptures because I have been
thinking about it lately, people they knew who Alma was and they knew
who the sons of Mosiah were. They saw them going about destroying the
church and those very things that both of their fathers stood for. I'm
sure that even the people that didn't know them knew of them. But, as it
says in Mosiah by God's infinite mercy they were changed.
One thing that the gospel has brought into my life that
has affected me is the atonement. The atonement has so many wonderful
aspects, and I'm sure so many more that I can't even begin to
comprehend. But, the ability to change is one of my favorites. The
scriptures talked about how they were the vilest or worst of sinners,
and yet they became the best of missionaries. They changed lives for the
better. In another scripture Alma is speaking and he says " 24 Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.25 Yea, and now behold, O my son, the Lord doth give me exceedingly great joy in the fruit of my labors;"
Alma, didn't
just have this great experience and say 'well that nice' and never go
past that. He changed not only who he was but who everyone saw him as.
He went from the kid who was the troublemaker to the one who was
influencing hundreds for good. One thing I have seen a lot of on my
mission is change. I've seen it in those that I've taught, I've seen it
in my companions, I've seen it in other missionaries, and I've seen it
in myself. There is nothing that can and will bring us more joy than
this gospel. I know that for a fact and I know that as we follow Christ
we will change for good and others will see that change in us and more
importantly we can and will see in ourselves.
I will stop my
rant now. But know that I love all of you so very much and I pray for
each of you every night. I wish you all a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Bice
Dear Family and Friends,
This week has been a rather eventful one. It started out with Zone
Conference on Tuesday... Where they made me give my departing testimony
to all of the other missionaries. I was really good and managed not to
cry the entire time I was on the stand but the minute I sat down I just
lost it. Sister Rehm (our mission presidents wife) just watched me the
rest of the meeting while poor Sister Perrin tried to console me. Then,
the next day out vehicle coordinator came down and tested our car
because we told him two weeks ago that the brakes were broken.
So, he came and discovered that they were indeed broken and
told us that we needed to get it fixed asap. So on Thursday morning we
spent the day at the car dealership getting out brakes fixed. That was
nice, now I don't have to worry as much about running over my companion
when she is backing me out of parking spaces!! That was nice.
Then, to make our week better one of the investigators we
are teaching finally set a baptismal date so we were stoked about that!!
Then we finished the week with a wedding. One of the converts in our
ward was getting married and they needed help with set up and what not.
So, that was pretty much our WHOLE Friday and a good portion of our
Saturday. Then Saturday night I started to come down with the stomach
flu and we had to stay home all Sunday. That drove me crazy!! But more
than me poor Sister Perrin was going crazy having to stay in all day!
So, that was our crazy week!
In Zone Conference on Tuesday, Sister Rehm got up and gave a
really good presentation on how we need to have a personal relationship
with everyone in the Godhead. That was an interesting thought. We
talked about it a lot and she talked about how out of all the things God
could have chosen to be called he chose to be called Father and how
important a role that is. I never really thought of it that was but to
know that we his children were of up most importance to him is an
amazing thought. It made me think about a talk in church a long time ago
where the speaker posed the question "We may be active in church, but
are we inactive to the Lord?"
I liked this because honestly, we can go through the
motions but have we developed and nurtured a relationship with our
Heavenly Father? He loves us so much and yet sometimes we can ignore him
and block him out of our lives. But, if we keep him in the center of
our lives then we will be blessed. I know that to be true. This is a
long email so I will let you all go. But, just know that I love you all
and I truly am praying for you:)
Love,
Sister Bice
Dear Family and Friends,
This week was a good week.... A crazy one too!! I feel that a lot of
the times that is how missionary work goes though. But, I have really
enjoyed it!! Right now, we are teaching a 18 year old... I think I
mentioned him, he is the one that wants to get baptized in December.
But, this week while we were talking with him he has been talking about
going on a mission one day which is really exciting!! I hope that he
will do so. In fact, recently I have been so sentimental? I don't think
that is the right word... But whenever a youth talks about a mission I
just get super excited for them and so sad that I'm almost done with
mine. I just keep wanting to tell them that they will never ever regret
going on a mission. I love being here so much. It kills me a little to
think about how soon I am going to have to give it all up.
But, as I have been serving I have been blessed to see a
change in others as well as in myself. Example, one of the Elders in my
district I really don't get along with very well. We had a run in that
maybe I will tell you about when I am home. But, for weeks now I have
been praying to have charity towards him and to kind of forget the
things that happened earlier. So, because Heavenly Father works this way
instead of just giving me charity he gave me an opportunity to develop
charity.
That experience was kind of humbling and I didn't really
want to do it. But, Heavenly Father kept prompting me. So, I finally
gave in and did what I kept feeling prompted to do, which was to ask
this Elder for a blessing. It was an amazing blessing and it helped me
realize Heavenly Fathers love for this elder as well as for me. With
that I have been able to forgive him for some of the mistakes he made
earlier last transfer. I am so grateful for that.
So, I think I mentioned this last week but I have been
reading a lot in the Old Testament and I really like repeated phrases
and in the last few chapters I have been reading Moses is instructing
the people not to worship false Gods or Idols since that is Israels
biggest down fall. Well, there is a phrase that caught my eye which
talks about them serving other gods which is shortly followed by the
statement 'which ye have not known'.
I think this stood out to me because on my mission I have
felt that I have come so close to God. I love that it talks about how
Israel knows the God whom they serve. God is so involved in all of our
lives. Honestly, all one has to do to know God better is to stand back
and look for his hand in their life. I promise that it is there no
matter how hard or how good the time in their life was, God was there.
Why? Simply because he knows and loves each and everyone of his
children.
Just like when we look at our lives we can see how our
parents were there protecting or rejoicing or such with us; Heavenly
Father is there in the details of our lives rejoicing when we are happy
and sorrowing when we are having a hard time. When we follow Him and His
commandments then we are coming to know him and when that happens then
we see how much he loves each and everyone of us.
As I said earlier, I have learned a lot about charity
recently. Seeing someone that I really didn't like very much through our
Fathers eyes was so amazing!! Knowing how infinite and all encompassing
that love is kind of left me a bit awestruck. I know that Heavenly
Father loves each and everyone of us so much. I know that he loves the
people maybe we have a hard time loving. I know it and I'm so grateful
for it! I love you all so very much and I hope and pray that you have a
wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Bice
