Happy Valentines Day!
Hello my dear family!! I
hope that all is going well with you back in Utah:) Things have been
challenging this week in Nebraska, but I have been strengthened and comforted
through those times:)
First, some updates that
have happened this week!!
J Mc has now gone 15 days
sober!! It has been a miracle! The Elders are working very closely with him and
he is making so much progress! He came to Sacrament Meeting yesterday! I almost
fell off of the stand with happiness when I saw him walk through the doors:) He
says he is not ready to be baptized right now with all of the life changes that
he is making. He wants to feel more stable and change things around before he
takes on another commitment. He is doing awesome! Keep him in your prayers:) The
spirit is working very heavily on J right now! :)
We were able to do a lot
of service this past week! We did some service for the Maldinados again. We
were making jewelry and dream catchers for their tribe to use in a fundraiser.
It has been pretty cool!
We got some snow this
week which was also an adventure! Our cars were grounded for about 24 hours.
(meaning that we couldn't drive them at all) So we walked around a lot and
shoveled a lot of driveways and side walks:) We did several less active
members, active members, and just random ones that hadn't been done yet. It was
a lot of fun doing so much secret service, but ill be honest, my back wasn't as
thrilled about it all:) haha
So a funny story that
happened yesterday at church. We were in Relief Society and sister Burdick was
giving the lesson. It was on the Plan of Salvation. She was talking about the
Resurrection and how her husband wanted to be cremated and spread across the
Colorado mountains once he passed on. She said in a bold and quirky voice
"that ain't happening!! There is no way that I am going to stand around
after being resurrected waiting for you to go around looking for all of your
pieces!!" It was pretty funny! I laughed a lot:) Maybe you had to be
there:)
I think I did well on my
talk yesterday:) I always critique myself and give me a hard time, but my
companion and several people in the ward said I did well, so Im trying to trust
their judgement:) haha
Sorry not a lot of cool
stories from the week.. It was rough:) but I learned a lot in my studies
this week so I wanted to share one of the talks I read:)
So I read a talk this
morning in my studies called Lessons from Liberty Jail, by Elder Jeffrey R.
Holland. I would highly recommend that you read the full talk! It is really
amazing and powerful! I have included several parts of his talk that I
really liked:) When you have time, look up the rest:) sorry the thought is a
little more long winded this week:) haha here we go..
"Most of us, most of the time, speak of the facility at
Liberty as a “jail” or a “prison”—and certainly it was that. But Elder Brigham
H. Roberts, in recording the history of the Church, spoke of the facility as a
temple, or, more accurately, a “prison-temple.”8 Elder Neal A. Maxwell used the same phrasing in some of his
writings.9 Certainly it lacked the
purity, the beauty, the comfort, and the cleanliness of our true temples, our
dedicated temples. The speech and behavior of the guards and criminals who came
there was anything but templelike. In fact, the restricting brutality and
injustice of this experience at Liberty would make it seem the very antithesis
of the liberating, merciful spirit of our temples and the ordinances that are
performed in them. So in what sense could Liberty Jail be called a “temple”—or
at least a kind of temple—in the development of Joseph Smith personally and in
his role as a prophet? And what does such a title tell us about God’s love and
teachings, including where and when that love and those teachings are made
manifest?
As we think on these things, does it strike us that spiritual
experience, revelatory experience, sacred experience can come to every one of
us in all the many and varied stages and circumstances of our lives if we want
it, if we hold on and pray on, and if we keep our faith strong through our
difficulties? We love and cherish our dedicated temples and the essential,
exalting ordinances that are performed there.
You can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experience
with the Lord in the most miserable
experiences of your life—in the worst settings,
while enduring the most painful injustices, when facing the most insurmountable
odds and opposition you have ever faced.
Now let’s talk about those propositions for a moment. Every one
of us, in one way or another, great or small, dramatic or incidental, is going
to spend a little time in Liberty Jail—spiritually speaking. We will face
things we do not want to face for reasons that may not have been our fault.
Indeed, we may face difficult circumstances for reasons that were absolutely
right and proper, reasons that came because we were trying to keep the commandments of the Lord. We may face
persecution; we may endure heartache and separation from loved ones; we may be
hungry and cold and forlorn. Yes, before our lives are over we may all be given
a little taste of what the prophets faced often in their lives. But the lessons
of the winter of 1838–39 teach us that every experience can become a redemptive experience if we remain bonded to our Father in Heaven through
that difficulty. These difficult lessons teach us that man’s extremity is God’s
opportunity, and if we will be humble and faithful, if we will be believing and
not curse God for our problems, He can turn the unfair and inhumane and
debilitating prisons of our lives into temples—or at least into a circumstance
that can bring comfort and revelation, divine companionship and peace.
(Speaking of praying to our Heavenly Father he continued) He does hear us. He does see us. Hedoes love us. When we are in dire circumstances and want to cry
“Where art Thou?” it is imperative that we remember He is right there with
us—where He has always been! We must continue to believe, continue to have
faith, continue to pray and plead with heaven, even if we feel for a time our
prayers are not heard and that God has somehow gone away. He is there. Our prayers are heard. And when we weep
He and the angels of heaven weep with us.
When lonely, cold, hard
times come, we have to endure, we have to continue, we have to persist. Keep
knocking on that door. Keep pleading. In the meantime, know that God hears your
cries and knows your distress. He is your Father, and you are His child.
We are not alone in our little prisons here. When suffering, we
may in fact be nearer to God than we’ve ever been in our entire lives. That knowledge can turn every
such situation into a would-be temple.
Regarding our earthly journey, the Lord has promised:
I will go before your
face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in
your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up. [D&C 84:88]
That is an everlasting declaration of God’s love and care for
us, including—and perhaps especially—in times of trouble."
I know that our Heavenly Father is very aware of us. Sometimes
we have things happen to us that are challenging and you are unsure of where to
turn or how to get through it. But I promise as you turn to your all-knowing,
unconditionally loving Father, you will receive the strength, comfort, and
peace to make it through any challenge triumphantly. Our Savior suffered and
personally experienced everything that we would face so that we wouldn't have
to go through any trial alone. He has already done that. The times that I have
been happiest in my life, is when I turn to my Savior through the good and the
bad times. It is not the adversity that defines you, it is what you do with the
adversity that we are given. As we remember our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus
Christ and turn to them in every situation, they can and will strengthen us,
comfort us, love us, and lift us up. They can change our characters and refine
us to become more like them, and in turn, better able to handle future
situations. I know that my Redeemer lives. That is one of my favorite songs
now! I have truly come to understand how much I truly do need my Savior. He is
always there for me. And we do need him every single hour of every day. Never
hesitate to turn to Him! I have never felt closer to my Heavenly Father before.
That promise above is true! The Lord is with us, carrying us, and angels
surround us (both seen and unseen) to lift us up! You are known. You are
important. You are loved.
Happy Valentines day this week!! Happy Birthday Ryan!!
Love you all!!
Sister Christensen:)
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