Wednesday, April 16, 2014

April 7, 2014 - Nasty Oreos

Hello my wonderful family and friends!

I hope that all is going well for you back home:) I saw that you are headed to Arches! That is awesome!! Have lots of fun and take pictures:) Enjoy your spring break!! (I'm assuming that's happening this week considering dad and mom are allowing you to miss school:) ) haha:)

I am sure you want to know what happened with transfers this week:) Everything is actually staying the same:) I am with Sister Fulbright, serving in Lakeview for another 6 weeks:) We moved houses though. So we are staying with the Gudjenovs! They are converts from Bulgaria! They are wonderful and it should be really great living with them! Haha it is a little weird not being able to understand half of what they are saying tho:) they speak pretty fluently now but they prefer speaking to each other in Bulgarian:) I will send my address in a different email to you mom:) Elder Demke and Sister Rasmussen both got transferred so I will miss having them in our District, but I am very happy to know that I will see them again. Sister Rasmussen and I plan on working at a dude ranch after the mission:) haha we'll see if that happens:)

So I cut my hair:) Only about 4 inches though so nothing too extreme:) Oh also, on April Fools Day we had some members pull some pranks on us:) One member gave us a bag of oreos, but she had taken all of the cream out of them and replaced it with tooth paste!! sick!! haha

I forgot to tell you a funny story that happened a couple of weeks ago:) maybe you had to be there but I thought that It was really funny!! So after District Mtg, we were going out to lunch with the Millard Sisters and we really like this place called A+ Buffet:) It is a Mongolian buffet:) The waitress doesn't understand much English but it hasn't been a problem in the past:) She was asking what drinks we wanted and I told her that I would like a Sprite:) haha! She brought the drinks back and they were in plastic cups with lids so you couldn't tell what you were drinking very well. I was really thirsty so I took a big gulp!! You can imagine my horror as I realized that what I was drinking was most definitely not Sprite! It was tea!! I was mortified and quickly spit what I could back out:) haha!! it was quite the scene:) JK!! So yes, my first and only time having tea, happened to be on my mission:) How ironic, right? I hope that you found it humorous:) haha

R is doing really well! She has been receiving an answer:) Last sunday she said that she woke up and she described it as a voice that spoke to her in her head and told her that she was on the right path!! She watched the Sunday morning session of GC with some friends from another ward and really liked it and she got another priesthood blessing! I love her! She was so relieved to hear that neither of us were getting transferred:) She is wonderful!

So from Ballard's talk, you probably heard that we should share insights we learn from Preach My Gospel. So here is something that I learned from my personal study in it this morning. I am studying the section 11 on commitments right now. On pg. 195-196 we learn that Commitment is an essential part of repentance! commitments prepare people to keep commandments which then prepare people to keep covenants (full access to the Atonement) which leads to a deep and abiding conversion! Did you follow that? Commitments prepare people to keep commandments, then covenants, and ultimately conversion! People will not likely change unless they are invited to do so!

Did you just love General Conference this weekend?? It was incredible!! I always feel like I am on a spiritual high after listening to our Prophet and church leaders. They speak for God and tell us what we need to hear. I hope that your heart and mind was open to the Spirit and that you were able to receive revelation on how you can improve and how you can improve the situations you are in:) I know that I did! As we learned in the Priesthood session of General Conference from Elder Donald L. Hallstrom, the purpose of conference isn't fulfilled unless we intend to act. Intend to change! The messages that we heard and the guidance we received will do nothing for us if we don't act on those things we have heard! I fully understand that change can be very hard. I am not discounting that at all. But, change is possible as we have faith in Christ and allow His atonement to make weak things become strong!

In Mosiah 3:19 we learn "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, andputteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." We have weaknesses because we are human, but through the Atonement of Christ, we can change our natures to become more like our Heavenly Father.

In Helaman 12:27-28 we learn "27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them theirweakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.
28 Behold, I will show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me—the fountain of all righteousness." As we exercise our faith and overcome our ultimate weakness, which is our lack of faith in our Savior, then He can make those weak things become strong!
I would invite each of you to look at the things you have learned from Conference. I know that each of you received inspiration on what you personally need to improve on. Individually, pick one thing that you want to improve yourself in. It can be anything! It can be making time for scripture study or prayer daily, your attitude, going to the temple more, putting God first, etc. There are infinite possibilities! I know that as you have faith in our Savior, you can make weak things become strong. It is difficult and you will mess up several times before you get it right, but through the Atonement, it is possible!!
I love you all so much and I hope that you have a wonderful week!! Mom and Dad, I hope that you have a wonderful 21st Anniversary this week! You are wonderful examples to me of what I want to aspire to grow up to be like:) Thank you for your love, support, encouragement, and prayers that you send my way:) The same comes back to you from me:) I love you!
With love,

Sister (Erica) Christensen:)

No comments:

Post a Comment