Happy Memorial Day :)
So, earlier this week we received a referral from one of our ward mission leaders, of this young couple who moved in less than a month ago. We were able to meet the wife and she welcomed us back! They have a 2 year-old boy (who's seriously just the sweetest!) and they are both from Texas, but came up here for the husbands work. Britney (the wife) after we shared a message right away asked to know more, and even asked if we had a brochure she could borrow! She said that she grew up with an lds friend, and that she even would like us to meet her husband, who she said would be interested as well. Lately, most of our referrals have led to just closed doors or interesting conversations with people who seem to just want to bible bash, so Sister Deuel and I really weren't expecting her to be just so ready. Friday, we started up booth again at BYU-I, and President Nelson came again and took us out to lunch afterwards! He and Sister Nelson just love booth- it's a neat opportunity to help the students with the work. Fun story for this week- we were teaching a new member lesson to one of our converts, and she's so funny, she was talking about her young grand-daughter living with her, who's going through this rebellious phase. We asked her how her grand-daughter is doing, and she's like "oh, you mean the Lamanite?" She decided to call her grand-daughter a "lamanite" because she's been a bit of a rebel lately! We also this week had a few more lessons with Paige, and one lesson we read through Mosiah chapter 3, and had this amazing discussion about Christ and His atonement. The rest of our investigators are doing good, but the others just have certain hold ups right now. A handful of them really just struggle with church attendance, and that's led me to study a lot more about just the importance of church. Yesterday, someone even gave a talk in one of our wards all about the importance of attending all three block hours. I just have come to have such a testimony of the importance of the sacrament, and just strength, peace, and revelation that you can receive going to church.
D&C 59:
8 Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
9 And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;
10 For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High;
11 Nevertheless thy vows shall be offered up in righteousness on all days and at all times;
12 But remember that on this, the Lord’s day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord.
...and in 23 it states some of the blessings that go with the commandment :)
23 But learn that he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.
Tuesday we had our Zone Conference, and the main theme of it was "forget yourself." It made me think about how often my mom would tell me growing up "forget yourself and go to work" and would share the council President Hinckley got while serving a mission from his father. It also made me think of this short story from a talk called “Get Over Yourself."
During the time I was preparing to receive my mission call, I had the opportunity to attend a devotional where Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke to a group of youth and young single adults. I had no idea that he’d be coming, and when I saw him, I couldn’t wait to hear what he had to say. He said he wanted to have a question-and-answer session. And when he asked for questions, I jumped at the opportunity. “What is the most important thing I can do to prepare to be an effective missionary?” I asked. He looked right at me and said, “Get over yourself.” At first I was taken aback. I had to think twice to make sure I hadn’t said something wrong, thinking maybe I was being scolded a little. But then he explained that serving a mission is not about me; instead, it’s about serving the Lord and completely losing myself in that service. This advice completely changed my missionary preparation and my outlook on missionary service. For future missionaries, including me, it can be easy to become prideful and say, “I can’t wait to baptize lots of people.” But this isn’t a good mind-set to have. Instead, it would be better to say, “I can’t wait to serve the Lord. I will do what He wants me to do because I’m serving Him and He is giving me a chance to participate in His work.” It’s all about getting over yourself and serving others. Since Elder Bednar gave me that advice, I’ve thought about it every day. If I’m ever tempted to not read my scriptures because I’m too tired, I imagine Elder Bednar saying, “Get over yourself.” While it would be nice to get some extra sleep, studying the scriptures is something that Heavenly Father wants me to do every day. Besides, it’s not about me; it’s about serving Him.
- Collin Braithwaite
Last night, I was thinking a lot about what my purpose as a missionary truly is- yes, it's about helping others receive the gospel through faith, repentance, baptism, and enduring to the end. But I think a lot of us get caught up in the step of "baptism" when there's a lot that we need to do as missionaries. Before anyone is baptized, they have to feel the need of Christ and His Atonement in their lives, come to have faith, and repent. Following baptism, everyone must need to reach a point to enjoy the blessings of the Holy Temple. Even though I'm half way into my mission, I really think that I need to be constantly checking my pride and looking to see where I'm at, and if I truly did come out here among some of Heavenly Fathers children, in the the hopes that I "might save some few of their souls" (Alma:26:26). I have learned a lot about what that
Overall, this has been a really great week! Of course, each day has it's ups and downs, but I know that trials just make us grow, and that this wouldn't be "work" if it wasn't easy! Just like in one talk Elder Holland gave, missionary work isn't easy, because the salvation of souls does not come at a cheap price.
With love,
-Sister Cottrell
P.S. Sorry I failed at taking pictures this week! I did take one though. So, a handful of weeks ago, we had a district meeting based on the chapter Alma 32 (faith!) Our object lesson was on planting seeds of faith, and watering our faith through good works and diligence. Yesterday, I took a picture of the peas that we started to grow from that district meeting, and Sister Deuel and I are both are really unsure how one of them grew a lot, and how the other one (to quote Sister Deuel) "turned into gross, moldy, bleh-ness!"
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