There was so much love in this week. Words can't even begin to describe it. I'll get to that in just a second. But first things first!
TRAVEL PLANS!!
We got them yesterday, and I kid you not, we were all jumping up and down by the mailbox screaming.
It was like the day we got our mission calls. Because it's real now.
We have to be on the shuttle at 2:30 AM on Monday the 15th. Our flight from Salt Lake leaves at 6:00 AM and we arrive in Dallas Ft Worth airport at 9:40 AM. Then our flight leaves for Monterrey at 2:25, and I'm not exactly sure how we're getting from Monterrey to Ciudad Juarez, but I do know it's an 11 hour drive because we mapquested it like two minutes after we got our paperwork.
Sooooooooo. It will end up being basically a full 24-hour travel day. Yikes.
Ha ha! But I guess I'm used to that at this point. 11 hour drive? That's nothing compared to the 22 hours we spent traveling from Varna to Vienna.
The highlight of this week was Hno Ashby making whale noises at us in the morning and also ninja-kicking a spider off of Hna Hansen's skirt.
That was a beautiful moment, I'm tellin ya.
This week was filled with so many tender, spiritual experiences. Our district has grown very close, and Monday we had to say goodbye to Hno Snyder. That afternoon, we had a very emotional discussion about the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. The Spirit that day was SO strong that every single person in our room cried at least once. We discussed that with the Spirit, when you honor your covenants and obey God, He will take you where you need to be, but that you may never know it's happening that way. Sometimes, the Spirit is a strong impression, but most of the time, you are being lead by the Spirit without even realizing it. I can testify to that, because I know I have been lead to the desire to serve a mission by small and simple things, not by one strong prompting. It has taken me many years to get where I am right now. In our lessons with investigators, we can following promptings by allowing ourselves to be guided by the Spirit. "Treasure up my words... not knowing beforehand the things that [we] should [teach]." The important thing is to stop worrying whether the thoughts you have are you or the Spirit, but that as long as you are doing what is good, then do it, and it will work out. It will work out exactly the way that the Lord would have it.
After dinner, we surprised Hno S with a little program. Elder Thomson accompanied as I sang "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul", and then we all sang "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again".
That song has been stuck in our heads all week. I feel like it's a constant reminder that our days in the MTC are limited. I think we've all begun to realize this,
It's rough, I'm not going to lie.
As always, Hna Bunderson and I sang in choir at the Tuesday devotional. In the song, "Where Can I Turn for Peace?", there's a line in there that says "...[He] reaches my reaching". That struck a chord with me (literally.. ha). Christ makes up the difference. We reach as far as we can, as high as we can reach as mortals. We give everything that we can, we sacrifice as much as possible, but it will never be enough. Ahhh, but that is the purpose of Christ.
He is there to make up the difference between what we have to be and what we're trying our hardest to be.
He can reach any distance, as far as He needs to get to us, as long as we are reaching as far as we can. He is the mediator. He is the one that joins us with the Father, the one that makes up all the differences and deficits that we have as the natural man. He is there to raise us up. He will lift us from the waters. He will heal us if we just look to Him.
Last night, we had another lesson with Hna Toleofoa. She said that President Wall (YES the same President Wall!!) had told them at a mission conference that we had made covenants with certain people before our earth life that we would find them. Because covenants transcend space and time, even the veil cannot keep us from them.
Last year, when we left Bulgaria after the European Cup, I had a lot of time to think about how much I would miss my sweet friends from Russia, Japan, England, Serbia, Slovakia... Even though I never could understand most of what they were saying, and vice versa, there was a connection there. We were such good friends, and I loved them with so much of my heart. As we drove away through the Eastern European countryside, I knew in my heart that we had known each other before this life, and that we had loved each other so much, that no country, no language, nothing, could keep us apart from one another. That we would find each other in this life, no matter what it took.
And we did. We found each other.
Those people that I'm preparing to teach. They're the same way. I loved them before I came to this earth, and I testify to you right now that I will find them, and that I love them already, even though I don't remember them yet. I honestly don't care if I only promised one person I would find them. I will not rest until I do. I will not rest until I bring them to the joy that only the gospel has.
This church is true. I would not be who I am today if I didn't know that. And I KNOW that blessings come from missionary service. I have seen so much evidence of that in the five weeks that I have been serving. Truly the Lord works miracles in His people.
Don't lose faith. Work to grow it every day.
I love you all so much, with all of my heart. Make me proud.
All my love,
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