Mom, I still haven't gotten the package. Don't know what's up with that. As I understand you mailed it 2 weeks ago. Oh well. I was really glad to hear about your jobs. I can already see the blessings from this mission. It sounds like everyone's happy and healthy. Thanks mom and dad for the letters. I loved the jokes. :-)
Hi everybody! I am so glad I get P-day the day after Sunday because I'm always on a spiritual high. Yesterday was pretty much the best Sunday ever. First of all, the conversion spotlight always makes me cry. (The conversion spotlight is just someone they pick each week to tell their conversion story and their testimony.) This week it was a girl from China. Her testimony in broken English was so sincere and beautiful. She's gone through a lot to come on a mission. She worked for five years in Cambodia where she learned about and accepted the gospel. We had Sister Oaks speak in relief society. She’s the wife of the apostle Dallin H. Oaks. She gave us all "testimony gloves" which are white gloves with Velcro on the fingers to which you stick pictures of the 5 things you need a testimony of before you get baptized: Heavenly Father is our Father, Jesus Christ is my Savior, The Church is true, the Book of Mormon is the word of God and Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. It works with investigators because it shows them that a testimony doesn't have to be complicated at all. Sister Oaks brought up a friend of hers which was a girl with Down syndrome. She had one of the gloves and bore her testimony with it. She pointed to each picture as she explained with a stutter her testimony. Then some music came on and she sang a little song about the importance of gaining her own testimony. I think it's called "my own little lamp". It was probably the best musical number I've heard here yet. She even had to start her song over because she was touched by the Spirit. She didn't use eloquent words for her testimony. Heavenly Father only cares about your heart.
Aaaaaand, to top Sunday off, we had Sheri Dew give the Sunday night fireside. It was pretty much amazing. She’s a great speaker! One thing she said was she figured out what she would do to wreck our lives as a missionary if she was the adversary. Three things: 1. confuse us as to who we are
2. keep us from understanding the atonement and what Christ did for us
3. make sure we never learn how to receive personal revelation
So if we want to combat Satan and make sure he doesn't have any power over us, we need to do the opposite: learn that we are children of God, understand what the Savior actually did for each of us, and learn how to hear the voice of the Lord and receive personal revelation. Each of us receives guidance from our Heavenly Father differently so we need to figure out what works for us. She challenged us to pray and receive confirmation as to who we are and how Heavenly Father feels about us and ask God to help you learn how to hear His voice. When you learn a new language, it takes practice. You learn a little bit and just practice until it becomes natural. It's the same way with personal revelation. It takes practice to learn the language of God but He will help us if we really want the guidance.
So yeah, that was amazing. Other things that happened this week: I bought a new set of scriptures on Monday because a missionary just can't survive without them. Tuesday my old ones turned up in the lost and found. I guess I'm just meant to have a new set. I was able to get "Hermana Evans" engraved on them for free so that will be cool to have a set I got on my mission. Likewise, everything else that went missing has turned up. Yay.
It's getting colder here. It snowed a lot yesterday but it's all melted now. Still cold.
A thought: if you're flexible, you can never be bent out of shape.
Something our teacher challenged us to do to be better: ask God every night something you should stop doing then wait for ideas and write one down to work on. Do the same thing asking for something you can start doing and write it down. Keep working on those ideas. It's really cool how it can help you.
Never take things for granted.
I have a request if anyone wants to take the time to write me. Something I'd like is to have everyone's testimonies. Also, if you could answer two questions for me: How do you know God loves you, and how are you showing God and Jesus Christ that you love them? Those are some questions that I've tried to answer this week and I'd like to know how other people answer. Other things to write to me about in case you're wondering: I just want to know how you're doing. Spiritual thoughts are good too but I do want to know things that are going on in your lives and how you feel about them. I'll really try hard to answer if you write.
Life is glorious. Men are that they might have joy (2 Nephi 2:25). That doesn't mean that we're meant to idle our time away being lazy. That's not joy. When the Nephites in the Book of Mormon were the happiest, they were busy building cities and prospering in the land.
Thanks for everyone who has sent me letters and words of encouragement. It is hard sometimes to get through the week. I really appreciate anyone who takes the time. I know everyone's busy. I appreciate each and every single one of you who read my e-mails. I am so blessed to have so many people who care about me. I can feel the influence of your prayers and I am very grateful. Just FYI, don't feel pressure to write me. I understand if you don't have time. I don't have very much either. Just know I love you all!
TTFN till next week
Hermana Sarah Evans
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