Akong mga Pamilya!!!!!! Kamusta ka??
This week was super cool!! It was filled with amazing spiritual experiences!! Last Tuesday, M. Russell Ballard came and spoke to us!! Have any of you been front row, dead center, 5 feet away from a general authority?? Because This misyonaryo has!!! It was soooo cool! I think the best thing about it was the spirit that he brought. You can tell from his voice, and the light in his eyes that he truly is a disciple of Christ. It was awesome!!!!
I got my travel plans this week!! My flight leaves at 11:30 next Tuesday! I get a layover in Tokyo!!!! And, I only have 16 fast Sundays left in my mission. That is buyong. Seriously, this month flew by! I think I'm going to miss the MTC a lot. Not the food. I'm going to miss the MTC because of the amazing spirit that is always here. It's really really cool to just be happy and peaceful and feel the love of your Savior ALL the time! Without the distractions of the world, the spirit is unconstrained. Dad said that this is prob one of the coolest places on earth, and it totally is!! They told us that by August, they are opening up another MTC campus because the number of missionaries at one time is going to go from 3,000 to 7,000. That is amazing!!
I love Sundays! It is probably one of the most spiritual days at the MTC. This week we had church, mission conference, devotional, and watched a fireside. That's like 7 hours of spiritual direction, plus the three or four hours of personal study. I love it!! I get so much more out of my Sundays now!! My favorite thing about yesterday was the Fireside video that they showed. It was by Bednar, and it was amazing!! I'm going to go over a few things that he talked about because it was so good!
He talked about the natural man and developing the character of Christ.
When we are putting on the natural man, we act like the cookie monster. "I WANT COOKIE NOOOOOOW!!" Acting this way is very much turning inward. We turn inward from service to our fellow man, the spirit, and most importantly, to God. He basically told us to get over ourselves and our problems, because this mission isn't about us. It's about the people we are bringing to Christ. And he said that the biggest convert on our mission would likely be ourselves, but if that's our goal, that isn't going to happen. The more we focus on others, and being an instrument in the Lord's hands, the better our missionary experience is going to be.
He told a really touching story about a relief society president.
He received an emergency call one morning from a relief society president in his area. Three girls had gotten into a car accident. One of the girls in the accident was her daughter, and also, one of the girls were dead. The other two were being transferred to critical care. The bodies still needed to be identified.
She called president Bednar because he was closer to the hospital, and he needed to go and identify all of the girls. As he was talking to the women on the phone, he could hear her talking to a nurse on the second reciever she was holding. (so she had a phone in both hands, talking to two people, at the same time... sorry I don't know if I explained that well enough). He heard the nurse on the other phone tell the women that her daughter had been positively identified as the girl who was dead. The next thing the women said to Elder Bednar was, "Hurry and get down there while I call the other two moms to tell them where there daughters are."
The car accident had terribly disfigured all three of the girls. He recieved another phone call from her a couple days later saying, " President Bednar, I'm so sorry that you saw my daughter that way. The mortuary fixed her up really well, and she looks beautiful. I don't want you to have to live with that being the last memory of her, so If you want to, we would love for you to come with us before they shut the casket to look at her so you can remember her as she was."
The next day was the day of the funeral. A couple hours before the funeral started, a woman in the ward called the relief society president. The woman was mad that no one had brought her a meal since she had developed a cold. So, on her way to her daughter's funeral, the R.S. president dropped a meal off that she had made.
The example of this woman is amazing. In her darkest hour, she turned outward instinctively. She took no thought to her pain, and her suffering, rather she took the time to think of basically everyone else. That's what Christ would have done in that situation.
This story was really powerful to me. I don't know if I would act like that if my daughter died.
I found another really cool scripture chain!
Matt 5:48
D&C 67:13
Moses 1:39
We aren't expected to be perfect now. However, we are expected to try our hardest to repent and turn outward. To turn to Christ. When bad things happen to us, we need to turn outward. We need to serve and turn toward Heavenly Father.
"Testimony is what you know and believe. Conversion is what you DO and BECOME." -David A. Bednar
If we are truly converted, it will show in the way we live, serve, and love.
I know that this church is true, and I know that Heavenly Father loves us more than we could possibly ever imagine!! He knows who we are, he knows what we go through, and he knows what we need. He want us to be successful and happy! And, he wants us to return to him. I know that If we try to live with charity, we can become like Christ. It isn't going to happen soon, but it should be our life long pursuit.
I'm so thankful for all the letters and love that everyone sends me!!! I appreciate it soooooooo much!!!
Sister Latai was so happy to get all of her letters!!! It was cute! She said, "I wish I could call your mom and tell her how much I love her!! I just wnat to hug her all day!!"
Issues: -my teacher told me that I'm going to get robbed If I take my camera to tacloban. He said that Tacloban is ghetto as all ghetto. So.... I was thinking that maybe I could leave my camera in my box that Aaron is going to pick up, and switch someone cameras for a year and a half??? I do have my pink one that I left in my purple purse that works, but the only issue is that the charger doesn't work very well, and I have no idea where it is.... So, if you could dear elder me your ideas about this issue today, I would much appreciate it!! It's also in really good condition still... you could take it back still probably if you want to... so that's an option... I love it!!! It's super nice!! I should have listened to you and gotten a smaller one...... I have leaned that you are always right, parents!!!
I'm so sorry!!! -Can you send me a pair of tube socks so I can do sock buns?? just one or two socks would be awesome! Even like some old ones would be great! I love you so so so so so so so so much!! Can't wait to hear you!!!
Love Always,
Sister Hillary Bingham
You're the best family in the world!!! P.S. I LOVE MY BAG SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!! IT'S PERFECT!!!!!
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