Hello all,
This week has been incredibly busy! I reviewed all my journal entries from this week and they all start with a sentence similar to this, " This was the most exhausting day." or" I'm so emotionally drained." haha And then I find my entries getting smaller and smaller so we can go to bed 15 min early. I really really love my mission! I love my companion, Sister Henshaw, she's really helping me getting over my "End of mission depression." haha I have just really been trying to get over the whole uncomfortable endings thing that we as humans all go through. BUT really good news!!! The Palo family passed their interview!!!! sooooooo BAPTISM NEXT WEEK!!! YAY!! I love these people with my whole soul, and I'm so excited that I get to see them get baptized. And there should be some more coming in the month of July, as well. I love my mission.
A crazy miracle happened yesterday! A brother that hadn't been to church in over 2 years came back yesterday. And he would never let us teach him. The ward members just started visiting him, and now he's back. His daughter is getting baptized next month, so I think that motivated him to come back and start the repentance process. It's really amazing at what can happen when people show their love and concern.
This last transfer, every sister companionship in my zone got changed. So, now there are 2 new missionaries that are in our zone! One of them was having a really hard time this week and told her district leader that she wanted to go home. So, we went there on Wednesday to see what we could do for her. It was so interesting. It was the weirdest feeling. I was listening to her telling us how much she misses home and how much she wants to go home because she can't speak Waray Waray (but she is Filipina... so... she knows Tagalog). It just took me back to my fist week in my mission. It was so cool to just see how much I have grown emotionally, spiritually, and confidently since that week that was soooo difficult for me. It was really cool. I felt like Heavenly Father was just showing me how much power He has. If he could change pathetic little me into what I am now, He can do anything. It just really made me appreciate the atonement. I read the conference talk by Elder Bednar this morning for my personal study. It was all about the enabling power of the atonement.
He said that a lot of times, we think of the atonement as just the aspect that helps us be ridden of all of our sins. But, we don't really pay attention to the part of the atonement that is specifically for helping us deal with our everyday lives. He said (terrible paraphrasing, sorry!) that we all just think that we can get over our trials by our "sheer grit and willpower and discipline." This, of course, is ridiculous. We can't do anything on our own. hahaha I think that's one of the biggest things I've learned on my mission. Is that truly, we are nothing. We are so dependent on our Father in Heaven. And the enabling power of his Son. I was reading in Alma 17:6 the other day. Alma 17 is such a popular chapter for missionaries, but I got something really different out of it this time. It says, "Now these were their journeying: Having taken leave of their father, Mosiah, in the first year of the judges; having refused the kingdom which their father was desirous to confer upon them."
I just related this to my life. How often do I refuse the kingdom and blessings that my Father in Heaven wants to confer upon me by not being exactly obedient? I think we perceive judgment day to be different than it will be. I think we picture everyone being denied access into the Celestial kingdom because of our failures to become the people we were meant to become. But, I have come to believe that in reality, our Father in Heaven wants more than anything for us to be with Him. When we sin, we are the ones throwing his gifts in his face and storming away like the spiritual toddlers that we are.
I know that obedience truly makes us free. I know that when we obey, we receive blessings, and that our character changes. We can rid ourselves of the filth that we've accumulated in our lives and just be free. He can change our natures. He can change our hearts. He can change us into beings that are just grateful for what we have, and open to noticing the people in our realms of influence that we can reach out to and lift up. He can help us sign out of Facebook and Pinterest and arise and awake from the dust and just enjoy living a life full of joy that comes from serving our Heavenly King.
I love this gospel, and I'm excited for the adventures that lie ahead! I'm excited because now I know how to deal with life and it’s seasons, and how to be a true disciple of my Savior. Of course, I'm nowhere near perfect, but now I know how to get there.
I love all of you so much! I hope this letter finds all of you happily serving the Lord!
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
Love,
Sister Bingham
No comments:
Post a Comment