picture: before transfers at the Perry's house. we love the perrys.
Id send more but i cant find my camera cord :/ The perrys are having a
birthday dinner for me on my b-day and i get to invite all the potential
investigators and lonely members i want. itll be fun!
Guess what? I have roomates! It's not a 4 person apartment but the 2
sisters that are temporarily with us (who know what "temporary" means)
are the 2 i would have chosen - they're very very easy going and easy to
get along with, so it's actually been kind of fun.
This week was great - we definetly have our hands full. We did
splits for the first time I've been in Belmont and its already created
miracles. Sister Kendall and I are getting along great. I am so so
happy. I have so much to learn still but I feel like more and more
principles of the gospel and being a missionary are starting to
crystalize more.
Learning moment for the week: Our mission is reading the book of
mormon as a mission and have been asked to finish it by a certain point,
using a floppy copy and highlighting in different colors: refrences to
Jesus Christ, his words, and his attributes. It's been an amazing
experience so far counting the references to Christ. While reading in 1
Nephi this week again when Lehi tells Nephi that him and his brothers
have been commanded to go back and get the plates, i learned something
new (of course). Nephi had just had a vision hearing the words of the
Lord teaching him the principles of obeying commandments and the
promised blessings that come as we do so. IMMEDIATELY following this
experience he talks with Lehi and Lehi tells him what God wants him to
do. I never had thought about how the Lord loved Nephi so much and
wanted to give him the promised blessings of obedience so strongly that
he prepared Nephi to accept a difficult requirement. I wonder how Nephi
would have responded if he hadn't been prepared in the way that he had.
He was so excited to obey and didnt think twice and now I can see why.
God loves us - he is ready and willing to give us blessings that come
from responding to difficult circumstances. It's neat to see how he
prepares us in ways we don't even realize. I was prepared with the
desire to serve a mission so that when the call came I was excited to
obey and didnt think twice. When challenges arise or circumstances
change that we havent experienced before, do we remember how much the
Lord loves us that he has prepared us? We are promised that he won't
give us anything that we wont be able to handle and that he has and will
prepare a way. Nephi knew this and so he trusted God enough to move
forward even in the unknown circumstances.
The second thing I learned was later on when they are trying to
take the records from Laban. We know they try 2 times and fail. Just
before the 3rd time it says the Lord will deliver Laban into
their hands. I thought this was interesting because so many times we
pray that trials and burdens will be OUT of our hands. Laban was
definetly a burden and it would have been a lot easier if God would have
made it so Laban was OUT of the way. But he didnt do that. He said that
he would allow him to get in their hands, but with the promise
that it would be ok - they'd know how to work through it. As a result,
Nephi was a completely different person for the rest of the book because
of what he ended up having to do. Do I pray that I dont have to
experience a trial anymore, or do I pray that I will know how to handle
the trial?
If Nephi didnt experience what he learned in that crucial moment of
decision, I dont think he would have been prepared to make other
decisions later in the book of mormon. again, a sign of God's love. The
whole book of mormon is just pouring out with evidences of simply how
much God loves us!
I know that he does - I feel his love everyday. Some days are still
really hard, and some days I dont know why bad things happen to good
people, and sometimes i'm not super excited to go and obey...but
sometimes I think that's ok. But I do know that days are just filled
with opportunities - opportunities to turn those circumstances into
feeling God's love, opportunities to remember that we know we have been
prepared for this time and we are being prepared now for
future decisions and circumstances. We are prepared for this life as
well as decisions and circumstances we are going to face in the next
life.
I know that God provided a way that our families can be literally
sealed together, that this life is not the end, but the beginning. This
is a life of choices and no matter where we are at physically or
spiritually, we have each been given the light of christ to make those
choices that lead us to feeling the love of the Savior. I'm so grateful
for the choices i've made, especially the choice to be baptized by the
true authority and power of God so that it doesnt just have to be the
light of christ anymore where the light switch turns on and off, but a
constant ray - a sun that never sets - that allows me to feel God's love
more readily and helps me with those circumstances I face. I am
grateful that it prepared me to make more promises in the temple so that
I get to receive even more blessings!
Aren't we just a blessed people?
Love you all and I hope you have a blessed week too.
Love,
Sister Bell
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