Hey y'all!
I'm just gonna start by saying that I'm not trying to be dramatic or anything, but my life changed this week. I guess it's accurate to say that it's changed every week since I've been here, but what I mean is that I learned something that will change how I live the rest of my life. I've heard stories of people talking to God--not face to face or anything but it's like they could hear a voice revealing something to them. Usually it was their own thought but they knew that it came from revelation. And I've always thought that those experiences were really cool and that those people were gifted or something for being able to have a conversation with God.
This week Sister Wrigley started telling us a story about her life in the past few years and it is basically all about how she has followed the Spirit through a really tough trial and there were tons of miracles along the way. I don't have time to write details, but she told us about a time that she was sitting in her car outside the temple (because the temple was closed) and she told Heavenly Father, "I have a pen in my hand and I've written down my questions and I'm not going to leave this car until I have answers." Sort of sassy, right? I thought so, too. But she said she sat there and read off her questions and prayed for a long time, and eventually thoughts came into her mind and she wrote them down, and they were her answers. So then she asked more questions and there were more answers and it filled pages and pages. So then I got to thinking, why can't I do that? Sister Wrigley kept saying that God wants to talk to us and he wants to answer our questions, no matter how insignificant we think they may be to Him. As long as it's important to us, it's important to Him.
On Monday, I decided that I'd ask my questions that I hadn't ever thought to ask: things that have always bothered me or concerns that I didn't think could be resolved. I spent two hours in the morning (during language study, oops. Part of the reason that my Russian is coming along at a snail's pace) and prayed with all the energy of my heart. I know that sounds cheesy but I really mean it. I've never focused so much on a prayer in my life. I asked Heavenly Father to help me know the right questions to ask and to recognize the answers that He gives me. And here comes the boom: it worked! It took a long time and just as I was about to give up (two hours is a long time, if you know what I'm sayin'), a thought came into my mind that I know didn't come from me. It was an answer to a question that I hadn't known I'd been asking and it was advice that I never could have imagined for myself. The next day, I asked Heavenly Father if there was more and if He could teach me how to listen more carefully, and I honestly have pages of personal revelation about tons of different things: my mission, my investigators, what I'll do after my mission, what is to come in my life, and how to obtain the blessings of my patriarchal blessing. It just blows my mind how much Heavenly Father is willing to give us if we keep asking and if we trust and have total faith that He'll answer.
The reason I write this is because I don't want anyone to go another second in life without knowing that Heavenly Father will literally speak with you. I want you to know that you can lead a life guided by the Spirit and that Heavenly Father always meant for it to be like that. He always wants to talk to us and resolve our concerns--we just have to put faith in Him and have a strong desire to listen. Maybe I've been told this all of my life, but it's never really meant something to me until I knew that it could happen for anyone. And it can! So if there's something that's you've been feeling uneasy or concerned about, please pray tonight for answers. You'll get them if you have the faith, I promise.
Sorry to preach, I just feel like that's the most important thing I've ever learned. This week was great, although I don't really know why. Haha lots of things have hit me at once: I got super sick with a cold and just felt like death in general, still chugging along with Russian, and...I know there were more difficult things, I just can't remember them. Anyway, it doesn't make sense for me to not have had a bad day, but it's true. Every day is good here. That's probably because my district is so hilarious and also I'm being lulled into a false sense of security with my Russian.
On Sunday, Sister Coombs and I were called as Sister Training Leaders and later today, we have four new sisters coming into our zone. We'll be in charge of getting them trained and settled tonight, so that should be fun. IYou always hear the advice, "Just make it to Sunday and it'll all be good!" but I think that's stupid. Haha why should you wait until Sunday to have a good day? I've found that it's hard to be discouraged when you're praying to recognize the significance of each day and to recognize Heavenly Father's hand. The calling is going really well--the thought that keeps coming to mind is that the Lord shapes our backs to bear our burdens. I can feel that a lot every day. Like I said, things that shoud be hard or discouraging for me just aren't anymore. It's a huge blessing and I know that it comes from exact obedience. Aaaand my ability to crack myself up.
Speaking of which, Elder Graf and I pulled a fast one on our teachers this week. We've been perfecting the fake slap for a few days--Elder Graf puts his hand in front of his face and I slap his hand and he turns his head so it looks like I slapped him for real if you're stanfding from behind. So we were outside doing a contact activity with Brat Williams and Elder Graf was like, "Sister Gooch, you're an annoying little mama rabbit," which was just stupid, but I pretended to be reeeeal angry and we did the fake slap thing. You should have seen Brat Williams' face! It was priceless. O.O <---that was it. And then the next day we did it to Sister Wrigley and that was even better. She practically fell over. Brat Williams was so pumped to be a part of it though. And yeah, I know this doesn't sound that funny but rest assured that we were laughing for dayzzz.
So for the companionship spotlight: Sister Haroldsen & Sister Bonazelli. Sister Haroldsen is from Idaho Falls and she's super sweet. She loves to tell stories and she's really talented at the violin. A few days ago after dinner, she was playing and all of the elders were clogging to it. Killed me dead. Anyways, she and Sister Bonazelli are headed to Samara, Russia with the rest of the elders in our district. Sister Bonazelli was baptized around two years ago and she is just awesome. Her mom passed away in January from cancer, her dad's an alcoholic, and she isn't close to any of her siblings. It's insane how much people give up to be here, but it's also been cool to hear her say how much peace she has and how confident she is about her future.
It's been great having Ashlyn Clark here, too. We see each other almost every meal and I think it's been a huge blessing for both of us to be able to talk to each other. She's doing great and her teacher is actually a guy who was in one of my classes last semester. I also got to say goodbye to Becca Evans, which was just the best. She left today for Oakland.
So Brat Williams always gets mad when the elders waste their p-days playing floppy golf (you're still supposed to study and prepare for lessons, regardless of the fact that it's p-day) and we were talking about it last week. Brat Williams told them that if they could relate floppy golf to our purpose as missionaries, then it's okay if they play. And since Elder Wixom is a champion of the sun, he likened it to the Plan of Salvation. Haha there are three kingdoms (three rungs on the floppy golf pipe thing) and you're aiming for the celestial. Haha it was great. He's a fast thinker.
And OH MY GOSH I almost forgot to tell you about the funniest part of my week! So we were sitting at breakfast one day and I was telling everyone about the time that Julissa, Mattie and I were walking outside at Eagle High and there was a bunch of bird poop on the ground. And Julissa said something like, "There's so much fetus on the ground," when I thiiink she meant to say "feces". Haha so we were all having a good laugh about that and then Elder Graf asked us if he'd ever mentioned fetus face before. The answer was no. So he proceeds to tell us that there is a certain face that we all have when we wake up in the morning, and this is called fetus face. It's when your eyes are all crusty and gross and he said the only way to avoid it is to shower ASAP and eat breakfast. Hahaha so sick, but I really appreciated his imagery.
Anyways, I hope that everything is going great for you guys. It sounds like lots of good things are happening and I'm pumped to hear how the wedding of the year (not counting Beau and Brynn's, obvi) is pulled off. Beary J. Blige and his Feyonce. Haha I love that. And I love all of you!
-Sister Gooch
P.S. Thank you for Katzner, Beary! And the clothes are good, I just don't need anymore polka dots :) And are you sending me an address book? And thank you for the contacts! I LOVE YOU ALL.
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