it's p-day again! time goes by SO fast here.
On
Sunday, my companion and I got to teach our district meeting. It's like
the MTC equivalent of Sunday School. The topic was Enduring to the End
and the lesson went SO well. Our branch president and district president
were there and they added a lot of good insight. We talked about all
the different definitions of enduring and shared our own definitions of
what it can mean to endure to the end. There was a lot of participation
from the class, sharing experiences and testimony. I shared a personal
experience/analogy with my marathon running about enduring to the end.
We want to finish this life exhausted, knowing that we did all we could,
knowing that we had been patient and trusting and faithful. I shared
one of my favorite quotes from Sister Hinckley: "I don't want to drive
up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully
tailored clothes, my hair perfectly coiffed, and with long, perfectly
manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has
mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there
with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a
sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my
fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there
with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on
my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and I really
lived." My companion shared a quote from President Hinckley: "Life is
meant to be enjoyed, not just endured." This life is a test... we will
face so many trials and obstacles, but we can find joy in enduring, find
joy in obedience, find joy in the every day things.
On Sunday... my companions and I were also asked to
serve as Sister Training Leaders for our zone for the next 3 weeks. As
STL we just set the example and love and serve the sisters in our zone.
We have lots of meetings and we get to visit with each sister one on one
each week so we miss lots of study time, but it's such a good
opportunity to really get to know everyone individually. We have such a
great branch! 6 sisters are leaving this week and we should be getting
some new missionaries in our branch next week!!
Being in the MTC is wonderful time for studying the
language of the Spirit- studying the gospel and getting to know the
scriptures and the doctrine. I am so grateful for this time that I will
probably only have as a missionary. It's so exciting to become more
familiar with God's word and prepare to share the truth. As I study the
doctrine of Christ in it's simplicity: faith, repentance, baptism,
receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end, I am amazed at the new
insights I receive and how I come to understand how everything just
seems to fit and make sense. I KNOW this gospel is true. I can't deny it
because I have received a witness from the Holy Spirit... so many times
as I have chosen to just live the gospel and try as much as I can to follow
Jesus. Christ is the only way... without His perfect sacrifice, it
would be impossible for us to return home, to live with our loving
Heavenly Father. I am so grateful to have a knowledge of God's plan for
us- the plan of happiness- the plan of salvation. This knowledge, gives
my daily life meaning and purpose. The atonement is the only means
through which we can change our hearts and become better each day. I
know that our Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.
So this week at devotional.... we had ANOTHER visit
from Elder Bednar. He must really love missionaries or something :) He
told us that he received over 1000 questions on Christmas and he came
back with his wife to answer a few more... he has now touched on 15 of
our questions! I absolutely loved his talk on Tuesday. He taught us
about why bad things happen to good people. It's because God trusts us
to learn lessons through hard things. Only in opposition do we learn
lessons that are vital to prepare us for eternity. One of my favorite
quotes from Brigham Young is "Every trial and experience you have passed
through is necessary for your eternal salvation." Our experiences are
for our good... God doesn't allow us to be tempted above that which we
are able to endure. He will be with us as we learn these important
lessons and all our experiences are tailor-made for us individually. I,
personally, am grateful for all that I have experienced so far in this
life... even the tough times. Our district president's wife taught us
that our most faithful hours are often right after our darkest hours.
This is so true... our trials humble us so that we remember our
dependence on our Lord and remember to turn to him, and love him and
serve him. Elder Bednar touched on SO many other awesome things... but
I'll share one last quote... When new missionaries come to the MTC they
have a little sticker on their name tag to show that it's their first
day. Elder Bednar looked at an Elder in the audience and said, "Elder,
the little orange dot on your name tag- it's called a dork dot. You need
to lose it. I know it's his first day, but he needs to lose it!" Haha I
love that the apostles have a sense of humor. Sister Bednar said, "If I
would have known that he would become an apostle, I wouldn't have
married him!" I feel so lucky to hear from apostles so often here in the
MTC. It's amazing.
Today we went to the temple again! The Provo temple
is SO efficient... probably because it's like Mormon central around
here. Anyway.. they started showing the new new film on Tuesday.. so we
are some of the first to see it!
I love that I live right across from the temple. It's so amazing to
just look out and see it every day! It's so beautiful and I feel so
blessed to be so close!
So I know some of
y'all said you were confused about the difference between TRC and our
investigators and stuff. Oopsies. I get on here and type so fast because
time is limited that I don't even realize that I'm not explaining
things that aren't completely obvious to people who aren't missionaries.
Anyway... TRC stands for training resource center... we go there once a
week and teach two lessons. Volunteers from the area who speak the
language come so that we can talk to them! Sometimes we teach a family
or a couple or some friends or a single college student. A lot are
native Japanese. Most of them are members of the church. We just teach
them as themselves and invite them to come closer to Christ. It's really
fun!!
P.I. is when we teach our progressing investigators.
They are actually our teachers... pretending to be some of the people
they taught on their missions. So... they are not members of the church
and we start from the very beginning and teach them as Toshi san or
Yanagihara or Iida or Akiyo or Ogura or Yuki. They obviously aren't
real, but we treat it like it is so we can get appropriate experience
and learn how to prepare for the various needs of investigators. My
companion and I are currently teaching Ogura and Toshi. Ogura is just
soaking it all up. He is so awesome and he says that he is becoming more
and more happy as he reads and prays. He says that the Book of Mormon
is sometimes boring cause he doesn't always understand it, but he is
really intelligent and motivated. Toshi is a little more difficult to
work with because he doesn't understand how religion could help him. He
is really stressed and busy. He says he wants to read the Book of
Mormon, but he is too busy. So... we are going to do an object lesson
with him next time! The big rocks and sand object lesson. If you put the
Lord first (the rocks) and then put the rest of your to-do list next
(the sand), it will all fit in the glass! But if you put the sand first,
the rocks won't fit. If we put the Lord first, he will bless us and we
will be able to find the time for our own interests and desires. God
wants to bless us in all things, both temporal and spiritual. He cares
about our desires and goals. As we show him that we love him, he will
provide us with divine help and assistant to accomplish the things we
are responsible for.
Well... that's enough for now! I love y'all :)
Love,
SISTER REEVES
No comments:
Post a Comment