Man, the weeks are really starting to blend together and it's taken me all morning to think of what to write about this week. We are almost at our month mark! Pretty exciting.
So on Tuesday night for devotional, we had the privelage of hearing from Elder Richard G. Scott!! It was amaaaaaazing. When he first got up to the pulpit and looked at all of us he said, "I feel like I just died and went to heaven!" He said he wished he could sit down individually for an hour and get to know us... and then said how we have that opportunity to speak with our Heavenly Father in prayer whenever and wherever we want to. He went on to give this awesome talk about prayer, mostly, and here are some things that stood out to me:
"Every good thing in my life came because I served a mission." (So did Jenine!)
" I can assure you you will never regret the service you will give."
"To reach a goal never before attained, one must do things one has never done... the Lord will help you through your faith."
"He [Heavenly Father] doesn't care if your feelings are clumsily expressed, He is your loving Heavenly Father and you are precious to Him."
"Kneel and pray and talk to your Father in Heaven... Let Him know your honest and sincere feelings."
He told us there are three kinds of answers:
1) Peace, comfort, assurance
2) Unsettling feeling, stupor of thought
3) No answer-- To have us grow through exercising faith in Him. We are not passively waiting, but acting in accordance with His teachings. The Spirit will alert you if it is a wrong choice. This is a blessing because He trusts us. Waiting for an answer increases our character and faith.
"Answers seldom come during a prayer, but during quiet moments of pondering and meditation. Find time to be still."
"Challenges stretch us and allow us to grow. Don't complain. Ask the Lord what you're supposed to learn."
"I know Jesus Christ lives because I know Him."
"The Lord has called you to succeed, not to fail... Remember, you have been called."
...and my favorite...
"This is an opportunity for you to discover a capacity you never knew."
I hope you enjoy all of that, I know I did! Elder Scott is just the sweetest. I know he really cares about each of us missionaries and wanted us to know how to be our best. He gave an apostolic blessing to us of peace and to master our mission language. He said we will not be asked to do something we cannot do, but we will be strengthened. He said many times that each of our callings are inspired.
Other than that things are pretty much the same. Elder Boxberger got his visa and let Thursday morning for the Lima CCM. We are all way sad he's not with us anymore. He brought such a joy to our district (good thing he'll be in my mission!). Now there are just eight of us, four Elders and four Hermanas. We are a super tight group now. It was Elder Frehner's birthday on Saturday and we all got him a card and signed a t-shirt. We also took various fruit from the cafeteria and made a fruit basket for him. Haha.
We are also, as of today, the oldest district in the zone. Elders Bowler and Frehner are now the new Zone Leaders and yesterday I was called to be the Sister Training Leader. CRAZY. I'm grateful for the opportunity to get to know the Hermanas in my zone better (the ones left in my district and two others in district B) plus the ones who arrive this week. I'm supposed to talk to them about modesty and rules and stuff... it's SO unlike me to be kind of a rule-enforcer. As you know, I'm usually pretty laid back. But I'm learning already it's an opportunity to be stretched in ways I never have been before! I also get to interview the Hermanas individually to get to know them and help them out with their MTC experience. I am praying so much for the Spirit to help me help them. It took some adjusting for me my first few weeks here, so hopefully knowing exactly how they're feeling as a brand new missionary will be helpful.
And speaking of being stretched... I accompanied on piano for SACRAMENT MEETING yesterday. I guess that's what I get for having a companion who is Music Coordinator :) Thankfully, it wasn't a total disaster. It was good practice because I know I'll be doing it in the field. And it was kinda cool to really get pushed out of my comfort zone. The first song I played was "Tengo Gozo En Mi Alma Hoy" so that's where I got this title from!
There is also "gozo en mi alma hoy" porque we finally got a sunny P-day! We are loving it. Life is good. I'm not yet at the point where I'm DYING to leave. So that's good. Oh, and "Fabian" got baptized! We are getting a new investigator soon. We have also been teaching "Eliana" lately and she has made some commitments so right now we are rollin'!
I love and miss you all! I was looking through some pictures today and thinking about everyone. I hope y'all are doing well and that my friends taking finals survive this week :) My teachers are all sick and stressed out. I don't miss that!
Peace and Blessin's!
Hermana Bledsoe
This week...
Words of Wisdom de Elder Boxberger:
Pray
Until
Something
Happens
When we were talking about music: "It helps me to say that I miss my music but- and 'but' excludes it- I have made a commitment to keep my eye single to the work."
"If you don't have a plan, what else have you got?"
...and my favorite:
"Never stop living the Gospel... LIVE IT UP."
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