Dear Everyone,
The picture is a view from one side of my apartment. The other side's view pretty much looks the same. Kind of right here in the city, for sure.
One day, we were walking back from picking up two Sisters to do exchanges with them. As we walked back, I happened to notice a cat under a car. I suddenly stopped and took a closer look. "THAT CAT'S WEARING A SHIRT!!" Sure enough, someone had stuck a child's size shirt on this cat, and the cat was wearing this black muscle tee like a boss. Made my whole day. Sister Grant will never understand why I love cats so much.
Another fun thing that happened... I worked this week with a ward missionary while Sister Grant was at a going home tutorial thing (she goes home in a few months.) That's the first time I've ever worked with a non-missionary without another missionary with me. It was good though, just felt weird not having that back up of another person called to serve 24/7. I enjoyed it though, and then afterwards the member said to me that there was another way to get back to the main church rather than walking the whole way. She said there was a little ferry you could take over the super polluted, super dead river. I said sure, let's do that! So we took this little ferry for like 2 minutes across the little channel of death water. Kind of felt like floating on the Styx. It was awesome though, and ended up being faster than walking for sure. Sister Grant was jealous when I told her about it; we'll have to do it again, haha.
As for the good part... found this gem in my personal studies this morning. From President Boyd K. Packer:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Faith, to be faith, must center around something that is not known. Faith, to be faith, must go beyond that for which there is confirming evidence. Faith, to be faith, must go into the unknown. Faith, to be faith, must walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness. If everything has to be known, if everything has to be explained, if everything has to be certified, then there is no need for faith. Indeed, there is no room for it. …
“There are two kinds of faith. One of them functions ordinarily in the life of every soul. It is the kind of faith born by experience; it gives us certainty that a new day will dawn, that spring will come, that growth will take place. It is the kind of faith that relates us with confidence to that which is scheduled to happen. …
“There is another kind of faith, rare indeed. This is the kind of faith that causes things to happen. It is the kind of faith that is worthy and prepared and unyielding, and it calls forth things that otherwise would not be. It is the kind of faith that moves people. It is the kind of faith that sometimes moves things. … It comes by gradual growth. It is a marvelous, even a transcendent, power, a power as real and as invisible as electricity. Directed and channeled, it has great effect. …
“In a world filled with skepticism and doubt, the expression ‘seeing is believing’ promotes the attitude, ‘You show me, and I will believe.’ We want all of the proof and all of the evidence first. It seems hard to take things on faith.
“When will we learn that in spiritual things it works the other way about—that believing is seeing? Spiritual belief precedes spiritual knowledge. When we believe in things that are not seen but are nevertheless true, then we have faith”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our whole mission is working and focusing on extending our faith. I've seen on my mission many miracles happen because of great faith, on the parts of missionaries and those with a desire to join the Church or come back. It's been really amazing for me to see that faith is, indeed, a power that each person has the capability to cultivate and grow through diligent efforts. It's not easy, but it's so, so worth it. I can testify to everyone reading this that there really is only one way for each person to be happy in this life, and that is through growing their faith and coming closer to God while they are here on this Earth. I encourage each and every one of you to do so now - even if you feel you don't have faith, pray to find it, and I know that you will when your desires are sincere. Don't go through your life in a cloud of doubt, murky as the water in the Manila rivers. I know that for each and every one of us, our connection to God is what will ultimately give us life and exuberance and hope in this life and the life to come.
Love you all,
Sister Larsen
[During our Mother's Day Skype call, Marinda talked about how another two sisters came to do exchanges and to spend the night, so she and her companion slept in the kitchen because the apartment is so small. Marinda thought that was an adventure. She also talked about how she and her companion asked some kids they were teaching to make balloon animals without reading the instructions and with their eyes closed. Of course, the kids didn't do very well making any animals. So then they gave the kids the instructions and helped them, and let them open their eyes, and then the kids were able to make great balloon animals. Marinda and her companion compared that to reading the scriptures and keeping the commandments in order to be successful in life.]
No comments:
Post a Comment