Dear Home,
It's funny to hear about frost warnings in Sacramento when we're having snowfall in Regina. We've been beyond "frost warning" and into "It will not get above zero degrees celcius all day" for the past month or so, and it's only going to get worse.
But the good news is that I've got some of the best keep-yourself-warm clothes that money can buy. At least, I've been extreemely satisfied, so don't worry about me. I've only used hand warmers twice by now, so I may not need reinforcements after all. I remember last year it felt like I was using hand warmers every day. Have I gotten used to the cold by now, or is it that it's not as cold now as it was last year? Time will tell. I've got a pair or hand warmers in my pocket right now, ready to be opened, in case I need them in the next few days.
Missionary work has been pretty fun and exciting around here lately. My studies have been focussed on the vitality of missionary work and why it's so important, and Elder Higginson has made a big push on being diligent and talking to everyone, and that has really been paying off. We've found this wonderful Phillipino family that wants to learn more about our church. Some of their relatives are members of the church, and this family seems to be really interested in coming to church. I thought that the language barrior would be slowing us down a bit, but it's actually helping us. There's a member here who served his mission in the Phillipines, and he speaks their language pretty well. We've only had one visit with them, but they're already friends with the member we brought, and their eager to come to the ward Christmas Party and have us come and teach them again. It's so exciting. ^^
Another thing that I'm excited for is helping out a recently less-active member of the ward clear out some cement in his basement. We've been meeting with this brother frequently over the past two weeks, and I feel we're becoming good friends. We've helped him demolish his downstairs bathroom (if you could call it a bathroom. It's the same size as the downstairs bathroom back at home now that we've taken the bathtub out of it. It's tiny now. It must've been painfully cramped in there before.) We've also helped him expand his master bedroom by taking out a closet in the other room. In return, he has fed us lunch multiple times, has given us rides to places, and is having us teach members of his family in his home. He's also going to be feeding us dinner tomorrow night, after we get some of the cement taken care of. It's been great. He is a really good man. He's even feeding us on Christmas and letting us use his phone to call home. He has a very good long distance plan, apearantly. If I remember correctly, he said that he could call any location in the United States, set the phone on the counter, and leave the phone running all week without having to pay the phone company an obese amount of money. I'll verify wether or not that's truely what he said and then I'll get back to you. Either way, the phone call worked out last year, so I'm sure it'll all work out this year. I'm excited to talk to ya'll again, especially if, like last time, I can get away with a multiple hour long phone call. 45 minutes or even just one whole hour is not nearly enough time to talk to a big family like I have. There are just too many people to touch bases with.
That reminds me, I bet the house looks way different now than it did when I left. So much organizing, reorganizing, remoldeling and painting has taken place, It'll be a completely different house almost. But it's still the same family (Plus one. I can't wait to meet Naomi!!!), so it's still the same home, and I'm very grateful for that. I'm also grateful for our knowledge of the gopsel. Even if some of it doesn't completely make sense sometimes, it's very reassuring to know that there are men on the earth who are prophets of God, holding the same power and authority that Moses held, and that they, like Noah, know what they're talking about, even if we can't see things quite from the same persective. I'm so grateful for General Conferences. They're like the time when, in the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin gathered his people together to share his message with them. I love the King Benjamin address. =) I want to study the new Ensign that we just got about a week ago, but Elder Higginson has been studying it every day and I don't want to take that away from him. Plus, I'm learning a lot from his insights, so I'll know what I want to study once I get a turn with the Ensign. I actually haven't asked to have a turn studying the Ensign. He'd probably let me if I asked. But in the meantime, my own studies out of Preach My Gospel have been beneficial enough. I just read The Gospel of Jesus Christ out of Chapter One, and it really hit home. We're not doing missionary work because other people expect us to do it (Though, I must admit, that was part of the reason I came on a mission in the first place), we do missionary work so that we can bless the lives of those we teach eternally. Really, our purpose is to help people live the gospel. When you live the gospel, you can have the spirit with you, and that's a tremendous blessing in and of itself, just because of the comfort it brings, but it also helps us to be more righteous, more valient, more like Jesus Christ. And being more Christlike by following His gospel and the promptings of His spirit helps us to be worthy for the even greater blessings that God wants for all His children, and it even allows us to prepare to recieve the greatest gift of all; the gift of Eternal Life. I want that. I want that for myself and everyone I care about. And the purpose of my work as a missionary is to show people the way and give them a push in the right direction, and it is SO fulfilling to see people following that path. It's amazing, really. If you get the chance to serve a mission, go for it. It Will Bless Your Life, and the lives of countless millions of others.
While I've been on my mission, I've learned a lot about myself, God, my relationship with God, how I can improve my relationship with God, and all sorts of other things that I never even thought about, like 'what does it feel like to "feel the spirit"?', 'What does God want for me in the afterlife?', 'How can I survive buying food for myself on a limited budget?', 'How can I get along with people?', 'How can I hold on to what's really important?'.
That's a question that I think I'll touch on a little, since I have time, especially since the answer is rather short and simple. How do you hold on to what's really important? You treat it like it's really important. For example, let's say that you've got this photograph that's very special to you. Of course, you're going to put it in a frame, or some other secure place, right? If you don't have a frame for it, you might buy a frame or put it in a photo album. You show that it's important to you by protecting it, making sacrifices for it and giving it it's own special place. That's what we can do for our loved ones. Do you want to hold on to your relationship with them? Treat them like they're important to you. Sacrifice some time to them. Protect them. Give them a special place in your heart. Also, a good way to improve your relationship with someone, and a vital way to mantain your relationship with them is to communicate with them. If you really want to show that you care for someone, take some time out of your day and have a good chat with them every once in a while. If you can't do that, leave a note for them. Just reach out to them and include them in your life sometimes. Every friendly guesture carries a message of love, and if you send a person enough friendly guestures, I bet they'll get the message.
Faithfully yours, your once-weekly missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts
No comments:
Post a Comment