This email is gonna be heavy =) Just FYI. Not making anyone read it, but I'd appreciate it. I'm doing great out here in Amsterdam =) I love it. But every night, I have been praying and continue to pray for you guys because I love you all a ton!!! I miss you guys, but I also know how important it is for me to be out here and nothing is going to stop me from that. One of the sisters working here in Amsterdam with us just had one of her sisters die in a mudslide back home. She has been a champ the whole way ever since and nobody (well... except me) noticed that she was even really having a hard time. I asked her about it though and she told me what happened and that she wanted a Priesthood Blessing. So we went with the APs to give her a blessing the next morning and she asked me to do it. I was a little distraught after the blessing because I was kinda hoping that she'd be smiling again and instantly happier when she shook our hands. But instead, she was just grateful and pushed on through the day. Elder Eastmond (the new AP and my old zone leader, super fun to be living with him by the way) and I had a good conversation about it and came to the conclusion that Priesthood Blessings are actually more like Little Covenant Makers. I realized that in every blessing I've given, there has been commitments from our Heavenly Father included in them. He asks us to do something and then he'll bless us with all the other things that are said. For Sister Morris, she was asked basically to continue strong in her mission. I can't believe how hard it's gotta be for her. Thank goodness I'm not the type to get homesick really, but I can't even imagine losing a sibling while being out here! She's not the only out here either who that has happened to. But ever since that blessing, she's still been working super hard, smiling and laughing with us, and enjoying what she knows and what she's doing. She's doing all that God asked of her and definitely receiving the blessings promised to her as well.
For this email though, I decided I needed to open up more to you all and let a little more of my spiritual side to you all as well. Not saying that you guys all need to repent or anything =) But I just really feel like this is something important that I should bear my testimony to you guys all about. Even though I'm just the same annoying little brother/son =) PS, I've been scaring all of my companions a ton still. Gotta make sure that their hearts stay healthy.
First off, General Conference was awesome. Definitely inspired. I love how if you have questions/concerns in your mind, ponder them, and pray for answers, then the General Authorities are always inspired to answer your question for you. It's amazing. I got to watch it in English thank goodness. I actually watched the first few talks in Dutch as they were setting it up in English in the other room, but it's just even better when you hear the actual prophet's and apostles' voices. Plus, my Dutch just isn't good enough or my concentration level, to watch the whole thing in Dutch =) No thanks. But we watched the Saturday morning session live and the Sunday morning session live. All the others we just watched at better times during the day. Super good talks though and definitely addressed to so many of the problems going on in the world today.
I feel like there's a super strong pull though to increase the overall faith of everyone in Christ. People are getting caught up in so many things though that they forget that Christ should be the center of everything. Everything in life centers around Christ naturally and everything comes back to Him, so why shouldn't we always be working to increase our faith in Him, His Atonement, and His Resurrection? Having said that, the glory and worship is all still to our Heavenly Father, for all that he has planned for us and has done for us, especially through Christ. Then, we have the Holy Ghost, who is an amazing blessing in helping us all to understand His will, to find the truth for any question or desire, and to comfort us in times of need. The Godhead is so clearly one in purpose, but all with distinct roles. They talked so much about having Faith in Christ, trusting him, and acting on what you hope/believe/know to be true; no matter what situation you are in. That action part is super important, because if you don't act on something, then you can't strengthen that muscle. It begins to mean nothing to you. Kinda like Wall-E when all of the people get fat, lazy, and don't know what the heck is going on at all =D But how you can get any help if you can't even show God that you want it?
and this was all prophesied to happen though!!! Everyone in the world getting caught up in different things that keep them from having faith in Christ or listening to his current prophets... Funny, how humans keep following the same patterns throughout the Bible and Book of Mormon. The worst part is that it's even necessary for the General Authorities to have to keep reminding us how important it is to do the Big 3: daily scripture study, prayer, and attend church. If you do those three, you won't go astray. You'll still have trials, questions here and there, times when it's harder than others, but the presence of the Godhead in your life will help you through whatever comes. There's so many people I've met here that trip a little just because they start taking one of those things for granted and don't do it. They're shutting a door to help, blessings, and peace/happiness, without even realizing it at first. Of course the adversary is going to have that much stronger of a hold on you at that point, it just sucks that he's so subtle.
Anyways, the coolest thing I've seen is situations with people like Gary this week. Gary grew up here in Amsterdam, chose to be baptized into the church with his mom when he was a teenager, was an active member for a long time. Fast forward to now, he still has a super super strong testimony that the Book of Mormon is true and that this Church receives revelation of God and holds the Priesthood. Then, my companion and I both receive that little feeling inside of us that tells us he's just struggling in searching for happiness. We ended up both feeling prompted as well to testify to him how important it was be Praying and studying the Book of Mormon. We also asked him to try and make it to a session of general conference, but he unfortunately is just really struggling right now. He knows that he needs to make the Gospel a bigger priority in his life, but he's struggling getting out of his habits. I'm sure though that once he repents and utilizes the Atonement of Christ, he'll have all the help he needs. Right now, he says that he's got a great life, great job, things are going well all around, etc. But he's also searching for true peace and happiness again.
I've been through the same struggle so many times in my life and I wish I understand during those times then, what I understand now. Only one way that he's gonna find it, hopefully we can help him figure that out and make those decisions himself.
That's part of what I appreciate so much about being a missionary. We're just serving others. We're giving them opportunities that they wouldn't have otherwise. We don't force them into anything, we don't overly pressure them. We just respect their agency, do what we can for them, and let them know that we and Our Heavenly Father love them. I found some super good talks recently about how God is always trying to help us. The only ones restricting him from doing so, is ourselves. We just have to remember the Plan of Salvation really. It's the ultimate key to hope and eternal happiness. Other religions, beliefs, lifestyles, etc., are so close, but it's only this perfect plan that gives me hope and understanding. I've been studying and thinking about the Plan of Salvation a lot lately, and it answers so many questions so well! The missionary lessons really are perfect for everyone to learn, study, re-learn, ponder, and pray about. So go check out Preach My Gospel again if you got a chance =)
And this concludes my rant after the words of General Conference. Thanks for reading and tune in next week =) Also, Elder Oaks' talk during the Priesthood Session was amazing about Priesthood Power and Authority and Endowments. All of these confused ladies part of this Ordain Women thing really need to read that talk a few times. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Thank goodness for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Peace, I'm outta here. [Mic. drop]
Love you guys =)