This is a plea for all who live in SLC/Provo area: I need real food! There are no fresh vegetables and fruit, just the same cantaloupe, honeydew and pineapple every meal, everyday! I'm grateful that we don't have to fix our own food right now but the lack of variety is killin' me! Carrots? Berries? Anything like that? We DO have a fridge in our room! :D Just sayin', Mom? Kassie? < My companion, Sister Murri and I pointing to the tiny, hard-to-find island of Taiwan! So when the older District left, one of the companionships passed down their progressing investigator to us. This has never been done before. We met him and learned he hadn't been taught about living prophets so we will teach him about that next time, and his baptism is scheduled for next Saturday! |
< {Left to Right} Sister Smith, Sister Knight,
Sister Williams, Sister Sears, Sister Hicken,
Sister Murri and Sister Keung!
Honestly we are all just tired all the time! There is no way we could do this work without the Spirit giving us the strength. Everyday for personal study I read from the Book of Mormon- I'm in Alma right now. Every time I read I find passages that apply to missionary work or that are exactly what our investigators need. This week I found a lot of passages of finding joy through Christ. WHY DOESN'T IT JUST SAY, "HAPPINESS"? Well, happiness is a fleeting emotion like fear, sadness or excitement. Joy, however, is far reaching,... an attitude, ...a consciousness of peace. I don't know how to put a word to it, but joy is what we have through Christ. Through times of stress, sorrow, fear, whatever...we can always have joy in Christ. Our investigator recently lost her 18 yr old daughter who was an active member of the church. After her death the ward really rallied and supported this mother who had never attended church. this made her interested and willing to meet with us. Then I read in Alma 27: 28 "AND THEY NEVER DID LOOK UPON DEATH WITH ANY DEGREE OF TERROR, FOR THEIR HOPE AND VIEWS OF CHRIST AND THE RESURRECTION; THEREFORE, DEATH WAS SWALLOWED UP TO THEM BY THE VICTORY OF CHRIST OVER IT." Christ IS victorious. He has already paid the price and suffered so we may repent and change and will be resurrected. Alma 28: 14 "...WE SEE THE GREAT REASON OF SORROW BECAUSE OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION AMONG MEN, AND JOY BECAUSE OF THE LIGHT OF CHRIST UNTO LIFE." How amazing is the atonement?!? ^ Fish Faces with Elder Hill and Elder Taylor who just left for Taizhong. | ^ Sister Smith, Sister Murri, investigators; Jose and Hely, Sister Williams, Sister Keung and Sister Knight. As we sanctify ourselves and become one with the Spirit, we can better understand the joy the Atonement brings. We have no reason NOT to smile! through Christ we can have eternal joy. {More on JOY} Alma 29: 9 "I DO NOT GLORY IN MYSELF...THIS IS MY GLORY, THAT PERHAPS I MAY BE AN INSTRUMENT IN THE HANDS OF GOD TO BRING SOME SOUL TO REPENTANCE; AND THIS IS MY JOY." I thought of God's glory: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. My glory? Mine is that I have the privilege of being an instrument in this great work. ^ In the middle, Elder Blacker and Elder Williams who passed on an investigator to us before leaving the MTC! |
Do you see how much great stuff is in a few short pages of the Book of Mormon? It's up to you to be willing to put the effort and time into it. Please study the Book of Mormon everyday. I can not believe I didn't study everyday before coming to the MTC. I don't know what I was thinking! It's not just something to chick off the list ( oh, I read today so I will be blessed). That's how I lived through high school. This is SCRIPTURE. It is how to help others return home. This is how we can do better. And it feels so good when you know you did something right, or got better at something! Well, God loves you, it's as simple as that. I promise, as a representative of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that as you study the Book of Mormon, and ask your Heavenly Father, you will know this book is true. You will learn more of Christ's Atonement and how to come unto Him. You will feel of the immense love God is pouring out to us everyday. I promise, not that your life will be perfect, but that your eternity will be perfect as you follow the counsel of our living prophet and the Book of Mormon.
Love, Sima Jiemei (Sister Smith)