Thursday, September 10, 2015

WEEK 59(!), September 7, 2015: Running barefoot in the rain; Activity is the genius of this church; you get what you put in - and MORE!



Danish Word of the Week: navngivning (NOUN-gee-neeng) Baby Blessing

Hey family! Ella's baby blessing sounds like an amazing experience. Her dress was so cute!! I liked that it matched Emma's skirt. :) I'm glad that everyone got to be a part of it!

This week was a blur of names and faces-gotta love the first week in a new area. :) We also got rained on more than I ever have in my LIFE-which by now is really saying something. The other day, we were in an appointment at a member family's house-they live right across the street from the train station. We saw the train we were supposed to catch pull up through their window-and had to run barefoot across the street in the pouring rain to catch it. Our lives are so frantic. It's hilarious.

I've been thinking a lot recently about a President Hinckley quote- 'Activity is the genius of this church.' I love that in Jesus Christ's church, every single member is a part of building and strengthening it. An investigator was talking to me one time about family history-He asked why we think that it's OUR responsibility here on earth to figure all of that out. We probably make millions of mistakes, it takes forever- wouldn't it be way more efficient if we just let God do it? There's a bunch of different answers to that question, but I know that one of them is because if we 'just let God do it,' we here on the earth would never have a chance to catch the vision of His work. God gives us opportunities to be involved so that we can have a living, burning excitement for the work he is doing. That doesn't just apply to family history work. It applies to missionary work, any kind of calling, family relationships-it's no secret that this whole thing would go a lot more smoothly if Heavenly Father would just do it himself. But that's not the point. Jesus Christ is the master teacher-master teachers give their students opportunities to try it out themselves, learn from their own mistakes, practice, and improve. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father has given me so many opportunities to serve. We really do gain so much more than we ever sacrifice.

For example, we were out contacting the other day with a woman who got baptized one month ago. She had never done ANYTHING like contacting before, and at first she was way nervous. Understandable. Eventually we had a couple of good conversations, and then she started getting braver and braver with stopping people on the street. At the end of our contacting time, she took us by a cafe she hangs out at a lot. She knew almost every person in there, and she went up to each table one by one and invited them to come hear more about this church she had just joined. After we left, she expressed how exciting it was to share her new faith with her friends-she felt so good! She was so happy! Those 1 1/2 hours she sacrificed to come out with us did so much to strengthen her new testimony. Activity is the genius of this church-and of God's work.

I hope you all are finding joy and learning lots through being actively involved. You get out what you put in, and more. I love you all so much! I love the gospel, I love the church, and I love my Savior. I'm grateful that I'm not expected to be perfect, and that through Jesus Christ's Atonement, I can be a little bit better every day.

Keep being wonderful! Take care of each other!

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