Fact: I'm in denial I'm almost 1/3 through my mission
Fact: I'm in denial about life
I guess I'm just in denial....seriously though, LIFE is going way to fast, not my mission, life. I just remembered that I'm a senior at BYUI.......a SENIOR!!!!!!!! WHAT DA KINE?! Since WHEN am I old enough to graduate COLLEGE?!?! Yeah, this, is REALLY weird. I've pretty much decided that I'm gonna go home from y mission and be like, wait, what? I served a mission? hahahaha I mean, it's like, you spend YEARS daydreaming about a mission and all the places you could go and the people you'll meet and the lives you'll change, and then BAM, you get your mission call and all of the sudden that mystery is gone because you KNOW where you're gonna serve, no more daydreaming about that. Then, you SERVE your mission, and BAM! that mystery is taken away, because now you've already experienced it, you've already done it, there's no more mystery! No more nothing! IT'S SO WEIRD!!!!.......weird............anyhoo
SO, as of right now we are working with a lot of kids. And they're great and wonderful and fabulous and totally in-tune with the spirit. The only thing holding them back? Their never-been-active parents *sigh. It's gonna take a LOT of work, because we want the DADs to baptize their kids, and it's kinda hard to do that when they're not worthy priesthood holders. BUT, our goal is not just a couple baptisms, it's a couple family sealings. SO, there's lots of work to be done. BUT so far we have a couple baptism dates for the end of the month! :) Now it's all up to the parents. *shrug
But it was SO bomb because we had FIVE investigators at church on Sunday and CHOKE less-actives! Seriously, it was incredible! INCLUDING one of the dad's of the kids who want to get baptized! He hasn't been to church in YEEEAAARRRSSSS, but he came today!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!! AND, all 5 of the Shiffler kids came! YAY!!!!!!!! AND so did some of the recent converts who hadn't been making it to church in a while! YAY!!!!!!!! SUCH an awesome day! Granted, Fast and Testimony meeting got kinda awkward when people started singing, making people stand up, and then talking about the addiction and recovery program and how it can help porn addicts and Bishop had to tell him to go sit down after 15 min.....BUT all was well and I think everyone felt the spirit which is key :) ALSO, I'm pretty sure I heard one of the best stories on modesty EVER. It was a quote that apparently Mohammed Ali (I think) said. That he was talking to his daughters and he noticed that their skirts were getting shorter and shirts were getting smaller and etc and he sat them down and told them how all of the world's greatest treasures are hidden and covered and very hard to get to. "Pearls are found deep in the ocean covered in think shells, gold is buried deep in the ground covered in rock and dirt. Diamonds are deep in caves covered in layers and layers of rock. Well, you are more precious and worth more than ANY amount of Gold, Diamonds and Pearls, and as such, you need keep yourself hidden and covered from the world." BAM! How great of an analogy is that!? SO amazing!
Also, I would just like to point out that Elder Bednar's talk about testimony vs conversion is seriously one of the best talks ever! I've been using it CONSTANTLY on my mission! But it seriously applies to EVERYONE. You HAVE to keep reading your scriptures and praying and going to church if you're going to keep your lamp lit. If you stop, your oil/testimony will eventually run out! I can't tell you how many people we run into say, "well, I have a testimony, I just don't go to church." Hear me out now. You can NOT have a testimony AND be NOT going to church. It doesn't work like that. Because if you had a true testimony of the gospel you would know that it is detrimental to your salvation to skip church, to KNOW that you're suppose to keep the Sabbath-Day holy, but then choose not to. Attending church is CRITICAL! It doesn't matter if you don't have friends there, it doesn't matter if you don't like the leaders or the activities or the talks. Go to church! Because it's a commandment and frankly you'll be blessed for doing it! PERIOD! AND, if you go with the right mindset then you'll ACTUALLY feel the spirit, which is the KEY to gaining/keeping/building your testimony! CHURCH IS AWESOME!!!! :)
Ok, I'll get off my soap box now.
OH, wait, nope, never mind, one more thing. DO YOUR VISITING TEACHING AND HOME TEACHING!!!! Don't just stop by once a month! A million and a 1/2 things can happen in a DAY, let alone a MONTH, by the time you get around to visiting them WEEKS later, they could have broken down! EVERYONE needs someone to talk to and just some kind of help. Please do your VT and HT and really MAGNIFY your calling by really becoming those folks' FRIENDS, PLEASE! Ok, now I'm done :)
Anyhoo, I hope everyone had an awesome New Year! We had TONS of fun partying it up at the Makawao chapel and then watching the whole island of Maui ERUPT in fireworks! It was SO bomb! For like a 1/2 hour fireworks were EVERYWHERE throughout the whole island! We could even see the small ones on the opposite side of the island! It was SO COOL! Then we went to Haleakala again and watched the sunrise of the new year! SO MUCH FUN! Well I love y'all! Work hard! Pray always!
love,
Sis. Bradley
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