I can hardly believe I'm getting to the tail end of my time here at the MTC. It absolutely flies by! Dad I was thinking of you this week I hope the end of tax season went well and you can enjoy getting back into seminary! One of my good friends here has a birthday on April 14th but her dad is also an accountant so she spent half her life believing it was April 16th which I thought was pretty cute.
My heart goes out to the families in Boston for the tragedy yesterday. I happened to be at the Student Health Center (Don't worry mom I'm pretty sure I'm fine it was just a pre-cautionary thing) but I saw the news and was completely shocked. One of my closest friends here that I run with every morning was supposed to run in the Boston Marathon and through several miracles and promptings ended up leaving on her mission early so she wasn't able to go and it has turned out to be such a miracle for her considering how likely it is she would have been finishing close to the time went off. It was sobering to see that happen in the world, but it strengthened my resolve to want to share the good news of the gospel with families and help them know that this life is not the end! I know these trials in people's lives help turn their hearts to God and it opens up wonderful opportunities for us as missionaries.
It also made me realize we are quite cut off here at the mtc because most of the missionaries have no idea but being so extremely cut off from the world gives us such a unique opportunity to grow in ways we never otherwise could. I'm actually kind of sad I only have 2 weeks left because I love the mtc so much. I love getting to learn so much and becoming so close to those around me and the devotionals here are so incredible! Gerald Lund spoke to us this last week (He was your seminary teacher right mom?) And he gave such a good message about recognizing the voice of the Lord. There were SO many good points that he made, but one thing that was a really good reminder to me was to be able to say both "Thy will be done" and thy timing be done. It reminded me of the CES devotional elder Bednar gave before I left about having the faith not to be healed. I'm realizing more and more how crucial it is to rely on the Lord's promptings even though often we don't understand why we are being asked to do something, but also to recognize that there is a time for all things and just because it is something good doesn't mean it is what we should be doing right now.
Getting to spend hours a day studying the scriptures brings so many incredible new insights as well, I'm going to have to buy a lot more notebooks before I leave because I learn SO much all the time! Probably the highlight of my whole week though was that my companions and I started setting aside time to read the same chapter and talk about it. The first time we did it I was super passionate about the discussion and didn't understand why my companions didn't seem to be as excited about it as I was, but over the last couple days, one of my companions who usually likes to take naps during scripture study started really loving this time as well and even asked if we could get a notebook so she could start writing all the things we talk about as well and it has been such a blessing to me to be able to see how she has grown to love the gospel and specifically the scriptures so much more! I'm also learning to love them more and more and this challenge ti read 14+ pages a day has been one of the coolest experiences for me here. Oh and we got our first "investigator" to commit to baptism this week which was pretty exciting because that invitation is still a little scary for us :)
Dad I thought you would especially appreciate this last Devo we had on Tuesday. Bro. Greg Droubay came and shared a lot of cool statistics with us about how the work is hastening. He showed us the work they are doing in New York and London with the Mormon.org campaign and the huge effects it had. It was amazing to see how much of a difference it made with people searching the church thru the internet and how the book of mormon play really opened a lot of opportunities for the church. There also really seemed to be a theme on sunday between the Devo and Relief Society with Sister Mary Edmunds on fully engrossing yourself in the work. Most of us had about 20 years to be focused on ourselves, and now we have a wonderful opportunity to stop thinking so much about ourselves and focus on the Lord's work regardless of the little things. I loved what Sis. Edmunds said about how there have been millions of missions served and there are many many more to come, but none of them are my mission. There are certain people the Lord has prepared for me to teach and a work he has specifically prepared for me. And so it goes in our lives. We have been so blessed with gifts and talents and the gospel and we have a responsibility to fulfill the mission he has for us on this earth. I wish you could all read the devotionals they give here because they are so so inspiring.
I also wanted to mention that cousin Tim Andersen and I have the same meal/service/gym/p-day schedule so I get to see him all the time and we play basketball together almost everyday. Mom you can tell Uncle Dean and Aunt Colleen they have such an awesome son! I guess I haven't seen him for a while because he is huge now and so mature and it's so fun to have some family around!
I love you all so much and the Lord loves you even more! We are so so blessed!
Love, Sister Lewis
No comments:
Post a Comment