Hola Familia!
I can't believe I saw you yesterday! I feel like it was all just a dream. I was feeling sad knowing that I wasn't going to be able to see James for the next couple of years, and that I missed his big Marines graduation, but then I got to see him! And my parents, Angela, and Bob. The whole family together for the last time in a long time. It was like a little birthday miracle for me. For those of you that don't know, what happened was I haven't been working at the Visitor's Center at all this transfer, so my family all decided to come by and drop off a birthday gift while they were here in San Diego for James graduation, and also so they could see the Visitor's Center. I knew they were coming by sometime this weekend, but wasn't sure exactly when, so I told Heavenly Father that I would leave it up to him and if I got to see them it would be because he wanted me to, and not from me being disobedient. So on Wednesday I found out that they needed us in the VC on Sunday, (it was only the second time they've needed us to come in all transfer,) but I still didn't want to get my hopes up, because even if they had come while I was working there I could have been giving a tour and busy and not have seen them. It turned out that as I pulled up to the temple I looked over and saw my Dad standing by the big tree. They had come out of the Visitor's Center and were literally just about to leave. It would have been so awful if they had left just two minutes before I got to the temple. I would have been really sad. I know that the Lord loves me, and that for some reason I was meant to see my family. I feel like if anything though it just motivated me to keep working hard and enjoy the last eight months of my mission. I'm in no hurry to come home; I still have so much to do, so many experiences to have, and hopefully a lot of people out there that I can help.
This week has actually been really full of miracles. We've been working with a family in our ward that has the dad and one daughter that are inactive, but they have another daughter that is on a mission. This Sunday the whole family came to church! The dad was all dressed up with a tie and everything. It was really amazing to see how their family has been blessed because their daughter is on a mission, and made me hope that my family is seeing blessings too. I know that Heavenly Father has been blessing all of us a lot, but I think that sometimes if we're not careful we can miss noticing them.
Gilberto and Andres, the brothers of some recent converts in our area, also came to church this Sunday, and they loved it! We are hoping they will be prepared to be baptized in a couple of weeks, so that has been really exciting. Another miracle was that the Relief Society General broadcast was an answer to my prayers and to some questions I've had lately. I went on splits with my Sister Nef this week, one of the sister trainers, and we were talking about how as sisters we can be so hard on ourselves, and in turn be very judgmental of others. I loved how President Monson was so bold and direct in his talk about not judging others. If you didn't get to see it, look it up on lds.org, because it was amazing.
I think that something I've realized this past week is that God really does want us to be happy. It isn't all about suffering and trials and sacrifice. I kept thinking that I had to just handle all of the hard things because the blessings were the growth and strength that would come from it, but he also gives us moments of sunshine and laughter and the good, happy things that we want in this life. I guess that I just felt like I had to deal with accepting everything that the Lord knows is best for me and that I need, but sometimes what we want the most is what we need and what the Lord wants to give us. I know that Heavenly Father loves me and have blessed me so much.
Tengan una semana excelente y milagrosa!
Hermana Dansie
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Maywood: Semana 9 Mon 4/05/10
Hola Familia. :)
I don't have very much time to write this week. It has been kind of rough. We had a beautiful family progressing towards being baptized that told us that they can't- the mom decided for herself and her two daughters that they are only going to be baptized once in their live, and they already were in the Catholic church. She has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and knows the church is true, but she has convinced herself in her mind that both our church and the Catholic church are true. It is so hard to see someone decide not to change their life and accept the gospel, especially considering both of her daughters want to get baptized, but because the mom is afraid of changing her traditions she won't let them.
On a happier note, General Conference this week was so incredible! I hope you all listened and found knew guidance that you can apply to bless your lives. I love how candid the speakers were, especially with the importance of teaching and sharing the gospel in your home, and being open with your children in all aspects. I felt really blessed to have such a wonderful family- a father and mother that have taught me the gospel and shared their testimonies with me often. I love thinking about the family testimony meetings we would have. Everyone would kind of grumble and not want to do it, but I am so glad that I was able to hear your testimonies and feel the spirit in our home.
One of my favorite talks was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk about love. It is so true- Satan is so evil. He is changing the way we see love by making other things seem more permissive. It doesn't matter what you do or how bad it is- if it is motivated by lust than it is destroying your perception of real, pure, Christlike love. The longer I am on my mission and the more I learn about the atonement the worse I feel about my former transgressions and things I have done in the past. Satan can only protect you from feeling the guilt through rationalizing for so long; everyone is going to have to face their sins someday. They don't just disappear when we pray and accept the atonement- we have to give them to Jesus Christ. A mission really is such an incredible opportunity to be able to see yourself fully and completely for who you really are. Our society focuses so much on individuality being the most important thing- but Christ tells us to "lose ourselves to find ourselves." When we are selfishly looking for just the things that make us happy, we miss our opportunities to sacrifice, turn ourselves over to the Lord, and learn who we really are, the person we have been for an eternity before this life, not just the "natural man" that we are here and the desires and appetites of our bodies. if we give in to everything we want, then we become "enemies to God" and we love any true and lasting eternal happiness. It is so important to have that eternal perspective.
I love teaching people about the plan of salvation- how God has a plan for us, and how there is a purpose to this life. With this plan you can overcome all fear and doubt. You don't even have to fear the earthquakes or natural disasters. It was kind of funny because we were tracting yesterday talking to a man in his doorway, and he was telling us that he doesn't want to study religion or learn about the bible, because he knows that what is says is true, and it tells all of the scary signs and things that are going to happen and he doesn't want to be afraid of what is going to happen. We told him that that is why it is important to prepared- so you don't need to fear. He wasn't really that interested, but then right at that moment we felt the earthquake ( the big one that happened in Mexico.) It was just a little shake here, but it was enough to get this man's attention and he really wants to learn about the gospel now. Sister Salazar likes to joke that when a natural disaster hits, secretly missionaries are happy because it turns people to God. Well, i love you all!
Sister Dansie
I don't have very much time to write this week. It has been kind of rough. We had a beautiful family progressing towards being baptized that told us that they can't- the mom decided for herself and her two daughters that they are only going to be baptized once in their live, and they already were in the Catholic church. She has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and knows the church is true, but she has convinced herself in her mind that both our church and the Catholic church are true. It is so hard to see someone decide not to change their life and accept the gospel, especially considering both of her daughters want to get baptized, but because the mom is afraid of changing her traditions she won't let them.
On a happier note, General Conference this week was so incredible! I hope you all listened and found knew guidance that you can apply to bless your lives. I love how candid the speakers were, especially with the importance of teaching and sharing the gospel in your home, and being open with your children in all aspects. I felt really blessed to have such a wonderful family- a father and mother that have taught me the gospel and shared their testimonies with me often. I love thinking about the family testimony meetings we would have. Everyone would kind of grumble and not want to do it, but I am so glad that I was able to hear your testimonies and feel the spirit in our home.
One of my favorite talks was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk about love. It is so true- Satan is so evil. He is changing the way we see love by making other things seem more permissive. It doesn't matter what you do or how bad it is- if it is motivated by lust than it is destroying your perception of real, pure, Christlike love. The longer I am on my mission and the more I learn about the atonement the worse I feel about my former transgressions and things I have done in the past. Satan can only protect you from feeling the guilt through rationalizing for so long; everyone is going to have to face their sins someday. They don't just disappear when we pray and accept the atonement- we have to give them to Jesus Christ. A mission really is such an incredible opportunity to be able to see yourself fully and completely for who you really are. Our society focuses so much on individuality being the most important thing- but Christ tells us to "lose ourselves to find ourselves." When we are selfishly looking for just the things that make us happy, we miss our opportunities to sacrifice, turn ourselves over to the Lord, and learn who we really are, the person we have been for an eternity before this life, not just the "natural man" that we are here and the desires and appetites of our bodies. if we give in to everything we want, then we become "enemies to God" and we love any true and lasting eternal happiness. It is so important to have that eternal perspective.
I love teaching people about the plan of salvation- how God has a plan for us, and how there is a purpose to this life. With this plan you can overcome all fear and doubt. You don't even have to fear the earthquakes or natural disasters. It was kind of funny because we were tracting yesterday talking to a man in his doorway, and he was telling us that he doesn't want to study religion or learn about the bible, because he knows that what is says is true, and it tells all of the scary signs and things that are going to happen and he doesn't want to be afraid of what is going to happen. We told him that that is why it is important to prepared- so you don't need to fear. He wasn't really that interested, but then right at that moment we felt the earthquake ( the big one that happened in Mexico.) It was just a little shake here, but it was enough to get this man's attention and he really wants to learn about the gospel now. Sister Salazar likes to joke that when a natural disaster hits, secretly missionaries are happy because it turns people to God. Well, i love you all!
Sister Dansie
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