What a crazy busy and fun week this has been! Its also been one, especially in the past few days, of a lot of learning.
I know everyone is dying to know about Thanksgiving! It was wonderful! We had a devotional with Elder Niel L Anderson of the quorum of the twelve, and he shared a great message on gratitude. It made me think of all of the little things in life that I take for granted, and don't give my Heavenly Father credit for. He said that the very reason we can move, walk, breath, find joy, and LIVE is all because of Him! When I thought about that, it helped me to feel grateful for all the things that Heavenly Father has given me, things that I will never be able to repay Him for. Puts a lot of things into perspective!
Food was good, as decent as MTC cafeteria could do Thanksgiving dinner. That was followed by a service project. We worked with an organization called "Feeding Children Everywhere" and helped to prep, bag, and box 359,000 meals for children and families in need! I scooped more rice than I ever have done before in my LIFE! I was grateful to be working with food again, seeing as that will be the closest I get to cooking until I'm in the field! The day ended with a little program of musical numbers and skits that was fun. There is also a tradition of turning the MTC Christmas Lights on Thanksgiving Night, and we had some time to be outside and sing and look around! I cannot wait for Christmas!
The rest of the week was pretty crazy, and COLD! On our temple walk, we got to the temple just as a snowstorm hit, so my entire zone huddled underneath one of the massive trees on the temple grounds and sang carols. It was a lot of fun, but cold....very cold....
This week I've had a lot of opportunities to realize that in order to be a missionary, I need to be confident in who I am first, before I can assist my Investigators recognize and feel of their divine potential. I'vealso learned the importance of getting to know them a people instead of just treatign them like a spiritless body I need to fill with testimony and then check off a baptism.
We had some good lessons with our investigators this week, and our teachers shared some very sound advice and reminders to us. Because we are instruments in the Lord's hands, we can expect Him to help us. Isn't it wonderful to know that your Heavenly Father loves you and knows you and wants noting more than for you to be happy? What a miracle! We had a devotional this week where one of the speakers shared with us Mufasa's infamous quote from the Lion King; "Remember who you are!" I challenge you all to try this week to remember who YOU are; and Son or Daughter of a loving Heavenly Father! I'm working on keeping this knowledge in my mind, and I hope it really changes my approach this week!
Also, as the title suggests, I completed my first full month of missionarty service as of Saturday! WHAT? Fastest month of my life!
I love you all! Thank you all for all the mail, pictures you've drawn, the packages and emails you've sent, and the prayers you say for me!
Elder Butters (Bao ZhangLao)
No comments:
Post a Comment