MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!
Here are a bunch of random questions family/ friends have asked so here are the answers!
Are you a missionary that like walks around talking to people now?
Ya i am one of those missionaries now that walk around! Its pretty cool you meet all kinds of people and get to go to chruch with familis adn little nuggets (kids). I found this part oflds.org the other day and it is full of sweet videos about christmas and jesus christ. I really liked the video called emanuel or soemthing, it really helped me feel the spirit.
And where in wisconsin did you get sent?
Brookfield, it is a city just 15 mins from Milwaukee and kind of a ritzy area. People have really big homes with huge lawns and drive ways which doesn't make any sense with the amount of shoveling they have to do with all the snow but different strokes for diffferent folks! There are also alot of trees! like leafy ones so they look really cool with all the snow it is beautiful.
How is your mission so far?
To answer your question my mission is THE BEST! sometimes I get sad but when I have happy moments, like when I'm bearing my testimony, reading the scriptures and something finally makes sense, praying and I feel Heavenly Fathers love for me or I am laughing with my companions so hard I get a stomach work out. Its the best! So I am so happy that I remembered you told me you wanted to serve a mission. Is that still true?:)
Just today as I did both of those things I came to understand why god allowed Apostasy (when people reject prophets and God) and dispensations (when a prophet is accepted and the people faithfully fallow). I came to know that God loves us enough to let us choose, more so he is loving enough to give us guidence back into our lives. In these days (the last dispensation) we have the fullness of the gospel (temples, the Book of mormon and a prophet today to guide us). I just felt very loved. What clarified it for me was the Bible dictionary oddly enough.
"A dispensation of the gospel is a period of time in which the Lord has at least one authorized servant on the earth who bears the holy priesthood and the keys, and who has a divine commission to dispense the gospel to the inhabitants of the earth. When this occurs, the gospel is revealed anew so that people of that dispensation do not have to depend basically on past dispensations for knowledge of the plan of salvation. There have been many gospel dispensations since the beginning. The Bible suggests at least one dispensation identified with Adam, another with Enoch, another with Noah, and so on with Abraham, Moses, and Jesus with His Apostles in the meridian of time. Paul writes of "the dispensation of the fulness of times...The fulness of times is the final dispensation and began with the revelation of the gospel to Joseph Smith. It is a glorious time, the time in which we live today...Although the Bible contains historical information pertaining to the ancient prophets and patriarchs, it is latter-day revelation that makes it clear that the leaders of former dispensations had the gospel of Jesus Christ and that certifies to the divine calling, ordination, and high intelligence of those early brethren."
The thing that helped me understand was that even before I knew all about these things I knew in my heart and leaned upon my faith. Now that I know them I still must lean upon my faith. It remindes me of a talk by Elder Holland a 12 apostle who said: "...remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith." ("Lord I Believe"April 2013 general Conference). In order to gain this faith I must read and pray. This is the same for you. I testify to you, as you do these simple things that can take 10min only per day, you will gain this testimony and feel His love as well.
LOVE YO ALLLLLL!
