This week has been awesome. We had another devotional on Tuesday with an Area Seventy. I got to see my dad at lunch twice which was funny. But other than that it was just another week in the service of the Lord.
There was a primary class that came and toured the mtc and they were the cutest little kids. Obviously not cuter than my little nieces and nephews. 🥰
The rain has been my favorite thing this week. It’s been so hot and the Utah mountains on a cloudy day are my favorite. Let me just say the MTC campus accentuates their beauty tenfold for some reason.
La Gratitude
This has been the theme of my week. In the first week of my MTC, I started a gratitude journal… in Español. But I have found this to be my daily manna from the Lord. Everyday, no matter the quality of the day, I write down ten things I’m grateful for. Sometimes simple, sometimes grand. Either way, if you look at life through the lense of Jesus Christ and his Atonement, you will see the Lord’s love that has always been there and will always be there. He is in our midst. This is a much more joyous way to live.
The scripture Mormon 9:9 says:
For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing?
This is a very useful scripture because it reminds us that God. Does. Not. Change. We are the changing variables. I loved the Maxwell quote my mom sent me. It says:
How can you and I really expect to glide naïvely through life, as if to say, “Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then, let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!”
- Neal A. Maxwell
Pensamientos (Thoughts)
I read the talk by Elder Maxwell on Sunday while in the waiting room at the InstaCare for my companion. It is called Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father obviously by Elder Maxwell. You should all go read it. Some of my main takeaways were
If the Master is a stranger to us, then we will end up serving other masters.
Everything depends initially and finally on our desires. We are the only ones who can form the desires and the “thoughts and intents of our hearts.” God will not overwhelm or override our spirits. This means that he does not control us in any way. So, on the note of consecration, the submission of our wills to the Father’s is literally the only thing that is truly ours to give to him.
We must settle this in our hearts that we will do what he asks of us. Consecration is not the shoulder-shrugging acceptance, but instead, shoulder-squaring to better bear the yoke.
La Expiacion (Atonement)
Do we really understand and really comprehend that Jesus knows and understands us when we are perplexed? He felt our very pains and afflictions before we did.
Since the Most Innocent suffered the most, our own cries of “Why?” cannot match His. But we can utter the same submissive word, “nevertheless…” (Matthew 26:39)
Isn’t that interesting? The Savior’s entire will is solely the Father’s. That is why they are one. But we likewise can become one in them through the Atonement and also by uttering “nevertheless” with all humility in any situation life puts us in.
La Fe (Faith)
In Daniel 3:16-17 we see a perfect demonstration of true faith. The king orders the men to heat the furnace to 10 times it’s maximum threshold. This furnace was so hot that the men close by were killed. The king asked the three men to worship his golden image. Shad, Meesh, and Abed (their names are too long) responded, “We are not careful to answer thee in this matter.” They heeded not what the wicked may say. (Let Us All Press On). They had fully submitted their wills with the Father’s. How hard that must have been I do not know. Then verses 17-18 are powerful. “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us… But if not, be it known unto thee O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image…” Now, I had never noticed this before but in the picture of the 3 in the furnace, there are 4 persons. Later in the chapter the king asks, ummm guys, I told you to put 3 men in the furnace so why are there 4? Then he says, “It looks like none other than the Son of Man.” This is a testament that Jesus is always with us through our trials and our blessings. Be it known that through the power of God, not even a hair on their heads were singed.
Anyways, everyday is a blessing. Love you all. I think my next email to you all will be from Spain so that’s Loco. But as always, pray, study the scriptures, and lose yourself in the service of others. Let me know if there is anything I can do for any one of you.
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