Be Faithful, Not Faithless - 10/14/19

 Hello friends and family!

I hope this week has been amazing for you all! The weather here is AMAZING, so sorry to all you who are getting cold...  I will enjoy the 80 degrees for you! 😊

This week had some crazy moments! We had one day that we ran into quite a few not so kind people. The advice they always give missionaries is to just laugh it off, which is way easier said than done sometimes! We will always eventually get there, but in the moment it can be somewhat difficult. We did have one that was definitely easier to laugh off. We knocked on a door that a lady lived in who had taken the discussions previously and then the missionaries couldn't contact her. We knocked on her door and she came storming out of her door super abruptly and slammed it behind her. She proceeds to yell at us to take us off her list so we tell her we will then she says, "Yeah, I'm a witch, I don't do that whole Jesus thing anymore". … we honestly had no idea what to say so we just left. Haha!

For my studies this week I read Elder Owens talk again, "Be Faithful, Not Faithless". What a good talk!! In it he tells the story of the starving deer who had, in an attempt to save them, people throw in loads of hay so they could be fed through the winter. At the end, they found most of the deer dead. 'They had starved to death with their bellies full.' He related this to the world of spiritual malnutrition that we live in and the difference of being fed, and being nourished. 

Why is it so important to be spiritually nourished? To nourish has two words appear in its definition, to sustain and to nurture.

 To sustain means, to supply with necessities and support, to carry, hold up, establish, strengthen. 

To nurture means, to help develop, provide, grow

So, again, why do we need spiritual nourishment? - Because it supplies us with the necessary support and strength vital to our growth and development into disciples of Jesus Christ. 

We MUST make time to say our prayers and study our scriptures every day. These basic and fundamental actions of faith create the connection to Heavenly Father necessary for our lives. There is a quote I read years ago that says, "If you don't have time to say your prayers or read your scriptures, you are busier than God ever intended you to be."

I know as we act in faith and make the time to connect with God, we will be blessed to recognize spiritual promptings and revelation. I know God is anxiously waiting to bless us and communicate with us, allow Him to be active in your life. See His hand in all the details. He is there.

I love you all so much! 

PS here is a few fun pictures from the week! We got free Bahama Bucks (best shaved ice EVER) and had a Book of Mormon movie and cookies night!

Hello Family!! (Long email... but GREAT study this week!)

I hope you all had such an amazing week! I miss you all so much! I hope you all are doing well!

Cool news, we found out we are having mission conference this week! Elder Rasband and Elder Pieper from the seventy will be speaking to our mission!! 

My major study this week was Elder Pieper's talk from October 2018 and 1st Nephi 8 and 11 (The Tree of Life). In his talk he talked about taking upon ourselves the name of Christ and references the definitions of "take". One of those was "partake" which means to receive into ones body, or in spiritual terms, to receive Christs teachings, characteristics, and love so deep in our beings they become a part of us. I then started studying the tree of life and how this definition of partake related in these chapters. 

Within 1st Nephi 8, every time Lehi mentions the fruit, he said to "partake of the fruit". He doesn't sway from this phrase. So I started looking deeper into the meaning of it. 

To partake is to consume, or engage fully.

Fruit has many definitions, one being the consequence of your action or effort. 

To "partake of the fruit" with all these definitions in mind means the consequence of our commitment to engage and consecrate our lives fully to Christs teachings, characteristics, and ultimately magnifying his love. To "partake of the fruit" is the WHOLE experience. The entirety of the Tree of Life. Consider how this relates to the analogy of the Tree of Life and daily repentance, something President Nelson has  instructed us to make a part of our lives. 

To repent is to change our minds, our knowledge, our spirit, and our breath. 

Change our mind - is to change our direction. Are we going towards the tree? What way our we facing?

Change our knowledge- to grab hold of the iron rod, or grab hold of His teachings, the word of God. The scriptures, the gospel.

Change our spirit - is our ability and desire to press forward. To inherit the characteristics of Christ.

Change our breath - the ultimate goal of our ability to magnify the love of God. To become like Him in every aspect. 

To "partake of the fruit" and daily repentance helps us to understand how we can best become like Jesus Christ. It helps us remember where we should focus our lives and our mindset each day to becoming like our Savior. These are conscious decisions, but through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can learn how to endure.

I love you all so so so much!!!