Guess what??? I get my travel plans on Friday!! Crazy huh!!? Time is flying by here! Each week has its challenges, however each week gets a little better and goes by a little faster!
My heart broke to hear of the news of Grace Holland. It makes me wonder if I would have tried a little harder to share the knowledge I have, would she still have been in that situation. She is an awesome girl and I'm sure she is learning and accepting the Gospel as we speak. My heart hurts for her Dad and Mom. They will most definitely be in my prayers.
All the little one's Halloween costumes are way too cute!! I love to see pictures of them. Eden is getting so big! Please tell them all to stop growing! Thanks.
No scones this year?... Come on Doug and Denise - fight the old! jk I guess that just means it is Heather and Jake's turn to take the tradition back to Iris Ln. where it all began!! Dad - I will be singing John Denver on Halloween! Don't you fret.
I still love the MTC!! Each morning on the walk to breakfast I sing!
"Its a great day to be alive.
The sun still shinin' when I close my eyes.
We got hard times in the MTC
Why can't everyday be just this gooooodddd!!!"
It has kinda turned into one of those things where all the sisters in our zone join in and we start the day off right each morning. SO, that's fun... So, like, at 7 a.m., feel free to sing along with us! It's a pretty happy way to start a day.
This week has been a little crazy. It's been a tough week with the language... It's kind of an every other week thing! Sometimes I feel like I'm progressing and I can kind of speak a little French and understand most people, but this week, I swear people were speaking to me in Chinese not French! My brain was not even going to try to turn on French mode. BUT IT'S FINE!!! I HAVE FAITH!!
This week is going to be awesome! I cannot wait for these next two weeks to just dive in 110%, and apply every French rule I have learned in the last 4 weeks and speak French! I know through the Spirit I can learn this language! My Heavenly Father has promised me I can, so I'm trusting him!
This week's TRC experience went A LOT BETTER!! I was able to share how I decided to go on a mission, testifying that God hears and answers our prayers. So, that was fun!! I decided to look at TRC as a time to have other members help me improve my French - which is really its purpose, so it was good!
Wednesday - Saturday was just a pretty typical week! I don't like to say typical, because I think any week you are able to feel the Spirit 24 hours a day is pretty awesome! I also love that it has become typical in my life! It is something I hope to never lose! I know outside of the MTC it won't be so easy ,but hey, "It's the quest of a life time!"
Saturday was one of my favorite days so far in the MTC. Our teacher's lesson kind of took a turn, and we suddenly started talking about the importance of sincere prayer! Soeur Coleman, (my teacher), and Frere Adams, (another teacher who was just sitting in on our class), both shared awesome personal experiences about prayer! On a scale of 1-SPIRIT the Spirit was definitely at SPIRIT! Soeur Coleman then had us go with our companions and pray out loud together. Soeur Proudfoot went first. She said her prayer in French and the whole time she was praying, the only thing I could think about was, "HE IS HERE WITH US." With tears running down our cheeks, we thanked our Heavenly Father for His love and asked Him for His guidance and comfort. At the end of prayer, we both stood up and gave each other a hug and both knew we were not alone alone in that classroom. I am so grateful for the love I felt from my Heavenly Father in those moments, and always! He wants to hear from us. He wants to comfort us, and He does exactly that.
Sunday was also an awesome day, just as Sundays are! Soeur Proudfoot had to teach at district meeting and spent all morning working on her lesson while I sat back enjoying my Sunday. We got back to the classroom for our little break before lunch, and our District Leader, (who is great, but he kind of struggles... but, like, we love him soo much!), turned to Elder Smith and said, "You are ready to teach on faith, right? And Soeur Proudfoot, you are ready to teach of the Holy Ghost, right?" Soeur Proudfoot said "Yep." Then Elder Smith, with a panicked look, turned to Elder Brill and said, "Elder, what are you talking about? You never asked me!" So, there was some disputation about that. I finally said, "Elder Smith, I read some cool stuff on faith the other day I'll share it with you. If you like it, you can teach it!" I went over and read the end of Moroni 7 with him and shared an experience I had while reading the chapter!
We went to lunch and then met back for district meeting. We had a member of our Branch Presidency, his wife, and also our District President, (so like the big guy on campus), in our meeting. Soeur Proudfoot taught an awesome lesson. The Spirit was at a SPIRIT level! Then it was Elder Smith's turn to teach! He stood up and said "Before we came to lunch Soeur Back shared with me Moroni 7. She taught it to me in a way I don't think that I could do justice." He then asked me to teach what I had shared with him! So, it's fine. I did it!
I shared how that week I read this chapter and the Spirit taught me something that I hope the Spirit will teach you today as it taught me! I went on to share how if we don't have faith, miracles cease because we are choosing not to see God's hand in our life. We then continued and read the last 8 verses of the chapter together. I challenge you all at home to go and read Moroni 7. It is one of the coolest chapters out there.
I'll give you the summary of my lesson!--- I know that if we have faith and put our whole trust in our Heavenly Father and His plan for us, we will be humbled. When we are humbled and meek we can then have charity! Charity! It all comes back to CHARITY! Charity is the pure love of Christ. This gospel is the pure LOVE of Christ. If we continue to strive to have charity for everyone and everything in the last days, we will KNOW our Savior, and we will be purified as he is pure! How many times have we said "I can be perfect just as Christ is?" Now I know how. Yeah, it is through baptism and repentance, but the first principle in the gospel is FAITH! If we can have faith, we can have charity, and if we have charity, we CAN become pure as Christ is pure.
So, there is your Soeur Back devotional for the day! Oh, and get this! The District President taught after me and taught about teaching. Luckily, the only thing we forgot to do was leave them with a commitment. Other than that, our lessons went pretty well! The Spirit was there to testify of the truth of these gospel principles and I am so grateful for that!
Just some dumb things. We moved to a new classroom yesterday. The district that welcomed us left yesterday, and we have 19 new missionaries coming in! So, that is going to be fun! Lots of changes! It was sad saying bye to the Canada district - they have become some of my closest friends, but I'm so excited for them to start their adventure!
Our new building is beautiful! The Spirit in the building is so strong. I am so excited to learn about the Gospel and French there each day! I cannot wait to welcome the NEW Elders and Sisters. We are in charge of their first night orientation. Hopefully we can help them feel a little less confused than we were that day! Haha.
I love it here I love being a missionary!! Heavenly Father continues to confirm my decision to serve a mission.
JE VOUS AIME!!!
Soeur Whit Back
Oh, and I need more pictures of Alice, Claire and Eden! I see Porter each week! And, like, maybe a letter from Kate... John sent me a good one! Thanks dude!! Jake sent me a kind of letter... Still waiting on the real one... but Kate?? Where you at dude?? Just kidding. I love you all I feel your love even if you don't write me!!! I love you!!
No comments:
Post a Comment