Lesson Learned: Have Faith in Yourself!

Friday, July 9, 2011
Missionary Training Center
Provo, Utah

Dear family,
Because I am in my visitor center training, my P-day got changed to today! I am not sure what day my P-day is in San Diego, so I guess you will just have to wait and see for my next letter to come! I hope you are all doing well, and I hope you know how much I love you. I wanted to thank you for all of the prayers on my behalf, they are definitely being answered. The MTC is amazing, I am learning so much!


Joke of the day:
Why do they not have fish at the MTC? Because it is the empty (MT) Sea (C)! My teacher made that up when he was like four. I thought it was pretty cute.

So, it sounds like you are all doing well:

Chris, I am so glad you got to go fishing with gramps, that sounds so much fun!

Sara, thanks for telling me about the cabin, I am glad you all had a blast. I hope you had a wonderful birthday too! I just sent you a letter and then I got your letter, so I am a little bit behind in things you asked me. I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your experience about prayer. You strengthened my testimony so much today reading your letter. You are such a strong chica! Thanks for teaching me what it means to have Faith in Heavenly Father. You have always been such a great example of that. Oh, P.S.-When they get the new scripture mastery done, you should send them to me!

Dad - Thanks for the package; you are a lifesaver! The labels are saving my life and thanks for the envelopes.

Mom – Thank you for sending my stuff to the mission home. I’m glad you are having a great time with the kiddos, you are such a great grandma! I love you so much! I can’t wait until my kids get to play with the two most amazing people I know!:)

Think these two are excited to leave the MTC?

Question and Answer:

Visitor Center training is like a week of learning how to use pictures, the Christus, kiosks, pamphlets and everything in aiding us to testify of Christ. It is pretty fun. It is just three of us in a class, so kind of small, but I love it. I can’t wait to get to the Mormon Battalion site. I actually am not learning anything specific to that site, so hopefully i get some training when I get there.

I don’t know what my schedule is like in San Diego yet, but I will let you know as soon as I can.
I get to wear three pioneer dresses. The lady picked the colors- 2 pink and 1 green. They are pretty fun. But Sara, you will appreciate this: I HATE wearing the skirts half way up my belly button, it drives me CRAZY! I will send pictures soon:)

Let me know if you get tired of my Journal thing. Its the best thing I can think of to tell you about what is going on here. IF it is too long and boring or if you want something else, someone just tell me, I don’t mind at all.

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Journal
July 7, 2011

It is funny how the Lord teaches us lessons in places we least expect it. For the past three weeks, I have been learning more about what it means to have faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, about what a truly amazing gift Heavenly Father has given us to be able to return to him again, and that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ indeed appeared to Joseph Smith.

I have always had a strong testimony of these things, but there is something about teaching and testifying of the Gospel that has rooted my testimony deep within my soul. I guess I didn’t expect to learn the lesson I did today because my whole focus is supposed to be on other people this next year and a half. I promised God I would give my whole self to Him in furthering His work, so I have been trying to "forget myself and get to work!".

I think, however, I need a reminder of who I am. Part of Visitor Center training is that we practice how to use the media, pictures, pamphlets, the Christus, kiosks and other things to aid us in testifying of Jesus Christ. There are volunteers that come in and we practice teaching as if we were in a real visitor center. After we finished tonight, Sister Maxfield (my teacher) sat us down and told us we had some things she felt like we needed to hear. She opened up the Young women personal progress booklet and read us the first paragraph.

"You are a beloved daughter (or son) of Heavenly Father, prepared to come to the earth at this particular time for a sacred and glorious purpose. You have a noble responsibility to use your strength and influence for good. Your loving Heavenly Father has blessed you with talents and abilities that will help you fulfill your divine mission."

If you flip to the scripture under individual worth in the personal progress pamphlet, it says, "remember, the worth of souls is great in the sight of God."

Sis. Maxfield shared a story with us from a book that Sheri Dew wrote, I think it is called: No One Can Take Your Place. Sister Dew was going to BYU and she described herself at the time as being "skinny and wussy looking" She walked up to the gym, looked inside and got too scared to go in, so she told herself she would walk around and go back in ten minutes. Over and over she went up to the door and got too scared until it was too late and tryouts were over. She said that not trying out was one of the biggest regrets she has. Later, she got to speak to the athletes at BYU and she related the previous story. Afterwards, the women’s basketball coach came up to her and told her that she was the coach during that time and that that year was the only year she could not fill the roster, and they had to play a person short all season. Sister Dew’s spot could not be filled.

I know my spot on earth cannot be filled either. I know sometimes it seems like we are insignificant in this world, but then I realize what a difference one person can make. I think of this fight against Satan as a stream of water eroding a crevice into the earth. (We being the stream and Satan the earth). Every individual drop of water makes a huge difference at cutting deeper and deeper and eroding away the hard, craggy rocks. I know I have a place in this fight and I am so grateful for it. I truly have a testimony that no one can take our place. An amazing gift that Heavenly Father gives his missionaries is the ability to see His children through heaven’s eyes. I have seen and felt the way He loves and cares individually about his sons and daughters. We are his creations — princes and princesses in His kingdom. We each have a spot in this world and NO ONE can take our place.

I wanted to share this part of my journal with you all because I know with all my heart that each of you, have a part in this plan — Go forward with faith. Ask Heavenly Father what it is, and I promise He will answer. We fought to come here to earth, now fight your hardest to show Heavenly Father how hard you will fight to return to Him.

I love you all so much. You each have individual worth, and though you are all spread out and I cannot individually talk with you, I have felt the love Heavenly Father has for you. Don’t doubt yourself for one second. You are God’s creations — It hurts him so much when you put yourselves down, or tell yourselves you can do this or that: He made you. He knows what you are capable of and the potential you have. Don’t get tricked by Satan in letting him tell you that you are less than you are. Turn to Heavenly Father. Ask him. What a better person to ask than the Father that created you?

K, My timer is blinking, I only have a few seconds to send this off. Love you all to the moon and back!

Love,






P.S. Mom and dad- we get to call from the SLC airport, so I think I will get to call you Tuesday morning between 7-9 I think. Mom I will call your phone so have it on! Sorry, I don’t know the exact time!