10/13/2015

Bonjour tout le monde,

Sitting in a restaurant right before being dropped off at the MTC, Ii remember my cousin saying, " Missions are Hard." " Ya, ya, I know" I remember saying, " You will learn a lot" he continued. Little did I know-haha!

 Missions are a personal day by day refinement. Not only do you help others change but if you will let it, a mission will change you- all for the better. Each day, I have come to learn is another day to become more sanctified or the process of becoming holy or more in line with our Heavenly Father and Savoir.  As it says in Hebrews 2:11,"they who are sanctified are all of one".   The more sanctified we become the more in line we are with God's plan which is explained more in  John 17:21,"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us"

And after this week-I feel like I have had so many experiences that have helped me learn,  here is a few....

1) Sometimes we think we are learning something but really God is teaching us so much more- Though I had realized before that I had been called to learn French, I realize now that I'm learning a lot more than just the language of French.  I truly don't feel like I'm learning French just to learn French, though it is one perk . But through French I am being taught many other lessons including patience, compassion, faith, trusting in God to name a few.

2) Remember the big picture-After having to push back our investigator's baptism.  We found ourselves sitting in a car very discouraged, pleading with our Heavenly Father to  help us understand why, and to be able to find patience. After discussing with our bishop we realized that there was much more to the Eternal plan, it wasn't just about a baptism, it was about eternal families.

3)  Faith not Fear- parked in our car we noticed a woman walking towards us. After feeling like we needed to talk to her I started unbuckling my seatbelt without realizing it  but after my companion asked me what I was doing I started talking myself out of it, thinking how weird it would be to talk to her, what would I say, etc.... and as the woman was passing my window, still thinking you need to get out, I smiled and she stopped, pulled out a flower from her coat and gave it to me. We then jumped out to talk to her. We had a great discussion and we ended up giving her a Book of Mormon and getting her information. And to think that we had almost missed this deeply spiritual woman. A learning experience-to always follow the spirit even when it doesn't make sense. 

4) The Atonement is for you-We teach a lot about the Atonement and we constantly are telling people how much it can help them and can apply it to themselves but I've realized that it applies in mine and your life just as much as it applies to those we teach. We stress the importance and the effect that it can have on people but do we truly understand what it can do for us in our lives.  

While talking to man he said, "We live in a world of suffering". Yes there are trials and test- yes they are hard - that is apart of this life but we must remember that the atonement is there to help- yes you, and yes me. That he is there not just for our sins but for our sufferings, weakness and inadequacies  and that through him we don't have to go through it alone, that we can be comforted, refined and made in the end who God wants us to be, all possible because of the Atonement.

Yes, missions can be hard but I wouldn't change what I've learned this week for all the gold in the world.  I love the gospel and I love you all! Have a good week!

Sister Rawlings