Is This What Foster Kids Feel Like?
Email received Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Sheana, B-man is a HOOT! Tell him I don’t have cars to play with in the MTC, but I have chicken nuggets and cereal aaaand a really cool teacher he needs to meet. Haha! BAAAAHHAHAHAHAHA suitcase! :) [Mom suggested she keep an empty suitcase in the classroom. It’s a family inside joke. Danny, James, and Tony should understand.] |
Well, I sent a long letter to you today, so there isn’t much of an update. We saw off our English district at 4 AM yesterday. I was so dead tired! We get to meet our new Portuguese district “family” today, so we’ll see how it goes. I’m wearing that tropical dress The Christine gave me, but I feel like I’m being stared at everywhere I go. I think this dress will fit in better in Brazil haha. MOM, your sugar cookies are a GRAND IDEA! YES, send them. It will get me in good with my new family! :) I now know what foster kids must feel like… waiting for more people to come that we’ll get to know and love. |
The Sunday [March 11] speaker had a great topic. We have to put all our strength into the work, expecting no success; because, technically, we all have agency. Thus, many missionaries of the Book of Mormon worked diligently that they MIGHT persuade their brethren to come unto God. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Ultimately, it’s their choice to accept God’s love or be unwilling to change for Him. We’re basing all our work on maybe and might and possibly, but it’s all worth it when that one person gets the magnitude of commitment and obedience. Although we may all like to live a certain way or have certain “favorite sins,” He gave up all, descended below all, just so we might be made perfect. We all need to be a little more like Christ every day; and, trust me, it’s not easy. Those who understand that being better every day requires effort are those who reap the benefits. When a plant grows, it has to defy gravity; it has to build strong stems in order to support more weight. With growth comes more responsibility, but don’t let it weigh you down. Nourishment through your roots will come. It is essential to store up nutrients so when the tough days come, you know from where to draw strength. Often, God prunes us; and we complain and get angry. Why would He take away that which I was working so hard to build? We can always ask the why questions; but we should rather ask, “What can I do to grow larger than I was before?” God prunes us so we can grow larger; so we will send out new shoots and search for more nutrients in His soil. I like the analogy of when Dad was having trouble with the tomato plants. What did Jake Mik tell him to do? Water the plants LESS, and they will produce more tomatoes. Sometimes God doesn’t water us, and what do we do? Complain; wither away; think we can’t do it. Rather, we should realize that He just wants us to bear more fruits because we have the power to do so; we just don’t think we can. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Too often, we sit and complain, feel sorry for ourselves about what’s going wrong in our lives and how God’s not there to help us. Why do we feel that way? Because we don’t see our own potential. We don’t realize just how much more we can learn from the difficult times than from the bounteous times. We must remember that it is by the grace of God that we take each breath. More often, we should kneel for prayer and pour out our thanks for EVERYTHING He gives us. After all He gives us, how much does He ask back? Hardly anything; and when we DO give Him back what He asks, He blesses us with more. OH, rejoice oh my heart! No longer droop in sorrow.
I have been learning more about faith and the Atonement. There’s a quote I love by Elder Holland in “Don’t You Ever Quit” or otherwise known as “The Miracle of a Mission.” He explains that if we are to labor with the Lord in His work to bring His children to repentance, how dare we ask not to come close to what the Savior felt in the Garden of Gethsemane. How dare we not want to sweat and toil under the pains and sorrows of witnessing His children NOT repent. If we are to change lives, we must also take part in His pains.
LOVE YOU,
Sister Nelson
P.S. Don’t forget box #312 now. I’m transferring to Portuguese Branch 45 District F instead of English Branch 36 District C. Lots of change coming up today. Good thing I like change. :)
I have been learning more about faith and the Atonement. There’s a quote I love by Elder Holland in “Don’t You Ever Quit” or otherwise known as “The Miracle of a Mission.” He explains that if we are to labor with the Lord in His work to bring His children to repentance, how dare we ask not to come close to what the Savior felt in the Garden of Gethsemane. How dare we not want to sweat and toil under the pains and sorrows of witnessing His children NOT repent. If we are to change lives, we must also take part in His pains.
LOVE YOU,
Sister Nelson
P.S. Don’t forget box #312 now. I’m transferring to Portuguese Branch 45 District F instead of English Branch 36 District C. Lots of change coming up today. Good thing I like change. :)