"Limitless is your potential. Magnificent is your future, if you take control of it." — Gordon B. Hinckley
You have the ability to become whoever you want to become. We will all have adversity and hard things in our lives. But it is our decision on how we let those things shape us. We have agency, we have the ability to choose.
Nobody, or nothing, has the ability to tell us who, or who we cannot become.
I have been a missionary for almost 9 months now. That is half of my
mission. It the time of me serving, I have worked with a lot of different
people. Men, women, youth, children.
There is, however, one underlying struggle that almost every one of the people
I have worked with have. Almost every single one of them, don't know understand
their grand potential and worth.
We are children of God.
That is no small thing. God is Creator of the world, our
spirits and bodies, and who is all powerful and all knowing. He is a King. We
are his Children. Do we truly understand what this means?! This means we can walk with our heads up, our spirits high
and the knowledge of what we can become. As humans, women especially, we tend to beat ourselves up, put
ourselves down. When we do this, we are obviously not recognizing that we are
putting down God’s finest and most proud creation. He made you. He loves you. We must never forget that.
All the missionaries in my district, the missionaries serving in the same area and Ward as me, are planning a huge event. We are putting together a giant soccer tournament and a talent show. We are trying to get the word out to EVERYONE. So of course, what do we do?
We take goofy pictures with a cardboard soccer ball :)
It snowed a lot this week. When it snows on the east coast, the roads are nearly impossible.
Yesterday, when we finally were trying to leave our apartment, we couldn't get out of our parking spot!
Every time I stepped on the gas, the car would slide and wouldn't get over the tiny mound of snow! It took us at least 15 min to get out!
Yesterday, we went to teach one of our investigators, when a stray cat followed us to the door. When she opened the door, the cat ran in too. We spent the first 10 minutes of our appointment trying to get the cat out of her house!!! It was SO funny!
Yesterday, our entire mission was called to a last minute conference.
Our mission president had seen a new movie, and wanted all of his missionaries to see it as well. We were able to watch a brand new movie, that was just premiered called "The Saratov Approach."
This was a story of Two Elders, in 1998, who were called to be missionaries in Russia. In the middle of their service, they were kidnapped, and held hostage by two men.
These men, held them at ransom and asked the church and US to give them 300,000 dollars in return for their lives.
These two, young elders, were not expecting this experience in the least. Neither were they expecting to live when they found themselves in the situation.
The movie was very emotional for me, being a missionary myself.
These missionaries suffered all kind of pain. Physical, emotional, and spiritual. But throughout the entire thing, they remained faithful.
"God doesn't control what happens to us. We control our own actions."
They didn't expect to live. As they were preparing to depart for their death, One said to the other,
"How do you feel?"
"Calm."
The captor's heart was softened and in the midst of carrying out their murder, they were released and abandoned.
I learned so much from the movie. In a difficult and almost impossible situation, these missionaries made the most of what they could. They found love in their hearts, even for their captors. They read their scriptures, and prayed everyday. They prayed for their families. They prayed for those that held them hostage.
I am so touched by the examples of these two elders.
Even after their release, both boys wanted to continue serving and finish their mission.
Never ever give up. There is a plan for our lives. There is a plan for everybody.
I am so grateful for our Heavenly Father. All of us of Children of God. ALL OF US.
