Week #3

I totally thought that this last week was really only two days. Something is messed up... This last week I had a realization that I've been treating the mission like a basketball game. I like to see the countdown (6 more weeks until I head out to Croatia!) whether it's a good ending or bad. I just like to see the end. I like that we sprint down the court and it's not a marathon. There are breaks in between like timeouts and end of the quarters. Sometimes I like who I play against; sometimes it's more difficult because they know how to press my buttons (investigators). I have a coach that tells me what I should do but sometimes I forget when I get on the court or didn't understand what He wants and went out onto the court anyways. I have assistant coaches (teachers) that teach me fundamentals and more recently have experienced what I'm going through. I have teammates who are there to help me and work with me. Lift me up because we're all going through similar things. We are all lifting each other up with our strengths. The twist is that this is not a game. We are all on the same team helping each other (even when we press each other's buttons) get back to our Heavenly Father. This is not a sprint. There is no end. But it's good there's no end because it's not a competition. It's an eternity of love (which is what I'd rather have).

The funniest event of this week happened when we were having Daily Planning Session. Whenever they call missionaries to the front desk, we cross our fingers as a district hoping it's us because maybe we'll win the lottery or maybe get a free pass to Cafe Rio or something. Just fun hopes. Well, one of my companions, Sestra Trumbo's name was called. We jumped up and down and my companion kept yelling, "I won the lottery! I won the lottery!" So we got our coats and ran down wondering what is going to happen. Like maybe someone dropped off a huge box of cookies that the mailbox couldn't handle and my other companion, Sestra Moody and I joked that a certain boy decided he couldn't live without her and is coming to propose. We get to the desk and they handed her a journal. Her journal. Apparently she left it somewhere. We didn't want to come back with an uneventful story, so we said she had to spin a wheel and was one notch away from a double P-day, but instead she got a journal. Our Starjesine (Elders) didn't believe for a second. But at least we tried :)

The scriptures that have influenced me most this week were the articles of faith 1 and 4. I know my Heavenly Father is an eternal father who will eternally love me and everyone I see and don't see. I know Jesus Christ can comfort me through anything because he is my big brother who looks after me and suffered for ME. Also the way to return to eternal happiness is through the simple four steps outlined in Article of Faith 4: faith, repentance, baptism, and gift of the Holy Ghost. As long as I keep these principles in my daily life, every moment, I will become the person Heavenly Father has planned for me.

Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Ljubav (love),
Sestra Jolley