Well, another week has come and gone. It's absolutely insane
how fast this mission I going by. Sister Uata and I were talking about what we
did for New Years when we were home and we both just stared at each other when
we realized that was 8 months ago.....that just doesn't feel right. SO
WEIRD.
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Sister Mikolyski drew this of all us Carthage sisters! It's SO
COOL!!!! I'm on the left :)
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A quote that's been on my mind this week is this one: "Another
human soul will never experience the innermost workings of your mind; it is as
if your life is a race and you are running it alone. But what seems the most
remarkable are the moments when others run beside you, and you become something
more."
You don't have to completely understand someone's life to run
beside them. But when you do run beside them, you both will become something
more. Something better. And as you love them you will feel pain when they do.
You will feel joy when they do. As you begin to love them you begin to
understand them. As human beings we rely so much on connections. Some of us
often say we like being alone, and that we need our alone time. But in the
end we all still feel the need to be connected at the core with SOMETHING.
Music, another human, a cat, the grass. Something. And that connection, that's
what keeps us going. I'm probably one of the laziest people you will ever meet,
but this core connection is something that motivates even me. This connection
makes life worth it.
Being on mission has taught me that I not only need to have
this connection with others, my brothers and sisters, but I need it with my
Father in Heaven as well. He created me, we already are connected at the core.
We're connected in a way that's higher and more powerful than anything else, yet
it's one of the hardest things to recognize. One of the hardest things to feel,
especially when we're too busy and too twisted up in our own
thoughts.
This week, or you could say month, I've been twisted up in my
own thoughts. But I've found that joy truly comes from simplicity, and that
contention dwells in complexity. This week, one of my many mangled and confused
prayers was answered by a 5 year old girl.
I was giving a tour of the jail to a group of about 25 people.
It was your average tour consisting of a couple families. One young girl, as it
normally happens, had questions at the end of each room. She was very sensitive,
and had questions any young adult might have as well. At the end of the tour,
her hand went up. I asked her what her question was, and she said she needed to
tell me something. She got up, and went to the front of the Martydom room where
I was standing. She stood directly in front of me, looked up into my eyes, and
then turned around to face the others. She proceeded to bare her testimony. What
left her mouth was the most simple, most genuine testimony I had ever heard in
my entire life.
When life is simple, life is good. After the tour she began
to pick flower petals and place them in my hands. It's amazing how in tune with
the spirit children are.
On Saturday we went to the Hanson's for wings and brownies. We
ate, talked, and played some games. As we were playing this cup game at the
table, I couldn't help but to just start smiling. Again, I was graced by the
simplicity of it all. Of how a table, chairs, and 8 cups can bring people
together. I'm not quite sure how to explain it.
This week the YPMs are going home. BIG FROWNY FACE. They
brought so much life and love to the mission. One of my favorites quotes is "Art
is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time." The YPMs truly
decorated the time I have spent here in Nauvoo, and they will be greatly missed
by all. I had the opportunity to actually talk with some of them yesterday (our
schedules didn't really permit us to do so previously), and I wish I had been
given more time to get to know all of them. You truly can learn something from
every person you come in contact with. Yesterday I learned that even if you love
EVERYONE, if you love them more than God you're breaking a commandment. That was
a major wake up call for me. Another thing I learned is when we're looking for
someone to spend eternity with us, we need to find someone who suffers in a way
that's compatable with the way that we suffer. Someone's whose demons mesh with
our own. It's easy to be happy with someone, it's easy to laugh with someone.
But life is full of so many other things. I also learned that you cannot plan
out your life. I talked with two elders who had a plan for their lives, and
whose lives took them in much different directions. God has a plan for each one
of his children. He has the best case scenario laid out in front of us. He knows
we have agency, and he makes the best out of every choice we make. But, if we
want what's ultimately best for us, we must ask him and make our choices
according to Him. Sometimes these choices don't make any sense. Sometimes the
road blocks that appear seem to only be roadblocks. But they're not. And I know
that when we look back, when we are able to see where that roadblock took us, we
will wonder why we ever wanted anything else.
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| Sister Missionaries and YPLs (Young Performing Missionaries) |
Next Monday is transfers, and
all the Carthage sisters are headed to Nauvoo with a new companion and a new
pday. I can't believe I only have a couple more transfers until THE OUTBOUND.
Life is crazy, but I wouldn't want it any other way.
Oh, quick shout out to MY MOMMA!!! Happy birthday you
beautiful woman. I'm sorry you had to deal with me for 20ish years of my life. I
hope you eat a lot of chocolate to make up for it. Hehe.
Well I love you all. I say it every week, but I truly mean it.
Do something weird this week, and eat something yummy. 💕
Songs of the week:
Say Nothing-Pianos Become the Teeth
Under A Falling Sky-Moving Mountains
I'll Be The First-Kill It Kid
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