A lot has been on my mind this week. I would like to share some of it with all of you:
Jesus Christ suffered all of the sins of the world, and we are asked to live a life like His. Why, then, are we so surprised when we are asked to suffer?
Life IS suffering (four noble truths). Let yourself feel it. Stop running from distraction to distraction. Medication to medication.
Drug to drug. Drink to drink. Let yourself be human, and feel the pains that come with that.
Suffering enables us to LOVE. Without suffering we become blind to others, and our empathy decays. With all of the "pain remedies" we have today, I see empathy becoming extinct. I see a lack of love everywhere I turn. I cannot stress enough the importance of love, it's the most important thing in the entire universe. But as we are all covering our pain, we are losing love. I invite all of you to allow yourselves to feel pain, and to allow yourself to recognize the pain in the lives of others. Life is not just suffering for you, it is for everyone. Pain connects us. So while we rid ourselves from our pain, we are literally destroying this connection. We become separate from each other. As humans, we are meant to be connected. Doesn't matter where we live: America, India, Peru, China, etc....it doesn't matter.
We are all human beings that experience pain. WE ARE ALL CONNECTED.
And it's beautiful! But we are losing touch of that connection more and more everyday. And to be honest, it scares me.
With the recent events that have taken place in Paris, my mind has been occupied heavily with this quote/concept: Fight for your world, not your country. We need to love everyone. Not just everyone in America, or in the Northwest, or in Camas Washington. EVERYONE. Fight for humanity. Please.
Look outside of yourself. The most important person is not you, the most important person is the person right next to you. Serve them, talk to them, love them, and try your best to understand them.
We are all brothers and sisters, walking a path full of hurdles and traps. Let's help one another, instead of being yet another hurdle for someone else. Let's hold hands, instead of pushing each other into holes in the road. Let's love each other. Let's acknowledge each other.
I find it both humorous and sad that we can so easily walk by a stranger on the street and completely disregard them. One of our investigators, Michelle, told us something that resonated profoundly with me. She said, "each interaction with another person is an opportunity to worship God." This rang so true to me. I am striving to see all my interactions with people in this way. Interactions at the grocery store, at church, walking down the street. Every interaction has the potential to be life changing—for you and the other person. So look up from your phone, take your headphones out of your ears, and talk to someone.
Just love people, okay? That's all I'm really trying to say. Stop thinking about yourself. Stop loving yourself. Turn out. If everyone in the world loved everyone else, we would each have billions of people who love us. If we all turn inward and love ourselves, we each only have one person who loves us. I prefer the billions, not only because of the vast increase in number, but the quality of the love as well. My friends and family love me better than I could ever love myself, and I would rather have their love than my own.
I think that's all I wanted to say....for now. :)
If you're still here and reading, here is what happened this week:
We had some investigators drop us, without communicating that they were dropping us. That's the worst. There's no closure!! No reason why, no apology. It's almost like a bad breakup. Hahaha.
Marcus has some pretty serious health issues that will probably set his baptism date back, but that is okay! He still continues to press forward in faith, always reassuring us that he will not let his health get in his way. He's an incredibly strong person.
Jasmine and Tananjia are two teenage girls at we are teaching! Their mother and older sister both got baptized this year, and now they are taking the lessons as well!! Ah, I just love that family.
Michelle is awesome. She is a very spiritual person, though not religious...if that makes sense. She has no desire to become a member of a church, but has a strong desire to discover truth. I relate to her a lot, in that she and I agree that you can find truth anywhere...and that it often times finds you. We will see what the future holds for her, but as for now I am happy to help her discover more truth.
Nana is out of town for a month to help her sister with her new baby!
It's sad that she won't be able to meet with us for that long, but I'm glad she is able to serve her sister!
We did a lot of tracting this week! Update: I still haven't been yelled at. I've come to the conclusion that sisters don't get yelled at as much as elders. Pretty freaking lame if you ask me, but that's what the world we live in I guess. (Not that I am just dying to get yelled at, but I wish both genders were treated equally! Us women have it pretty easy sometimes.) I just want someone to give me some hard questions, to make me think a little. But instead they just say, "you don't want to hear my opinions." Actually, I REALLY REALLY DO. LIKE REALLY. Ugh, anyways. We have some new investigators! Yay! We also tracted into a woman from Africa who was sooo excited to talk about Jesus. I couldn't understand everything she said because of her accent, but she was awesome. She kept telling us, "I'll talk about Jesus Christ day to night, I won't be tired. I'm never tired when I talk about Jesus." She was so passionate! It was awesome!! She was working at the house we went to as a nurse, and lives in the STLs area, but I hope things go well when she meets with them!
I love you all! To the moon and back. And to the moon again. And back.
And to the moon. And back again. And probably to the moon and back another time.
Seriously though.
Random Request:
Someone from Utah sent my this great package and I don't know who! Can you email me and let me know if it was you?
Here's a couple other quotes that came to mind this week:
-Out beyond ideas of right and wrong there is a field. I will meet you there.
-terrorism is not a religion.
Let's always remember that things aren't as "cookie-cutter" as they look, but are much more simple than they seem. There is always more to the story, there is always more to know, but love is simple. Things are complicated—this world is full of billions of conflicting realities. But despite this chaos, we can all choose love. And love, my friends, is what makes this mangled mess simple.
Whether you know what in the heck I'm talking about or not, smile at someone for me. When you think nice things about others, tell them.
Compliment strangers. Each day, find your purpose (hint: it's not you).
Songs: Fake You Out- Twenty One Pilots
Guns For Hands- Twenty One Pilots
P.s. We took like...no photos this week!!! So enjoy my new no face shirt, a selfie, and a photo my comp took when I fell asleep in the car (I was really sick this week).
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