New Beginnings



I've only been here for not even two days and it has been an amazing experience already, much more than I could have expected. Everything started off a little crazy when my plane got delayed and I missed my connecting flight. I ended up getting to the MTC a few hours late and got lost with a different district, but I finally met my companion!! She is Sister Hunter and she has an amazing sweet spirit and I can tell she has a true love for the gospel. I really didn't expect to be the loud companion honestly, but here I am. The feelings of anxiousness about entering the MTC and starting such a new thing to me quickly went away. In 2 Timothy 1:7 it says, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." As I came to realize my feelings of fear are not coming from my Heavenly Father I prayed to be able to let go of that and Heavenly Father has really allowed me to feel the love he has for each of His children here.

I never thought I would be able to enjoy 6-8 hours in one day of just studying my purpose as a missionary. I have absolutely LOVED classes. They've made me realize how much I have taken the gospel for granted a lot in my life. One of my favorite things everyday is being able to put my name tag on and go throughout my entire day knowing I am a representative of Jesus Christ. Such an amazing spirit that can just come from one name tag. One thing that has really stuck out to me about my purpose here it that our purpose as missionaries is to help Heavenly Father fulfill His purpose. Heavenly Father's purpose is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1:39) Our purpose is to help with that by inviting others to come unto Christ. What a special thing to think that all of us can be apart of something SO important. In the movie Moana (which everyone should watch) there is a song that the ancestors sing, one line in that song is "we know who we are, and we know the way." Even though it is simply from a Disney movie, it has been a powerful statement to me as I have thought about it over the past few days. I know we are all children of God and that's something we often say but to think about what that really means in a deeper way brings a much greater feeling of importance.

In section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants we are given amazing promises as missionaries. Verse 88 says, "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." This important promise given to the missionaries in 1832 remains the same for us in current day. What an amazing feeling to know that as we help people come unto Christ we are never alone in that, we should not fear because He is on our left and our right and will bear us up. We have a great opportunity to attend the temple in just a few hours and I cannot wait to feel the spirit that comes from being in the house of our Heavenly Father.

Matthew 28: 19 says, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." This is my district below and in just a little over two weeks we will be headed out! I cannot wait to meet the people of Kentucky!! I love you all and have an amazing week!



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