Have Faith

HheeeeeEEeeey there.Oh, there is so much I want to write. Ok. First off, I wanted to say: RAIN is now my favorite thing in the world. Yes, it´s been raining in JAnaúba. After 42º heat, we got some rain. Clouds, thunder- the works! It has been the BEST week ever.Ok, not in relation to EVERYTHING, but WEATHER wise- its been fantastic.A few fun things are going on… let me explainnnnnnnnnnnn ---we´re teaching English every Friday. That´s been fun. Last week we taught them a few words and then “I am a child of God” It was fun. ---we went to Montes Claros for a combined district meeting. It was so good! Everything I needed to hear! And then after it all, the directing elder said “so our closing hymn will be..” and another elder cut him off and said “a special number by sister blandon!” then eeeeeeeveryone looked at me and the zone leader was like “uh.. well.. could you?” so I sang “The Lord is my Light”. It was pretty funny. ----TOMORROW we´re going to the banana farm again! Yay! I´m just hoping it will still be raining. ---Pres. Frei has authorized us to listen to Jack Johnson!! So we listened to him on the ride back from Montes Claros. It was DELICIOUS. It made me miss michael. Oh, but it was so good.. Anyway, so that was nice.
Oh, we got an assignment of a few things to read before zone conference this month. So we got a part a book that James E. Talmage wrote (no, not Jesus the Christ) about Faith, and it is soooooooooooooooooooooooooo good! Everyone! Everywhere! Read this book! Faith is one of those things that we hear SO much about, and assume that EVERYONE has- to the point that we don’t even know what it is anymore (at least that’s how it´s seemed, and been with me.) But it really is ESSENTIAL to our lives and salvation. So, that´s my invite to all- find out what faith means to YOU! here are a few cool things I´ve found in my studies:---Faith is a desire! A decision! Faith is the works we give to the Lord to show our trust in Him. Faith is the secret of ambition, the soul of heroism, the motive power of effort.Faith is vivified, vitalized, living belief. Or as Albert Einstein said about the opposite of faith: Fear is a word man put on the absence of faith. Also, see alma 32, moroni 7:33, ether 3
Anyway, so faith is pretty amazing, and I really hope that everyone honestly takes some time to reflect on what faith means to YOU. Personally. Regardless of your which or any religion you are affiliated with- please, just take a minute. Or 5. or 55.
Anyway, moving on.. there is a cool example Sis. Sorenson uses for tithing, but it applies for worship on Sundays too, and maybe I´ve already told you, but I´m saying it again, because its just that good..
God gives you 10 oranges, and then asks for 1 in return. Is that selfish? Is He asking too much? But then, after you´ve given Him that one- He gives you orange juice in return.
Doesn’t that explain it so well??! Its so true too!!! Ah! I love it. I love how logical it is to obey the commandments of God.
oooooooh my, I have to tell you a story. It is so incredible.
So the members of the ward feed us everyday. And Sis. Sorenson makes the lunch calander every month. So, she schedules and then confirms with people to make sure they can give us lunch that day. So, one Sunday she was doing her rounds, checking with all of the sisters for their day to give lunch, and she started talking to Maurina. Maurina is a recent convert, and a single mom of 2 teenage boys, gillerme and Kaique. She hasn´t had a job for a while, so she said she didn´t know if it would work out to give lunch that day- but she really wanted to, so check back!So Sis.Sorenson, not wanting to nag her ( “so can you give us lunch now.. how about now.. now?”) eventually just scheduled someone else. Later we found out that the 2 boys (the oldest being 15) had sold popsicles in the street ALL week to earn enough money to feed us lunch that week.popsicles. ALL WEEK.So we RE-marked to eat there a couple days later, and Maurina was SO happy (the boys were too). She acted like we were doing HER a favor by being there! And it was DELICIOUS! It was a feast! She made it with SO much love and care. It was SO humbling. Seriously, these people are amazing. Then later that week there was a guy from a ward in Montes Claros who ate lunch with us on Sunday, and he was talking about how rich people don´t feed as well (or at least that’s how it was on his mission. I´m not saying that´s necessarily accurate EVERY where, but it’s the concept that is more important..) as poor ones and heres why:Because Rich people think that because they´re not hungry, no one else is. They don´t understand hunger- so they don´t have the capacity to help the hungry. Where as the hungry feed well because they understand hunger. They know how to succor the hungry.So in the long run, who would YOU rather be? Incapable of succoring those in need? I think not. I realized that the Lord sometimes allows us to go through trials because HE knows that we would rather help those in need than to have an “easy” life. I´m grateful for the experiences the Lord blesses us with.
Another thing I learned in my studies was about the need to “gather provisions”. In 3 Nephi 4 (vs 18 specifically) there is an example of a people who gathered up all of their provisions and then surrounded themselves with their armies and then STAYED there.The scriptures said they had enough provisions to last them SEVEN years.In the end they defeated their enemy because their enemies COULDN´T beat them. They tried to cut off their provisions and supplies, but they already had plenty- and so their enemies, almost starving to death, tried to fight them. But again, being so well prepared and organized, they were too strong. So the application here can go 2 ways:Temporally AND spiritually.We need to gather up our provisions both spiritually and temporally. In this example, these people were completely SURROUNDED by their enemies- but STILL it had NO effect on them because they were so well prepared. How many of us feel like we´re surrounded by our enemies? But our strength needs to come from the INSIDE out. Inside our minds. Inside our homes. Inside our wards. Inside our LIVES.So, like 2 nephi 32:3 says, feast on the words of Christ! But not just feast on them! Store them up! Learn them in a constant and diligent way so that you will have that knowledge to fall back on in times of need. That strength and provision- from INSIDE.Also: FOOOOOOOOOOOOOD STORAGE!!!!!!!!!! Is STILL extremely important. Really. Seriously.
Anyway, so yeah. I guess that’s all for now. A HUGE thank you to: Halei ludlow, Anita spainhower and Andrew Schafer for sending me snailmail letters! They were delicious. I´ll be writing you back shortly.
KLOVEYOUBYE-sb