Sister Ashley Weaver: I Love Reading The Powerful Missionary-esk

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

I Love Reading The Powerful Missionary-esk

March 3, 2014

The Generational Pic: Me, My Mom, Grandma,
Great-Grandma, and so forth and such which :)

Dear Family & Friends,

Thank you so much for your email. I love reading the powerful missionary-esk words from a mother to a daughter (especially mine :) I am printing it out. For your lesson about the Atonement, when I teach I always stress the importance of trying to understand how the Savior suffered BOTH physical AND spiritual death and that in order for it to be an infinite atonement for the sins of whoever has lived or will ever live...nobody but the Son of God could have suffered through it all. In the words of David A. Bednar in His talk "The Character of Christ," only One who looked outward before He looked inward could do so...THIS is the character of Christ. If we apply the Atonement in our lives, we do not have to suffer for our own sins. I love the story of Alma the Younger and his experience with applying the Atonement. Changing our desires, CHANGE, is the key to repentance and everlasting forgiveness. Because of the atonement, we ALL may be saved in a kingdom of glory, but in order to receive the highest we have to do our part. If you want a really good insight into what grace is and the importance of it PLEASE look up the talk "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. I love how he says that the Savior is not just at the finish line (at the destination) but is there with you helping you complete every step of the race (the journey).

Cooking skills. Guess what? We never have time to cook because EVERYONE feeds us! So you don't have to worry :) But when we do...it's only breakfast anyway which I'm pretty golden at with cereal as you well know.

Don't worry, I brought a pair of tennis shoes, but they are boring and dirty so that's why I got some neon ones.

This week has been such a blessing! When we met with Nikki, she brought a friend named Willie who had some questions about what we believed and he is trying to discover who Christ is and try and understand what He did. We reviewed the part of the Restoration and taught with the pamphlet and then continued with our original plan we had with Nikki and read from Joseph Smith History about Joseph's firsthand account of the First Vision. We also read the Book of Mormon Promise in Moroni 10:3-5 with him and encouraged him to read and pray to know if this course and this church is true. I also committed him to baptism (my first baptismal commitment made!!!!! even if it was after Sis. Anderson whispered at me to do it :) and he said that he would like to first know what baptism is and why it is necessary. But he said that as he read and continued to learn, and if he felt that this was true, then he would absolutely take that step. We followed up with him later in the week and he is already reading 1 Nephi and is really excited about it. We also were able to give him a King James Version of the Bible. He and Nikki committed to help each other read and learn more together since they both do bible studies together anyways.

We met with Jorie and also taught her the Restoration. She was very receptive and I committed to baptism (without Sis. Anderson telling me to!) as she also committed to continue to learn more and attend church and develop her own testimony of this gospel's truth. She said that she feels spiritually nourished every time that she comes to church!

We met with Dee again and she was skeptical about the three degrees of glory until I showed her where it was mentioned in 1 Corinthians. She is very learned and wants to seek truth out of other books, not just the Book of Mormon, and we are trying our best to answer her questions but she is very patient. She is slowly but surely finding out that this gospel holds all the truths she's looking for, she just needs to pray specifically to know for herself!

There is so much more I want to tell you but because I am a spaz and forgot my planner, I cannot remember it all. Oh well, next week :) I hope that things are good and golden on the home front and that all of you are. Attached are some pics of the mission peeps. Next week is transfers. I hope no one leaves, especially my trainer :(

I love you all so much!! I'm sorry this is so short!