Guess what?! Tomorrow I'm going to Las Vegas! We have to go to the consulate to get our visas in person! So if all goes well, I shouldn't have a problem getting into Mexico! I'm so excited!!! I'll be gone from 4:30am-10:00pm tomorrow to fly there and back. It'll be interesting because it will be my first time in public (Provo doesn't count) with a missionary name-tag on, and from what I've heard, I'll probably get lots of stares. That'll be fun.
Joke time:
What do you get when you put pasta in the sea?
An Apostasy!
What did the Spanish teacher say when he threw the chair out the window?
Silla! (pronounced "see ya"-- the word for chair in Spanish)
One of the Hermanas in my district meant to tell an Elder "Mucho Gusto" (nice to meet you), but accidentally said "Me Gusta" (I like) when he shook her hand goodbye. Jaja!!!
We sang in the choir on Tuesday night for L. Tom Perry. The devotional was broadcast to all the MTCs around the world. I was on camera a lot when we sang and even had a close up. Too bad it wasn't General Conference cause you would've gotten to see me a lot. Oh well. :) We sung "Redeemer of Israel" and the words of it really touched me. Verse 2 say "We know He is coming to gather His sheep." As missionaries, we are the ones gathering His sheep.
Sister Perry spoke first and two things really stood out to me. First, Heavenly Father has chosen where we would be born and the life circumstances we would have because He knew the lessons we needed to learn. And second, there's going to be challenges, for that is part of the refining process.
Elder Perry spoke and in reference to something being a coincidence, said "By chance? Absolutely not."
One of our teachers gave us some great insight on faith. Matthew 14:25-31 tells of the story of Peter walking on water. he had faith to get out of the boat and walk on water. Then he let his fears and doubts take over and noticed the winds and the waves--that were there when he initially got out of the boat--and started to sink. That's just like us; we're out of the boat and starting to walk on water, being a new missionary (or whatever it is we're doing). It's really hard so we start to lose confidence in God and begin sinking. It is when we take our eyes off Christ, that we sink. She said it's hard to learn a language, but we always hear of people in the church going on missions and learning a language like it's nothing. But it's SO HARD. The language doesn't just come to us because we're missionaries. We have to work for it.
I've decided that my mission is like marching band. It's super hard. It's a huge sacrifice. Sometimes I want to quit, other days I can't imagine myself doing anything else. Overall, I'm learning so much. And I know it's worth it and when I'm finished I won't regret it. I don't regret doing band for six years and I won't regret eighteen months of serving the Lord.
Speaking of marching band, we passed the BYU Cougar Marching Band while they were practicing!! (It was while we were walking to the devotional on Tuesday) Then on Thursday during class we could hear them practicing. It really made me miss marching band and playing my flute! You can rent flutes here during additional study time so I did that this week and it was fun! It's weird how much you miss doing something when you can't just do it whenever you want. I love not having a phone, though. :D It's nice not having to worry all about that kind of stuff.
Everyone needs to look up Philippians 4:13 and 1 Nephi 7:12 Also, the talk from this last General Conference by Elder Dyches called "Wilt Thou Be Made Whole." I love that talk because he tells the story of Jesus healing the man at Bethesda, and I love this quote from it: "Jesus Christ heals body, mind and spirit and His healing begins with faith." That is so powerful to me!
Oh! And everyone need to watch the video "The Atonement: How It Applies To Missionary Work." So good! "Missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Conversion isn't easy, retention isn't easy because it requires something from our soul."
"Christ had perfect faith but He was still rejected. If we want to be representatives of Jesus Christ, we can't expect to only see miracles. We must be prepared to walk part of the path to the cross that Christ walked."
The devotional yesterday was incredible! Some of the things that I really liked that she said were:
(1) "You said "yes" when you got your call and you need to say "yes" every day during your mission."
(2) "He can make a lot more out of us that we can. Turn yourself over to Him."
(3) "Be of good cheer, it's not just a suggestion but a commandment."
(4) "Thank Heavenly Father for blessings you're not aware of."
Today I was thinking about the missionary that I looked up to when I was younger. Now I am one of those missionaries that others will look up to. It's so important to be a good example of a missionary. :) The longer I'm here, the more I know that this is what I'm supposed to be doing with my life right now. :)
We have so much to be grateful for; the Lord blesses us tremendously!! I testify that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I testify that He loves us. I know that He lived and died for us and that he was resurrected and now lives. I know that the Holy Ghost comforts us and testifies of truth. I have such a strong testimony of this church and the gospel because I have received confirmation from the Holy Ghost that it is true. I testify that all that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Amor,
Hermana Sara Slaughter
P.S. Tomorrow is my halfway mark in the MTC! In three weeks I'll be in MEXICO!!!!
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