"Shoutout to Grammy!" John 14:27

September 19, 2022

"Shoutout to Grammy!" John 14:27

Hello hello everybody! I just had no free time at all last week so this week's email has some pictures and highlights from the past two weeks:) I hope you've had a great start to your September!

Now let's get to some fun facts for the week!

We only have 1 more license plate to find, sooo we're having fantastic luck "finding" in this area haha! Message me and take a guess what state it is!
Come to find out, Panda Express isn't authentic Chinese food. Orange chicken isn't a thing. In fact, sweet really isn't a thing. America, those silly gooses, always changing people's food!
We had a small number of people a couple of Sundays ago so I had the privilege of saying the opening prayer, blessing sacrament, passing sacrament, and translating Elder Hofhiens talk into English. So it was a big Sunday for me haha!
Elder Hofhiens and I are slowly getting better at cooking, the goal is to come back a chef, so we started out with some classic crock pot meals, but we moved to the Wok this week and made some stir fry! We have room to improve, but not a bad start!
Last Saturday our zone did an all-walking day, so Elder Hofhiens walked to the next big city where street contacting is good. It's a 10-minute drive, but because of the weird landscape, it took us 1 hour and 40 minutes haha!

Alright, ladies and gents! It's time for a spiritual thought. But honestly, this is kind of where I just ramble, so hopefully, something stands out to you or makes you think for a second. If not, no worries! You can send me an email about something else you'd like to talk about and I'd love to chit the chat with you:))

These last two weeks had their fair share of bumps... like life often does. We all have these different bumps in our life! It's why we were sent here, to learn and grow. But I don't like bumps! I prefer a smooth surface, as I'm sure all of you would! This week, after a particular bump where I had just the worst experience at someone's door of looking like a complete fool with no success, I hung my head down and Elder Hofhiens and I headed back to our car. It was our last house for the night and it just beat me down to my lowest. I'm grateful I have an amazing companion who was there for me and talked it over with me and helped me seriously so much to get out of a pretty darn sad spot. He started by just asking me what I was feeling, and I kind of just broke down and expressed all the things I was feeling and thinking. Those things were something along the lines of, "I don't understand. I have chosen to do this difficult thing, I have volunteered to serve the Lord, to leave everything behind, and give myself up for quite some time! I have tried to change and give my all, and I have strived to follow the mission rules. I continue walking and knocking doors but no matter what I do… I don't feel strong. Why am I having these challenges after all I have done to come closer and to work on my relationship with the Lord." I wasn't feeling super hot, to say the least. But after so many trials and so much unsuccessful "finding," it weighs a little bit. Continually I had the mindset of, "If I'm doing my best, why in the world am I still having these challenges?! "

Have you ever felt like this before? If not then I applaud you and you better send me tips asap! For all of you who have felt some variation of this, I hope this message can help you out just a little bit! The following day during my personal study I had a weird feeling to read notes people had given me in the past. So I went to my little stash of nice notes people have written me. Amongst the pile, I found a note my sweet Grammy had written me. It was a letter talking about her testimony. Now for me to continue you must know, Grammy is an angel that is trapped on this earth. I'm 99% sure they modeled the ministering program after her and all she does for others! She has also had her fair share of challenges in her life, but she continues forward with faith in Christ. In her letter, she said a phrase that stuck out to me: "Peace is the great reward for striving to love the gospel. … I wanted the great reward to be that life would be easier, that I'd have fewer struggles, hardship, and pain." Goodness do I agree, especially with that second part, I'm still working on the first part haha. But I thought that if I tried my best, then my challenges would simply go away and life would be walking on rainbows. But I love what Grammy said later down: "It's not that challenges disappear; it's just that they're not so overwhelming. … I believe all those things are related to the PEACE that comes from striving to love the gospel of Jesus Christ."

I'm so so grateful to my amazing Grammy who wrote just what I needed to read! And so the scripture I picked for this week's email is John 14:27, which says, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Christ has promised that he'll give us his peace, not as the world giveth, but much more. Sometimes this doesn't come how we'd prefer or as quickly as we'd like, but that's why it's not, "as the world giveth,"... because the world has such a small scope of sight. Our Savior knows exactly when and what you need! How is he so good at this? Because he's already experienced every feeling you've had, so he knows exactly how he can best help us. I'm so grateful for my Savior who offers me peace amidst my trials. I know in my moments of sorrow, he hears my prayers and lifts me up. He will lift you up too. We just have to turn to him.

I hope you all have an amazing week and feel peace amidst the trials, however that peace may come! Reach out and let me know how you're doing, I would love to point you to some awesome resources and be someone who will listen to you:) Love you all! God is GOOD <3

再见，

司长老