"Keep looking forward!"

Hello hello everyone! This week was a super good week! I will throw in some highlights:)
  • I met the prince of Mongolia… not sure if that’s true at all. But he gave me his card and it looks pretty legit to me haha!
  • My companion buzzed all of his hair and it was absolutely hilarious!
  • We have had lots more success finding new friends lately! Sadly… we have to refer all of these new friends we meet if they aren't Chinese-speaking, but it’s still awesome to be able to help out other missionaries and help the Lord's work continue progressing!
  • We had some super fun exchanges this week! One with our District Leader (and his companion) and the other with our Zone leaders! They were a blast!
  • We had Family Home Evening with a group of people from our branch and it was so much fun!
  • All the Chinese Speaking Missionaries, Helen, and Clark all went out to get some Chinese food because Helen and Clark will soon leave to China (so so sad).
This week, during my studies I found a really awesome quote I liked! It was from a talk addressed to mission presidents about 2 years ago, and sadly I can’t find it anywhere haha. But it was given by Elder Nash and it was absolutely amazing! In his address, he tells a story of a young boy who had a rough upbringing. He grew up in a home full of alcohol and dangerous situations constantly. Later some missionaries knocked on the door and found the boy (Ken), began teaching him, and eventually Ken was baptized.
 
Later on Ken was moved from his scary situation into an orphanage and was bumped around a little bit. It was a challenging time. He wasn’t sure why all of this was happening to him. He had followed the Lord and was doing everything he could. Ken said a very earnest prayer asking the Lord why all these things had happened to him, he said that it was the first and only time he got a verbal answer to his prayer with the words, “We put eyes in the front of your head so you could not look backward.” I LOVE this quote! Later, Ken went on to be quite an impressive person. From that day forward, he didn’t look back with regret about how things had happened; he looked forward. He looked to Christ, and he kept trying to make the right decisions.
 
How does this quote apply to us in our life? Goodness, I can tell you that I struggle with this one! My loved ones can attest to this. The mission is pretty hard, and sometimes I think, “Yeah… I would much rather be where I was a year ago!” Now I don’t think that this thought is a bad one to have, and I think it’s important to cherish all moments we have. We should learn from the past and we should grow. But Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother put eyes in the front of our heads so that we could continue looking forward. We wouldn’t have to look back, wishing we could change things, having guilt from past decisions, ruminating on opportunities we had missed, etc.
 
God knows what is behind us. He knows us perfectly! He knows the decisions we have made, but more importantly, he knows where we are headed. He works with whatever we give Him. There is nothing we could ever do that would catch him off guard! There’s a 0% chance he would ever think, “Wow, Luke (Elder Steadman)! I did not see that one coming! I don’t know what’s going to happen now!” haha! That just seems silly to even say! God knows us and loves us, He knows what is ahead of us.
 
In the wise words of Master Ugway from Kung Fu Panda, “Yesterday was history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift… that’s why they call it the present.” There is no need to look backwards or to look far into the future. God has given us this moment right now! So we should make the most of it! Learn from the past, prepare for the future, but experience the NOW! It’s not always easy, trust me I know! I am still very much working on it. You can ask my best friend, she knows this all too well haha! But it’s a process. I am so grateful that God has put eyes in the front of my head! Keep looking forward and towards the Savior, that is the best place to look and keep our focus! Have an amazing week!


With lots of love,
司长老












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