Adventures in the CLAM: Trio Life (April 15, 2019-April 21, 2019)

Hey team!

Upon reviewing this letter I noticed that at the end I reference a scripture from the Book of Mormon without saying where in the book you can find it. It is Moroni 10:32, which can be found in the last chapter of the book.

And for anyone that cares, there are some small Les Misérables spoilers in here too.

Thanks for coming, I love you! Enjoy!

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Hello one and all!

LA LOVE:

I have seriously loved living in an apartment of many cultures. We'll so frequently just talk about how things differ in all of our countries and it's a blast.

In our apartment we name everything, like literally everything. Our TIWI (the machine in all mission cars) is Janet, Sister Sanerive's Google Maps is Trixie, Sister Merkley's bike is Spike, my bike is Patricia, the gate to the garage of our apartment is Brance, the elevator in our apartment is Sheldon, and Sister Merkley's Google Maps is Paula.

EVENTS OF THE WEEK:

We went out to get Thai food for our last p-day with Sister Thawornniwat.

Sister Sanerive and I have been in a trio with Sister Merkley this week covering Reseda and Van Nuys and it's been a party! We found out today that her new companion, Sister Roberts, will be coming on Wednesday. Because we've been covering two areas, this week we did a lot of stuff that we don't normally do.

We volunteered at Hope of the Valley to feed the homeless.

I officially have a TIWI card! (It allows me to drive mission vehicles.) I'm supposed to practice driving with Sister Merkley every now and then. Let's just say I'll be a pro at driving when I get home because the streets in California are NARROW.

First district council of the new transfer! We're sad to no longer have Elder Ormond and Elder Barton with us, but excited to welcome in TWO new companionships of five awesome sisters! And had a short training as a zone--I love being in the Granola zone.

We had an awesome sacrament meeting for Easter! The choir sang many songs and various youth in the ward described each day of the holy week. It was a wonderful time of learning more about the Savior's Atonement.

FRIENDS:

We et with Rafael from the Van Nuys area. He is super awesome and we had a great time walking with him and talking about temples, eternal families, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Manny is another friend from the Van Nuys area and I love him so much! We discussed a lot of scriptures with him this week.

We visited Sukki many times this week. We had many awesome discussions centering on Jesus this week especially about Easter. We also got to sing a song for her for Easter, "I Believe in Christ."

We went to the visitors center with the Boatman family from the Van Nuys ward and had a great tour with them, actually guided by Sister Roberts, Sister Merkley's new companion! We also got to visit them later in the week and share favorite scripture stories.

We met with our friends BJ and his brother AJ and their mom. We read a little bit of the Book of Mormon with him.

I hope you all had a great Easter! I am so glad we have a special day every year to remember the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because that happened to Him, it WILL happen to us all.

This week has allowed me opportunities to greater appreciate the suffering, death, and resurrection of the Savior, His miraculous and infinite Atonement. The other week I was contemplating "the world's most popular musical", Les Miserables, and I came to realize the deep symbolism of the bishop that Jean Valjean steals from, representing the Savior Jesus Christ. With that in mind, I now frequently sing the song "What Have I Done?" to myself in that context:

"How could I allow this Man

To touch my soul and teach me love?

He treated me like any other.
He gave me His trust.

He called me brother.

My life He claims for God above.
Can such things be,

For I had come to hate the world, 

The world that always hated me.

Take an eye for an eye,

Turn your heart into stone:

This is all I have lived for.

This is all I have known.

One word from Him and I'd be back,

Beneath the lash, upon the rack.
Instead He offers me my freedom.

I feel my shame inside me like a knife.

He told me that I have a soul?

How does He know?

What Spirit comes to move my life?

Is there another way to go?"

There is another way to go. "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."

Thanks and much love.

--Sister Day