Adventures in the CLAM: The Whole Squad Rolling Up (June 15, 2020-June 21, 2020)

 

Hello one and all!
LA LOVE:
The other day I was walking down Pacific Coast Highway, the twilight sky was mildly overcast, the lights along the street were brilliant, there were palm trees standing tall, the air was cold, and I felt like I child for a second and how California has always been such a magical place for me. The best things have happened in California. And I was just overwhelmingly grateful that this is where I got to serve my mission.
EVENTS OF THE WEEK:
P-day was supposed to be seemingly normal for me. We would have to move Sister Nault into her new apartment but that was about all that I had to do. I was to be staying in the same apartment with whoever my new companion was. Or so we thought. We unexpectedly got a phone call from Sister Chou and Sister Romney that more or less informed us that my companion and I would be moving into their apartment. We called the assistants and confirmed this. So I started packing and we spent the whole night moving into the new apartment! I stayed with Sister Nault in her new apartment until we got our new companions. The best part is, we not only live with the sisters in that same apartment complex but also with Elder Platt and Elder Mangum! So we are one cute little family. Got a whole family group chat going on and everything. It's been interesting for sure and we are having a fun time.
I got a new companion! Her name is Sister Allred and she served for one month in the Japan Sapporo Mission, and now she has been reassigned here! I am so lucky to be training again! Sister Allred is a complete natural. She is so good at connecting with our friends. I've never met a more obedient missionary. She is the best and I love her!
Our zone has now doubled in size because we have been receiving so many new missionaries, so this week was our first district council with two districts in the zone. I love my district! We had a great time talking about finding through Come and See events together.
We had the grand privilege of attending three amazing Come and See events: Makeup with the Sisters, mission prep class, and an amazing devotional for the people of southern California by Elder Bednar of the Twelve Apostles!
FRIENDS:
I promise I taught this week, but I have next to no time to write about it. Nothing ridiculously earth-shattering except for Cathryn preparing for her baptism. She is amazing and passed her interview with flying colors.
To close, I wanted to share with you some thoughts about grace that I shared with my zone this week. One came while reading the first chapter of Preach My Gospel, where the eighth verse in 2 Nephi 2 is quoted as saying that no one "can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the... grace of the Holy Messiah". I hope you all know how true that is, and it's not a downer of a statement. We are saved by grace, and that is the truth of the matter. We are all incapable of making it on our own. So what a miracle to have a loving and merciful Heavenly Father! He provided us a Savior and showed us the path to access His grace. And thus by this redeeming power we are saved. I was also recalling 2 Nephi 25:23 that states that "it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do." And of course relating conference talks that have mentioned how we have access to Christ's grace before, during, and after all we can do. And I was thinking about how His grace helps us in each one of those stages. Grace is what enables us before all we can do, when we are first hearing the call to repentance but don't know where to start. Grace is the sustaining power during all we can do while we are trying to endure and sometimes struggle through processes of change And grace is the saving power after all we can do, where we are made whole because we showed that we cared enough to try, though our efforts may be small. I just wanted to share that with you all. You are all amazing, and the gospel me and my fellow elders and sisters preach is all based around the fact that Jesus Christ, a perfect Person, descended lower than the lowest so He could lift us up, because He was the only person that could make it out on His own. He hasn't forgotten you, and He sees you are trying hard.
Thanks and much love!
--Sister Day

Adventures in the CLAM: Finishing the Way We Started (June 8, 2020-June 14, 2020)

 Hey everyone!
This letter reminded me what a miracle missionary work is. I obviously don't go into the details of the challenges that our friends faced in these letters, because it is not my business to disclose their private information. People trust missionaries with a lot of stuff, guys--they can tell we're servants of Jesus, so they tell us everything, sometimes even when meeting us for the first time. As I read this letter, I reflected on all the unique challenges that my friends went through. They were incredibly difficult things to go through. Honestly, they were heartbreaking. A lot of these challenges took a lot of hard work for them to resolve. A lot of them took a lot of brain power and creativity. That's what I mean when I say missionary work is a miracle. Some of these people were in circumstances that made it so hard for them to come unto Christ or progress in the gospel. But the Holy Ghost inspired our minds to know what to do to help them get to where they needed to be. It was not easy at all, and it took a long time for a lot of these problems to get taken care of. Many of them I never even saw the resolution for. But I know it was only by the miracles of God that we were able to do anything for our friends at all. Being a missionary is the most God-given gift. I am so grateful I got to be a part of it.
Enjoy!

Hello one and all!
LA LOVE:
Shoutout to Sister Nault for fixing our air conditioning this week.
So, I'm gonna put this into the simplest terms possible and explain as little as possible: I have a new hobby. I love bleaching things.
EVENTS OF THE WEEK:
For the last p-day of the transfer and our last p-day with Sister Shay, we had a super fun twin party, where we had nachos, performed songs and poems, and exchanged gifts in honor of special milestones we had all achieved. Those girls are my best friends. It was a party never to be forgotten.
New transfer new us! This was a really special start to a transfer, kind of emo, because it was the start of my second to last transfer--the amount of transfers I originally started with. From two-transfer missionary to full-time missionary, I have almost completed my journey here. But there are still many great adventures ahead in the next three months! The entire zone stayed the same except for Sister Romney leaving to be in the Chinese zone (luckily she's not far, just in Torrance with Sister Chou), replaced by Sister Price, one of the newly reassigned missionaries in the first wave! We are so happy to have her!
We had a great first district council of the transfer. The best part was that it was in person for the first time in months. I loved getting to see my elders and sisters and just be with them. We were all wearing masks and the elders and sisters were sitting on opposite sides of the room from each other because we have to stay in clusters, and everyone had to wash their hands as soon as they came and as soon as they left. We learned about how to strengthen the culture of the mission, how to best accomplish our work, and honestly just had a great time together. I love this zone.
We had a great Makeup with the Sisters this week featuring an everyday makeup look with the best audience ever! So responsive.
Another great mission prep class with Bree and Rohan! The kids once again blew our minds with amazing roleplays and will be participating in a Member Missionary Amazing Race, the prize being a batch of my world-famous brownies!
I don't know if I mentioned this previously, but this month we are getting over fifty new missionaries--I can't remember exactly how many, but it is a high number. However, the missionaries are coming in waves over a period of three weeks. Sister Nault and I have known that our area is going to split and we will both be receiving reassigned missionaries, but we haven't known when that would happen. Well, this week we both got new emails telling us about our new assignments! I will be in Palos Verdes with Sister Allred, and Sister Nault will be in Redondo 1st and Redondo 2nd with Sister Torkornoo, the sister that's been teaching with us! We are so excited to welcome these new missionaries.
This week's Sunday night fireside was SO AMAZING. Our mission was privileged to host the amazing musical group The Bonner Family! I swear I have never heard cleaner vocals. I was shook to my core. I was thrilled by amazing directing. I was emo pretty much the entire time. 10/10 would recommend. You can still give it a watch; I posted it on my Facebook page, and I promise, you don't want to miss this.
FRIENDS:
Wow, this week was a wild one with Craig T., as usual. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation, and it really motivated him more to repent. He said, "I wanna be in the celestial kingdom with you girls!" The next time we taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the way that we get back to the kingdom of God. Listen, we intended to commit Craig to read the Book of Mormon with this lesson. But the Spirit was ridiculously strong in this lesson. We felt prompted to invite Craig to be baptized on the twenty-second of August. Craig said that was too soon. But we know the Lord wants Craig baptized on that day. He finally confessed that he is concerned that he is not getting enough support from his family. We taught him about how the gospel blesses us all and it makes our families stronger, so we think we are making progress there.
We had a transition lesson with Nataly featuring my dear friends Elder Platt and Elder Mangum from the YSA ward! We hyped up the ward for her and told her what a good time she is going to have there and how much it will help her. She is excited!
We taught Scott and Heather about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Scott said he really wants to gain a relationship with God and he is happy to be learning about the gospel right now.
We shared a spiritual thought with Ken for the first time over video call! He is so sweet; we love him!
Cathryn is doing great. Her spiritual strength is amazing and we are more than excited for her baptism in a week. We learned about the laws and ordinances of the gospel and she does not have any more questions about the gospel! The world truly isn't ready for Cathryn to be baptized--the very powers of hell are going to shake.
Diana is an angel. We are trying to convince her of how much God loves her and wants her to be baptized and we think it's working. She desires to be baptized, we are just helping her overcome those hurdles.
Poor Ariana is going through a difficult time right now, but we talked about it with her and she got a priesthood blessing and is feeling a lot better and hopeful for the future.
We had our first in-person lesson (those are allowed now if we are invited) with Macy! She has been learning with missionaries for awhile and is so sweet. She has a strong faith in Jesus Christ and how he carries our burdens.
We had a great lesson with Stephanie and Annie about the priesthood! Stephanie is so grateful that her husband Scott holds the priesthood.
We told Tomm about the Book of Mormon! He found the idea very interesting and is becoming increasingly interested in the gospel of Jesus Christ! He is eager to get a copy of the Book of Mormon.
Khiara is doing so amazing. We told her about how the gospel of Jesus Christ is restored. She loves how she feels when she prays and learns with us and we told her that is the Spirit of the Lord testifying to her that she is doing what's right, and she can know our message is true for herself. We love her.
We shared a message about Jesus Christ's divine mission in saving us from physical death and spiritual death with Mary!
I feel comfortable enough to say this this week. Usually when I have discussions with friends from home I don't mention them in my emails because I want to respect their privacy in case they are uncomfortable with people knowing about that, but this friend has expressed many times how badly she wants to be baptized! I have the amazing privilege of being my high school friend's missionary, Raquel! We read 2 Nephi 31 and talked about the way we were commanded to follow Jesus Christ, His gospel. She is so excited to be a part of the Church.
For my final thought, I wanted to share a bit about faith in Jesus Christ. I must admit I got a little angry with one of my friends this week. I was talking about how by coming unto Christ, He was able to change me into an entirely new person. He said that I have to give myself some credit, because I made the effort to come to Him. I probably shouldn't have gotten as heated as I did, but it did kind of turn into the beginning of an argument. I told him if I started thinking that way I would be letting go of the humility that got me to Jesus Christ in the first place, and would thus be turning away from Him. Everyone, you must remember that this is true. It is true that to accept Jesus Christ we have to go to Him, but we must remember that nay change made in us is truly done by Him. As hard as I as a person try, I will never be able to be perfect, but Jesus Christ takes my mere mortal efforts and makes them something magnificent. Never forget this. We strike the match, but Jesus Christ lights the fire. We plant the seed, but Jesus Christ grows the forest. We pick up the pen, but Jesus Christ writes the book. We allow the Savior to perform miracles for us, but we must remember that we are by no means the ones performing the miracles.
Thanks and much love!
--Sister Day

Adventures in the CLAM: WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU (June 1, 2020-June 7, 2020)

Hey everyone!
What's on my mind while reviewing this lesson today is how grateful I am for companions. For those of you that don't know, missionaries teach in pairs (or occasionally groups of three). Some people call them our partners but that is not the right word for it. A mission companion isn't just like a business partner where we work and teach together and that's it. We are never not with our companions. We live together, exercise together, eat together, counsel together, play together, cry together, laugh together. We are not allowed to sleep in separate rooms. We are only on specific occasions able to leave each other's sight. It is the most intimate relationship you can have with a person--except for a marriage, but all of us missionaries frequently say that we feel married to our companions.
A lot of my companions were very similar to me, and a lot of them were very different. I am so grateful for all of them. There were countless moments on my mission that in the moment and looking back I just knew I wouldn't have been able to do certain things without them. I wouldn't have learned a valuable lesson. I wouldn't have thought of what we needed to do to increase our spiritual capacity or help our friend. I wouldn't have felt as loved or supported through the difficult times. So many of my companions I wouldn't have ever been friends with if we hadn't been companions, just because we are so different and do such different things that I would have never talked to them. How grateful I am that God put the expected and the unexpected people in my life that He did. Not having a companion wasn't that hard to adjust to, but it is still something I miss the most. That's why I'm grateful that I have a roommate, because she is pretty much just like a companion to me. I thank God for companionship. We could've lived life all alone, but He intended for us to be with each other and help each other. He intended for us to act the way we actually are deep down: brothers and sisters.
So I guess if you're living in some state of emotional isolation right now, don't. I am here for you. Many others are here for you too. Even if it takes trial and error, you will not regret it.
Also, for my invitation to read "The Living Christ" at the bottom of this letter (spoiler alert I guess), drop in the comments what you enjoyed about it. I would love to know!
Enjoy!

 

Hello one and all!
(Not actually going to really talk about it here, but the title of this email is because Sister Nault and I said that approximately five hundred times this week for various reasons, including Hilario dropping Elder Jones and Elder Judd, so there's that.)
LA LOVE:
One day in personal study while studying "The Living Christ", Sister Nault felt inspired that we needed to make a Jesus wall in our apartment, of pictures of the Savior and all the events described in the testimonial document. She spent most of Saturday putting it together and it is so beautiful! I spend a lot of time just sitting and staring at it. It's crazy what a difference just pictures of the Savior can make.
EVENTS OF THE WEEK:
We spent p-day inside because this week the missionaries of the California Los Angeles Mission have had a 12:30 PM curfew.
What a great district council we had this week. We spent a ton of time just talking with our sister training leader, Sister Shay, because this was her last week in the mission. We sure have a good bunch of elders and sisters here.
We had our first Makeup with the Sisters class! I taught an online makeup class for the girls and women of South Bay. This is a great opportunity for people to meet missionaries in a casual and comfortable way, and to hang out with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We all had a great time! I am eager for the next one.
We had a great mission prep class, yet again with Bree and Rohan. We learned about how to resolve concerns and I can't even begin to tell you how amazing these youngsters are at roleplaying scenarios that have really happened to missionaries. The Lord is preparing a great army for coming days.
When we woke up at 6:30 AM on Sundays, Sister Nault got up to turn off her alarm and immediately said "WE ALREADY HAVE TRANSFER PACKET." I was like "WHAT" of course. Apparently the assistants had sent out the packet at 4:55 AM Poor elders. Well, as I suspected, nothing changed for Sister Nault and I. We are staying together and still covering the three wards. However, we may or may not know about midcycles happening in coming days. So stay tuned.
An hour and a half after we got our transfer packet the mission had another update over video call. This one was wild. Many restrictions were lifted, and I hesitate to share any of the changes here all at once, but doors are opening here. I will not get too into it at the moment.
There was a great mission fireside by an artist who found success in painting our Savior! Featuring my awesome zone leaders performing a musical number at the beginning of the fireside.
FRIENDS:
We did an awesome Come, Follow Me study with John this week that had us all pondering the many tender mercies we have seen from the Savior when He showed us His grace.
We had some super intense and amazing talks with Craig B. this week. It was mainly about how the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth, the role that the priesthood has in that, why the question is always whether or not the Book of Mormon is true. It got him really pondering. He hasn't felt for a long time that he needed to pray about answers to big questions, but as we were talking, he said, "Now THAT is something to pray about." He is really learning more about the Restoration of the gospel.
Our poor Mary was having a hard week this week. We talked about how we can find comfort and how much God loves and cares for each of His children. It helped her feel better.
This week with Craig T. was wild. At first (over the course of a wild week my friends) we started by talking about how God loves His children so much and only commands them to do stuff that will make them happier, so what is holding him back? We committed--all of us--to make a list of things that we are having difficulty letting go of and honestly it was really good. We called Craig to repentance and taught him the process of how to do so, testifying of all the ways repentance has helped us. Craig voiced how the problem is that he doesn't want to change, so we told him to pray for that desire, and for a day that he wants to be changed by. We talked a ton about the need for repentance in short. We also had a great Sabbath worship experience with the Anvaripour family about how to gain a testimony, which he definitely really needed.
We met with Scott and Heather! Scott started dating Heather a short time ago and Heather is a member of our church that has recently started returning to activity. Scott has become really interested in Heather's religion! We spent our first lesson getting to know them and talking about the nature of God.
We talked to our dear Sophia about the purpose of life this week. We talked about coming closer to God and helping others come closer to him too. It is not easy for her when she feels like she is walking the covenant path alone, but we talked about how we can stay close to God even with challenges like that.
We taught the Plan of Salvation to Cathryn this week. She is so amazing and she loved how the plan all revolves around Heavenly Father's love. I have seen such an amazing change in Cathryn. She is so prepared for baptism.
We had a great lesson with our new friend Ofelia about how the atoning grace of Jesus Christ is sufficient for all of us! She has a lot of faith and it is so amazing.
We had a really great lesson with Gisele this week about the purpose of life: to be happy! She is definitely wanting to make that more a part of her life.
WE had a lesson with Stephanie, Scott, and Annie! Scott joined the Church two years ago, and his wife Stephanie is not yet decided but loves meeting with missionaries. Annie is their daughter. We love them! We taught about how the Atonement of Jesus Christ cleanses and changes us.
We had the loveliest lesson with Beverly this week. We shared John 3:16-17 and she sang us the most beautiful song and bore testimony of the Savior. It really made my night.
Diana had a pretty hard week this week but we talked a lot about how we can find strength in the Savior. We sure love her.
We had a great conversation with Andre this week about journeys with God and about genuine love. I love Andre so much.
Well my friends, this week we took the sacrament as a zone again, which it looks like we will be doing every week from now on. This week I had done a lot of contemplating about what was making me unhappy and what was making it difficult for me to let go of that. So in other words, I partook of the sacrament entirely appropriately this week. I had been filled with pain. I had been carrying around a burden. And I had been contemplating what could be done. During this process, I tried to rely on God, which I am not always very good at doing. The preparation I did in the week made my sacrament experience incredible. I wept as I sat in a room with seven other missionaries and partook of the emblems of Christ's body and blood, looking at pictures of the Savior and what He did for me, and how He loves each and every person with such a perfect love that He gave us all the ability to heal, to move forward, to forgive and be forgiven. It was almost unbelievable how joyful  and light and peaceful I felt after that experience. What a joy to relearn and partake in the healing power and grace of Christ.
For my invitation this week, I desire you all to read the previously mentioned document, "The Living Christ". It was published by His Apostles in 2000 and testifies of the reality of Jesus, who He is, and what He has done for every person--ever. And when you read this, consider this: what do I need to let go of? What is holding me back from happiness? How can my life improve, and what do I need to do to make that happen? The older I get the more I realize change is not bad; it is in fact the purpose of life. There is no stopping point. Why would you, why would anyone, want to hold yourself back from being as happy as you could possibly be? This is what we choose when we choose to not repent. To repent is to make a positive change in which we rely on the Redeemer of our souls. There is so much happiness waiting for each and every one of us. The choice is ours.
Thanks and much love!
--Sister Day

Adventures in the CLAM: Happy Seven Years! (May 25, 2020-May 31, 2020)

 

Hello one and all!
LA LOVE:
I cannot even begin to express to you how unbelievably close I am to this zone. This is the smallest zone I've ever been in; there's only eight of us, so naturally we have the most intimate relationship. We can almost never see each other in person, but we have faced one of the most iconic moments in missionary history, at times being the only support for each other that we have, and let me tell you, you can't make it out of something like that without becoming best friends. I have way too many great mems with these beautiful people. I adore the Palos Verdes zone.
In June, the California Los Angeles Mission is receiving over fifty missionaries and we are unbelievably excited! To help them prepare for online teaching, they have had missionaries contacting us and teaching lessons with us two to three times a week. We were contacted by our dear new friend Sister Torkornoo and she is amazing! she has been out for four months and is being reassigned from a mission in the Philippines. We love having her! She has taught two lessons with us so far and will likely teach many more with us until she reports to the mission in the middle of June.
The prophet Joseph Smith frequently noted how exhausted he was after having incredible spiritual experiences. This week Sister Nault and I discussed how absolutely true that is. The depleted feeling we have after every lesson is wild. The difference is that Joseph kept having legendary top-notch visions, so he got used to them. Us missionaries' spiritual experiences aren't so grand, and in fact, they only keep getting better. So we never get used to it; we just keep being tired.
EVENTS OF THE WEEK:
On p-day we had the privilege of cleaning an uninhabited apartment in preparation for the new missionaries to come! We also hosted the sisters in the area in a dinner party. It was so fun to get to hang out with all my girls and of course to get to cook for them!
My blog turned seven years old! It would be entirely wrong if I didn't mention it. It's an Adventure! is a shining gem in my life and I am so happy that it has been a part of me for so long. This past year of blog life, while the blog has been so entirely inactive during its whole seventh year, has surely been the most adventurous. From singing at a gala for the consulates of the world to doing missionary work in the midst of a pandemic plus all the countless adventures in between, this has been a wonderful year. And let me tell you, this mission has given me greater vision for my beautiful blog than ever before. My mission pals know the blog by name and can (almost) spell it out the way I do, haha! It's a topic of frequent conversation among the CLAM missionaries. Just this week while we were working on the fireside (more on that in a bit) with Elder Jones and Elder Judd we were talking about my blog and how I spend a good portion of my time thinking about how my mission friends can participate in my blog. Creating It's an Adventure! has been such a joy for me. Here's to the next year!
Another week, another district council. Sister Shay and Sister Chou gave an awesome training about asking for referrals by putting on a beautiful dramatic production of 1 Nephi 8, better known as the tree of life story. never forget.
The missionaries of the Palos Verdes stake had teh amazing privilege of hosting a fireside, Finding Faith in Christ: Inspirational Music! The theme of this fireside, hosted by my dear zone leaders Elder Jones and Elder Judd who worked with me and my companions to compile the fireside together, was that in the midst of all the chaos in life, we need to center on Jesus Christ, and a great way to do that is through inspirational music! It was the most beautiful night. Everyone was hanging out and supporting each other during all the performances, and I had the privilege to sing "If We Love Him" as part of the program. It was an amazing time and everybody loved it.
Elder Pearson (of the Seventy) and Sister Pearson held a mission tour conference with us! Elder Cook of the Twelve Apostles was supposed to come too, but he ended up having an unexpected meeting so he said he would reschedule a time to visit us later. We learned a ton. It made me value even more how lucky I am to be a missionary right now. We talked bout how to set effective goals, plus we talked a ton about the great opportunities we have to study our lessons and the doctrine contained in them. We are now all working on memorizing fifty to one hundred scriptures! I am super excited about it. I love learning more about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We had the great blessing of having a small sacrament meeting together as a zone. Not only did we get to participate in such a sacred ordinance, but it was the first time in a long time that we had met together as a whole zone in the same building. It was so great to see all my friends and worship together. I love and adore those elders and sisters, and I love and adore the Savior that we serve together.
The Sunday fireside this week was awesome! We learned about how to stay positive during this crazy time in history. Also, if you were watching, you may or may not have seen one of your favorite SoCal missionaries in the introduction.
FRIENDS:
Cathryn is doing great. We talked a lot about how the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ came to be, and especially what role the priesthood plays and how it benefits all people. We also talked about the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end and how we can be guided on our spiritual journey.
To build on what we did with him last week, repentance was a major theme with Craig T. this week. He had watched a video about Alma the younger's conversion to the Lord and said he thinks he's a lot like him. We said that the truth is we are all a little like him: we all need to repent, and when we do, God will forgive us, no matter how much we've done wrong. We also talked about how the Savior atoned for us so we can overcome all the bad things in life. We also talked a lot about how sinning with the intent to repent after is not actually repentance. We had a great Sabbath worship experience with him and Aaron's family too. Craig is feeling a major need to repent right now. He is progressing more and more all the time.
We talked about baptism with Diana and the promises that are made between us and God when we make that ordinance. We asked if that was something Diana wanted, and she said she never feels worthy enough. For the next lesson we had Sister Torkornoo join us. We explained how the grace of Jesus Christ is sufficient for all of us, and even when others will try to condemn us for our past mistakes, Christ never will. He always sees who we truly are and our efforts to change. We also had a great Sabbath worship experience with her and Ariana about how we can find peace in Christ.
We had a great lesson with our dear friend Khiara. Sophia couldn't come to this one, but we talked to Khiara and she opened up a lot. She said she has been praying a lot lately because she recently had a friend die. We decided to teach her about the Plan of Salvation. She said it was really comforting, she liked knowing her purpose on earth, and it eased her anxieties about death too. Khiara is amazing and she is really coming unto Christ.
This week we shared Psalm 46:10 with Beverly and talked about how when we are still we can come to understand Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us better.
Sister Torkornoo joined us for our lesson with Ariana this week. We talked about enduring to the end! We talked about how the Holy Ghost is a guide in our endurance and how attending the temple is a major part of that!
We had a great discussion with Tomm about how the Holy Ghost comforts and guides us!
We had a great discussion with Craig B. this week. He believes that we have a living prophet today, and he believes in teh incredible story of Joseph Smith. He did say that it takes a lot of faith to 100% believe that. We invited him to pray to know of the truth of God for himself.
We had a fun lesson with the W. family about how we prosper when we serve!
We had the most amazing lesson with Corey this week. We talked about why bad things happen to good people and read an example from the Book of Mormon. /Apparently Corey had no idea what the Book of Mormon is! He thought it was so cool that it was another testament of Jesus Christ! He is really excited to learn more about it.
We talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ with Gisele. She has been through a lot in her life, and she told us that one day she felt God tell her in her heart how she didn't need to go through the heartbreak she was suffering because His love is so much greater. It was such a powerful testament.
We talked about the many blessings we can get from church, prayer, and the scriptures with John and Nataly this week!
I am exhausted and worn, my friends, but I know Jesus is the Christ, and He can fill us up and perfect our weaknesses. As He says in one testament, Matthew 11:28-30:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
And as He says in another, Ether 12:27:
"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."
Thanks and much love!
--Sister Day

Adventures in the CLAM: Teaching Repentance and Baptizing Converts (May 18, 2020-May 24, 2020)

Hi everyone!
As I reviewed all of these great spiritual messages from the week described, I was smiling from ear to ear. As well as when I was inserting all of the links to the readings referenced. It is so cool that people are having spiritual experiences like these, and it is SO COOL that Jesus is so easy to access. I type a few simple words into a search engine and His word is right before my eyes. It is so easy to come unto Christ. That has never been more true than it is today, but Christ has always been reaching out to all people and wanting them to let Him into their lives. I've done it, and I can say it is the happiest decision, and I've seen many people do the same and become entirely better for it.
This was also an awesome reminder that the doctrine of Christ is the best and super worth studying! There is nothing better to learn about if you want to come unto Christ because it is literally the step-by-step guide of how to do it. I'm definitely going to recommit to studying about the doctrine of Christ.
I also want to note that I was not expecting my invitation to read the Restoration proclamation this week. It really took me by surprise. I couldn't figure out a reason for it, and by the looks of my letter I couldn't at the time I wrote it either. All I could think was that it must definitely be meant to be. So I don't know who you are, but I know someone out there--all of us, probably--needs to read this. When you do, I know that God will tell you something He wants you to know. It might be something that you feel, a thought that comes to your mind, or something else. But He will tell you something.
Thanks for coming and I hope you enjoy!

 

Hello one and all!
LA LOVE:
I won't reveal the big news just yet, but this week I recorded something with some friends, went to Temple Hill to record something else for the mission, and participated in a Zoom call with the Redondo 1st young women, all for THREE DIFFERENT big and spicy events we have coming up in coming days. Stay tuned, everyone. I am so excited.
I just participated in my first drive-by parades and they were the most ADORABLE THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME EVER.
EVENTS OF THE WEEK:
I had my first p-day with Sister Nault! Honestly not much happened but hey it's still noteworthy.
We had the most amazing zone conference this week. It was fantastic all around, and we talked about great finding methods, but the highlight was definitely at the end. President said that our purpose as missionaries is to teach repentance and baptize converts. This is true and I love it. President noted that we are very good at teaching repentance, or so it seems, because we teach a lot. However, this mission lacks in baptizing converts. President counseled with the Lord about how we can solve this problem. The clear impression that he got was that we needed to study the doctrine of the lessons more, particularly the doctrine of Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end). Us missionaries did not understand it enough and how all of those points in the doctrine of Christ connect; they are not at all separate occurrences. We needed to understand how the doctrine of Christ fits into God's plan for us, the Plan of Salvation or the Plan of Happiness. He challenged us to study from our lessons every day, and to dedicate ALL of our personal study time this week to studying the doctrine of Christ. I took up the challenge and I can say it worked. I have learned a lot, and the successes that Sister Nault and I have had this week are not coincidental. We have had many phone calls with our dear friends in the zone where we've talked about the things we've learned about the doctrine of Christ as we've studied this week, and it is incredible how much all of our testimonies have grown. I am so grateful for inspired mission leaders taht show us the will of the Lord for this mission.
We had a fantastic district council this week and we talked about how to ask for referrals! We have found a lot of success in that finding method as well.
We had a great weekly planning follow-up as a mission this week to discuss the new method of organizing weekly planning that President, Hermana, and the assistants made! Honestly it is fantastic and a great way to organize and plan for our friends. President said that the eighth chapter of Preach My Gospel ("How Do I Use My Time Wisely?") is being entirely rewritten, and the Church missionary department reached out to him and asked if they could look at and use the stuff he put together! So feature us in Preach My Gospel in a little bit probably! Wow, I'll never be more famous than I am as a missionary.
So Sister Nault is a really fantastic missionary so she is on the committee for teaching and finding online for the mission. On this committee the selected missionaries try ways to find and teach online and then report to President on how it went so we can help the mission with online missionary work. I'm not on this committee, but I still got invited to their meeting because my companion was there, so like hey, I get to try all the cool online stuff with all the pro missionaries!
We had a great mission prep class where we learned about patience and extending invitations to our friends! I love those mission prep kids. They are so amazing.
FRIENDS:
Well guys, we had another call with Craig T. this week. We got real honest with our man: Craig is really focused on his imperfections, the little details that distract him from what is needful, turning to Jesus Christ. We talked about how he needs to put more trust in the Lord, and he agreed to let us help him grow his faith. CRAIG IS BACK! We also talked a little bit about eternal families, and how through obeying God's laws and repentance we can be together with our families forever! He also had a great Sabbath worship experience with Aaron and his family. He is repenting so fast! Our man is back and better than ever.
We taught David, a guy we met in January! We talked about how God communicates through prophets and how we have one today!
Ariana was so happy to see Sister Nault because she was the missionary that baptized her! We read "Spiritual Capacity" by Michelle Craig and talked about how we can be receptive to the Spirit.
This week with Cathryn we talked about letting go of things we don't need and moving to God's will (so in short, repenting) in the context of "Remember Lot's Wife" by Jeffrey R. Holland. Repentance is a super liberating process so we thought of something that we wanted to let go of. Well everyone, during this whole time that we've been teaching Cathryn, as many of you know, we've been talking about when she wants to be baptized. One day Cathryn texted us and said she wants to be baptized on the twenty-second of June. We were so shocked and so happy! She knows that it's time and we love her. We called her a few minutes after and talked about what we would have to do to make that happen. Let's go!
We read John 14:18 with Mary this week and talked about the Holy Ghost as our Comforter. I also sang the song "The Holy Ghost" for her because I love the way that song describes the Holy Ghost's different roles in our lives and the ways we obtain this power.
We had several lessons with Hilario this week, but this time I didn't do it alone! My dear friends Elder Jones and Elder Judd joined us so they could teach Hilario in Spanish. I understand Spanish well enough that I could read scriptures with them and hop into the conversation in English on occasion haha. I love learning languages! It is so fun. And I love sharing lessons with other missionaries, because the more friends you get in there the better. Hilario had concerns about the Book of Mormon, so in our first lesson with him we explained how the Book of Mormon testifies of Jesus Christ and works like the Bible and right alongside it. We read the first fifteen verses of 3 Nephi 11 together the next time. Hilario LOVED it. He has accepted the Book of Mormon as the word of God.
We shared a message with a new referral named Louise! We got to know her beliefs and interest in religion, which reminded us of a scripture to share, Mosiah 3:5-8, in which we talked about the coming of the Messiah.
We talked about the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ with Diana this week: faith, repentance, and baptism. She had a great understanding of them all but had some questions about baptism. She had a great Sabbath worship experience with Ariana on Sunday where we learned more about repentance. It was so great. Diana is progressing so much and I am really happy for her.
We went in pretty deep about the Restoration with Monica this week. She seemed to understand it and is ready to learn more! She had a great Sabbath worship experience with the Nakamoto family about repentance.
We talked about building strong family relationships with John and Nataly this week by reading "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" with them! They are the best.
We had a great lesson about faith with Ken this week. "Faith, trust, believe" was his theme for the week so we read Matthew 17:14-20 together and talked a lot about believing that God can exercise power in our lives.
This week as we read the scriptures with Beverly, she said she saw Jesus as a friend and a shelter. Her testimony is so strong. We love her so much.
As you can see, this week was full of miracles and I didn't even have time to mention them all. People mean well and are worried about us when they say this must be such a hard time for missionaries, and I suppose it has been difficult sometimes, but for the most part it really hasn't. This has been the happiest time of my mission. So many amazing things are happening. We are learning so much about how to do our work. The miracles have not ceased and we are having a great time. I rejoice in being a missionary right now. I wouldn't have it any other way.
I also wanted to invite you all to read the recent proclamation made by the prophet and apostles earlier this year--"The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: A Bicentennial Proclamation to the World". I have a copy of this proclamation hanging on my wall, and I was looking at it this week and thinking about how I wanted to share it with all of you. The beautiful truths in this proclamation are precious treasures. I invite you all to read and ponder and even pray about this statement. If you do so with a sincere heart, I promise it will bring you great joy.
Thanks and much love!
--Sister Day

Adventures in the CLAM: "Farewell, Nauvoo" (May 11, 2020-May 17, 2020)

 

Hello one and all!
LA LOVE:
I guess this one is more of an "LV Love" as my dad would call it, but we were checking on some sweet old ladies in the ward and when I told her where I was from she mentioned that she was born in Las Vegas because her dad was working on the Hoover Dam at that time. She never really lived there past infancy but always felt a strong affinity to it. I told her my dad works in Boulder City and how much I love going to the dam and learning about the history and the celebrations they've had regarding the dam, and she was so happy to hear about all of it. We ended the call with me singing "Home Means Nevada" for her.
EVENTS OF THE WEEK:
On p-day us sisters had a nacho party and it was SUPER fun. We went all out. It was also kind of a goodbye party for Sister John so that was fun but also emo.
We had a great district council this week about teaching our friends for understanding! And at the end we all sang "God Be with You Till We Meet Again" for Sister John which was yet again super emo.
We went on exchanges! I got to go to the Torrance 1st/South Bay YSA area with Sister Chou. I love that girl. She is a sweetheart. You have never met a more caring person.
We had a mission training on how to do weekly planning! Our mission is now a lot more organized and uniform on how we plan for our friends. It was nice to get to apply it right after.
We had a sisters conference! This is a conference that happens twice a year, so this was my last sisters conference of the mission. It was amazing. We couldn't all be together, but we all met up for breakfast in our clusters so we were still unified as sisters and then watched the conference together. I had the privilege of singing a musical number, "You Can Make the Pathway Bright", accompanied by my dear friend Sister Wall! Our mission counselor Jennifer talked to us about managing our mental health, some sisters showed a presentation about our power as sister missionaries, Sister Galorath answered some questions we had asked earlier in the week in preparation for the conference, and Sister Cordon talked to us about the book she had had us read earlier in the week, Women of Purpose by Jean B. Bingham. It was an amazing conference. I love being a missionary, and I love being a sister missionary especially, and I love the amazing sisters I get to serve with.
That night Sister John and I got a call about information for what would be happening that weekend. Sister John would stay in the temple patron apartments on Sunday night, and I would get my new companion, Sister Nault!
President called us for an interview this week because Sister John will be leaving, so he got to say one final word to her before she left. And of course he told me that my new companion was a very capable missionary so she could learn a lot of information in a short amount of time.
We got a very spicy mission update that night as well. We talked about California's four-phase plan to reopen, and since phase two has just recently begun, a few restrictions have been lifted for us missionaries. We can now have any and ALL food delivered to us, and that includes going through drive-thrus. We can go to parks, trails, and beaches! We can do some service as some opportunities will be given to us to serve others! Best of all, we can now drop off materials like Book of Mormons and Bibles to people as long as we just leave it on their doorstep and don't interact with anyone! We are so happy! On a funnier note, President Cordon and Sister Cordon told the elders that they have a great opportunity to exercise their faith: they will have to have somebody in their cluster cut their hair! The elders were freaking out. President told us not to worry because our hair is beautiful so we don't have to do anything. Haha!
The next day Sister John and I had to do a bunch of errands before she left for Nauvoo. It was super weird because we were just doing normal people things on a Saturday morning. We picked up Chick-fil-a with our new rules before we went home. We felt like such civilians. It was crazy.
The Sunday firesides will now be alternating between Spanish and English every week, so last night we had our fireside in English! It was all about missionary work. The highlight of course was when President Cordon spoke at the end. He is the best. I never get tired of hearing the story of how his mother became converted to the Church of Jesus Christ.
Last but not least, we took Sister John to the mission office so she could leave the next morning for Nauvoo. It was pretty sad. I just love that girl. My new companion, Sister Nault, is so sweet and awesome! We got to introduce her to the zone in the congratulations call! Fun fact, not that I'm obsessed with this girl or anything, but Sister John was there too and we all sang "The Lord is My Light" for her because it is her favorite song. Super emo. She was given the last few minutes to say whatever she wanted so she told everyone in the zone her favorite memory with them and favorite thing about them. Wow I love her so much but I ma excited for her to be in Nauvoo.
FRIENDS:
Cathryn is so amazing. Our lesson with her and Sister Kakazu this week just blew me away. It was a spiritual highlight of the week all around. We talked a lot about how perfectionism honestly stops us from progressing a lot of the time, because then we never finish anything, but if we try our best and move forward we can accomplish a lot! We made spiritual goals together and it was so amazing.
We did a Bible study with our friend Joshua. He is so amazing! He has a lot of faith. We read about Daniel and how he prayed in faith. Joshua could relate because he prays every day and is very faithful to God. He is so awesome!
We read about the covenants we make at baptism with Kelene this week. She is such a faithful woman and a great example to everyone around her.
We read the first few verses of Isaiah 25 with Andre about the strength and relief the Lord can provide for us. He is so cool. He was talking a lot about covenants so I'm excited to get more into that later!
We read from Matthew 26 with Beverly this week and talked about the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us. She has a lot of faith and is starting to open up more every day. We simply love her.
I had a lesson with Hilario this week and we talked a lot about faith! He has a strong belief in God. I briefly introduced what the Book of Mormon is and he agreed for us to do a read of it with the Spanish elders sometime!
We had an awesome lesson where we read about Nephi obtaining the plates and how he was obedient! Gisele noted that it isn't always easy to be obedient but you do come out better in the end.
We taught our new friend Benjamin about the purpose of life! He is incredible. We talked a lot about service and preparing to meet God. He is so sweet. We made goals on how we can better accomplish our life purpose.
We had another Bible study with Jessie and Mari this week. They led this one and we talked about the word of God! I got to sing a classic song, "Search, Ponder, and Pray," for them and they LOVED it.
We read a talk by my fave, "Forget Me Not" by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, with Ariana this week. It was nice to get to bond over womanhood and being faithful daughters of God together.
This week we read in Mosiah 24 with Monica and talked about how God hears the prayer of our heart. She had a great Sabbath worship experience with the Nakamotos where we talked a lot about relying on the Lord. Monica has a strong testimony of that and of being patient and faithful. She is so sweet.
We taught Judi and Sophia this week about how baptism cleanses us, which was super fun because Sophia is preparing to be baptized in a few months!
We read from Mosiah 24 with Diana too about how God hears the prayers of our hearts and loves and understands us perfectly. She had a great Sabbath worship experience with Ariana where we talked about God's plan for us and the three kingdoms of glory. It was so incredible. Ariana used an awesome metaphor of baby sea turtles trying to get to the ocean and Diana understood it perfectly. We talked about how it took a lot of work and how the sea turtles naturally understood that they wanted to go to the ocean because it was their home. Similar to us, we naturally want to return home to our Father in Heaven, but it takes persistent work. And then when we make it, we will be so happy and see how all the hard work was worth it!
We had a great little discussion with Craig B. this week. We read from Mosiah 18:8-10 with him because he was talking a ton about the importance of serving others. He is so cool!
We had a great Come, Follow Me study with Marian this week. The most incredible part was that while we were teaching Sister John and I both felt the Spirit INCREDIBLY strongly and KNEW that Marian knows somebody that desperately needs to hear the gospel and is very ready for it. So stay tuned.
We had a Sabbath worship lesson with Sophia and Khiara this week. We talked about God as our loving Heavenly Father. Khiara said the coolest thing about how God never stops loving us but He gives us commandments because He wants us to be the best version of ourselves that we can be. So true! The ladies talked about their relationship with God over the years and the things they like that they've found in our Church.
We talked to Ken! He is so cool. He told us about his spiritual journey with God. His religious ideas are pretty much that we can all be united and equal in the eyes of God. Ken said he loves anyone that loves God. He is a super spiritual guy. We are excited to be teaching him.
This was probably the most tiring week of my mission--we did so much work, but working missionaries are happy missionaries. Never forget the words to the classic hymn:
"We are all enlisted till the conflict is o'er;
Happy are we! Happy are we!
Soldiers in the army, there's a bright crown in store;
We shall win and wear it by and by."
Thanks and much love!
--Sister Day

Adventures in the CLAM: "[Moms] Are the Glue That Hold Society Together" (May 4, 2020-May 10, 2020)

 

Hello one and all!
(The above title is paraphrased from a Phineas and Ferb song. The actual lyric uses the word "lies", but whenever I sing the song I replace it with the word "moms", just because it is so true.)
LA LOVE:
My district leader, Elder Platt, and I have started a new tradition during our follow-up calls. We have a poetry hour together where we share our poems with each other because we both like writing stuff. It's been a pretty good time so far and I took some time this week to gather up all the finished poems I have written on my mission so I can be prepared for the next poetry hour.
The Redondo 2nd ward put on a special Mothers Day virtual church service this week, and Sister John and I were asked to do a musical number! We sang "Love at Home" for the ward. We didn't get to see it, but a few people texted us after and said they enjoyed it, so it seems it was a success!
EVENTS OF THE WEEK:
I hit fourteen months! The mission is flying by. I'm shocked at how much time has passed and even more at how little time I have left. What shocks me even more is how much I've seen myself grow. When people get home from their missions they talk about how unshakeable their testimony is and how much undying love and commitment they have for missionary work, and to be fair I have always had those things, but not on the level people described, and I wondered if I would ever become the person I was supposed to be, because even well over halfway I still felt like I had so far to go. Now I feel like I am really getting there. Never give up, folks.
On p-day, now that we are allowed to hang out in our clusters, we had breakfast together as sisters! It was so fun just getting to spend time together! I sure love those ladies.
We had a wonderful zone conference this week! We are seeing even more great opportunities of how to find people to teach using technology. And guess what--missionary is not going to go back to the previous normal when this is all over. We are going to do a lot more combined online and live teaching than we did previously. This pandemic has been a huge blessing in that we have learned how to do missionary work in a new and more effective way. There is a lot more coming in the future. I can't wait to tell you all about it.
District council was wonderful. We learned how to love our friends more, and it was cool to gain some insights on that topic.
This week Sister John and I got a shocking and exciting phone call. Keep in mind that this was the same day that I found out that Southern University, my school, will be opening exactly one week after I get home--which means I will be going back to school after my mission, something I wasn't planning on. So while this news was exciting, I was definitely already in a lot of shock that morning because my immediate future post-mission now looked very different. so if that wasn't enough, then, just as we were starting weekly planning, Sister John got added to a group on Facebook Messenger by President Cordon, with him and all the Nauvoo sisters from our mission. We were freaking out. President started a call. Sister John was scared to answer but I was so excited. When she answered, President and Hermana greeted us. He said he had bad news. He said we were going to miss her, because we were losing her! She and the sisters from Nauvoo will be going back on the eighteenth of May. That was a lot sooner than we expected! So we were definitely in a ton of shock that day. Sister John wasn't sure how she felt. She loves Nauvoo, but of course she will miss LA. Sister John is a great missionary and I love her a lot, but I am happy for her. I've watched Sister John give presentations about Church history, and it is incredible. As President told her and the other sisters, she is needed there. We were definitely losing our minds out of shock that day though.
Sister John and I got invited to zone leadership council this week to help plan some Come and See events for the zone! We have been leading a lot of the planning with the help of the zone leaders and it's been super fun!
We had a great mission prep class this week! The turnout is increasing and we are having a super fun time. We talked a lot about charity and love, asking questions, and listening. We made some super tricky roleplays for the class, but the kids did great! A truly marvelous generation of young missionaries is being raised up. I am so impressed by them.
What a wonderful Mothers day we had! Wow I could go on forever about how much I love women and how much I love moms and how much I love Mothers Day, but I'm really tired and the words definitely would not come to me even if I tried. I got to talk to my mom which was of course awesome. And we had the great opportunity to call some of our favorite local moms in the ward and sing "Love at Home" for them, the essence of motherhood. On our last friend, Shari, it felt a little different while we were singing it. She was crying and when we were done, she told us that was her grandmother's favorite song. She said as we sang in her mind she could clearly hear her grandmother's voice. It was the most beautiful thing. We knew she was singing with us and telling Shari she loved her.
For the virtual fireside this week, we had a special Mothers Day program! We watched "Behold Thy Mother" by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (give that one a read) and a few moms from the CLAM were featured in a special presentation!
FRIENDS:
We had a Bible study with Andre! Let me tell ya Andre has a lot of faith. He has always turned to the Lord and his desires to do what is right is so impressive.
We taught the Ten Commandments hand signs to the W. family! They are such a fun bunch!
We talked about the Lord sustaining us during trials with Kelene! She is just so sweet! She has so much faith in the Lord.
We had a lesson about teaching and learning in the Church with Craig T. this week, and Bishop Anderson got to come! The next day, however, we got terrible news. Poor Craig said he couldn't do this anymore. We gave him a call and talked to him about it, but he is still bent on not being baptized. We honestly know that deep in his heart he knows that he should be baptized, but he just needs to accept it. So please pray for our friend that he may accept his salvation.
Our lesson with Cathryn was SO amazing this week. She is feeling pretty good about being baptized sometime soon. We talked a lot in this lesson about opposition and how we can take our challenges and turn them into strengths.
We talked bout faith in Jesus Christ and His Atoning sacrifice with Gisele. She has a lot of faith in Him and has relied on God when facing challenges.
Had a good Come, Follow Me study with John!
We introduced The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ to Mary this week, and we are going to send her one! We also talked a lot about what Jesus did while He was on earth. She loves how He healed and helped people.
Sister John and I led the lesson with Jessie and Mari this week. We talked about prophets! They loved it so much! The Spirit was definitely there, we are all learning a lot together, and they are becoming very dear friends of mine. I love them.
We had a great talk with Ariana about baptism this week! She told us the story of how she was baptized and her faith and receptiveness to the Spirit is really amazing.
We taught Judi and Sophia about the Ten Commandments hand signs this week! Ethan joined us later by saying the closing prayer.
We shared the story of the woman with the issue of blood with Beverly this week. She said that when we call and tell her stories from the Bible, it really keeps her going.
We did a Come, Follow Me study with Marian about standing up for what is right even when we stand alone!
Diana is so sweet and amazing. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation this week. She was so interested and had a lot of great questions! She had never heard of the three kingdoms of glory before so she was pretty fascinated by that. The next day she had a Sabbath worship experience with Ariana where Ariana told her her conversion story!
We taught the K. family, yep, you guessed it, the Ten Commandments hand signs. (It was the Come, Follow Me theme for this week.)
We were planning on doing a Bible study with our new friend Chris, but he only had the Book of Mormon with him so we did that instead! We read about Jesus Christ in Mosiah 14 (also a must-read--gotta love those Isaiah quotations). Chris has shown a lot of faith in the Lord throughout the years.
Sophia is amazing! We did a Come, Follow Me study with her. I am so impressed by how much she knows. She almost had me crying in our lesson because my purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ, so I have absolutely no idea what to do for her--she is already standing right next to Him. I'll invite her to stay next to Him I guess. We told her the story of Abinadi, who is a great example for us missionaries!
We had a great Sabbath worship experience with Monica and the Nakamoto family about the influence of mothers. It was really special, especially since this was Monica's first Mothers Day without her mother. We talked about the joy of seeing our loved ones again.
I love you all, but Christ loves you more. A common theme that i have talked about many times lately is that grace is not the absence of work and it is not earning our way to heaven; it is trying our best to show God that we WANT to be good, but no matter how good we are, we can never obtain perfection. That's okay, though--when we put our best foot forward, Christ fills us up. We don't need to be perfect, we just need to show that we care. Christ does it all for us.
Thanks and much love!
--Sister Day