I feel inspired to change the layout of my post just for today. I've been reading through my emails and am noticing a lot of amazing things. I am reminded of the blessings around us everyday.
Here's some of what I read:
"How have you been?! I meant to write you a while ago and tell you our dear Dan was baptized by President Brown and was confirmed the next day by Brother Polleys!"
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"Adam's mom Simone is in remission!!!! She was so excited she put on a wig and went out on the town with one of her girlfriends. It was good to see her happy, I hadn't seen her that excited and in awhile."
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"I decided this semester coming back to provo it would be wisest to take a heavy load of school to knock out the rest of my pre reqs for the business school. I will be going to BYU study abroad in Jerusalem for the winter semester."
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"It’s a beautiful Indian summer day here in Denver. There is such great beauty in autumn! I love it. I don’t know why, but it is my favorite season. Hope you are enjoying your autumn, too."
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"He then came back around and introduced himself to me. I had seen him and wondered why he seemed to familiar. I really appreciated his being so friendly because it is still very new to me here, and I feel homesick for my stake and friends sometimes."
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"The man at Toyota service asked me how my was going. I asked him to see if he could make it get better! I always expect them to bring out some loose-screw report or dirty-filter report. This time was AMAZING. He came out with the paperwork and bill. It was NC--no kidding. A normally $105.00 service was No Charge."
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"All and all a wonderful life that I wouldn't change for anything and then the icing on the cake when I met my beautiful wife and realized how much I can adore someone."
Mostly I just want to tell you today that I am so completely confident
that God knows you.
He is aware of you, and of all your challenges and tasks and burdens and joys and victories; the good the bad and the ugly. And I promise you that He will never leave you.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
ROMANS 8:35, 37-39
You are more than a conqueror. Of all the challenges you have been given, take today and decide that you will be a conqueror. Decide that you are strong enough. Decide that you are good enough. Decide that you are worth it. Take all of your strengths and use them, and then go to God in prayer and aks him to help you fill in the gaps. It doesn't matter how much or little you have, it's that you take all you do have and turn to him. When you go to bed try to recognize the miracles that followed you throughout the day. And when you wake up tomorrow morning, even stronger and better than you are today, have the same determination. No thing but our own thoughts and actions, and no one but ourselves can take us away from the love of God.
"Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."
D&C 6:36
I'm well past my halfway mark now, and I'll be home next summer. My friend Matt just asked when my return date was and he kept saying, "I know you don't want to think about it". I don't know if I'm just playing dumb right now but I'm not sad about being halfway through. I'm stoked! Man I'm excited to get back to work and school and family and friends. I definitely am excited to get married and have kids. Being a member missionary is going to be so incredibly fun (man I'm going to be SO good at it) and honestly I'm looking forward to being an old lady hobling around talking nonsence. I'm just as excited to come home as I am to be here today. After a long life of thinking about tomorrow as if it were yesterday, I'm finally learning how to not miss TODAY. Today is so great. It snowed this morning! We went to see Carmen for a teaching appointment but when we got there her father had fallen and hit his head. He was doing much better and we were able to make sure she was doing okay, too. We have to get our tires-rotated and that seems about as cool as an amusement park! Later we're going to see Hna Echeveria, the Relief Society President, to talk about some awesome activities coming up. We have dinner tonight with one of my favorite sisters, Hna. Gonzalez. She always cooks great Mexican food and is always teaching me new things, like how to roll a tortilla like a Mexican and how it's ordinary people that do extraordinary things. And to finish the night we are going to see a really neat family, the Alzates, who asked us awhile ago to help them get better at studying the scriptures as a family. They have big goals and are so happy to get to work at them and achieve them. If we have any luck we'll be able to track down my dear friend Jessica, but she's been hard to get ahold of lately. And throughout the day we'll keep making calls, talking to everyone we can, doing all that we can, to bring people closer to Christ. Oh, and I'm probably coming home sometime next July.
I love you all so much. Every single one of you.
Have a great week!
Thanks! Love you.
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