Christmas symbol of an embrace

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Exchange miracles, Billy and Phil, and Christmas fun!

This week was cold!! For some reason Florida decided it was okay to give us Utah weather for a week. It's been pretty chilly, but on the bright side we had snow for Christmas! Well, it may have been sleet. The debate is hot here haha. I'm choosing to believe it was snow. 

This week started off with an exchange! Me and Sister Clough stayed here in the Merritt Island area and we saw tons of miracles (and a few dolphins)! We met a lot of people at just the right time to have a conversation with them that we could tell God wanted them to have. And later that night when me and Sister Rubio were back together again, we met some Hispanics that are interested in coming to church with us!! We finished off the day with dinner at ihop with Veronica, our rocket scientist friend. 

Later on in the week, we had our mission Christmas zone conference. Half the mission was there at a time! There were lots of beautiful talks and musical numbers, and we did a service project for the last couple of hours! It was really good to see everyone. It's weird serving si far from Orlando, because you don't see other missionaries as much. I'm definitely still grateful to be on the Island though!

That night, we went to the Jaussi's for dinner with our friend Phil. Brother Jaussi is originally from Montpelier Idaho, and moved to Logan later in his life! That's kind of a crazy connection we have haha. Dinner was delicious and Phil and brother Jaussi became good friends! We're really excited about Phil.  Please pray for him! We want him to start applying the things we are teaching him and feel their truthfulness!

Friday was exciting too! In the morning we had a workshop with the MTC for Sister Rubio's training, and it was about asking good questions and listening. We went to our friend Billy's house later that day and tried really hard to apply what we learned. Asking him good questions really helped him open up and come out of his shell. We were able to discover some of his needs that we had previously been unaware of, and begin to address them. We had a good lesson and left feeling pretty happy.  About an hour later, he called us. He said we had asked him a few questions that he wasn't able to answer at the moment, and he had been pondering about them and was then able to answer them.  We talked a little while about his answers and then he brought up baptism. We answered a couple of questions he had, and he responded by saying, " well, I guess we better get this thing done." We helped him understand what would be required of him if he wanted to be baptized, and he accepted the date of January 14th! Please keep him in your prayers, he needs help overcoming some of the trials he's struggling with right now. We love Billy!

Christmas eve was fun. We went to the Merritt Island Mall, which was bigger than I thought it would be because Merritt Island is so tiny. We passed out a lot of Light the World pass along cards, and made quite a few friends!! We met some more Spanish speakers there, too, which made me pretty happy:) After that we went to dinner with the Schroders and the Jaussis. I love both of those families so much! The food was super yummy and the company was great. 

Then it was Christmas! We started off by watching the Church's Christmas videos in bed because it was FREEZING. Then we headed off to Church, and that's when the snow started coming down. Church was wonderful! From there, we came home, made some yummy soup, and I opened the presents my parents sent me. Then we met up with our district to make gingerbread houses, and we finished up the night with the Shumway family at dinner. It was a busy day! Christmas on the mission is definitely odd haha. It doesn't really feel like Christmas per se, but whatever it was it was fun!

Small Plates 

The symbol of an embrace

These last few weeks, I've been studying a lot about the Atonement: what it is, what it does, and what it represents. As the Christmas season has come and gone, I've done a lot of pondering about why we celebrate.

Of course, Christmas is to celebrate Christ's birth. But beyond that, it is to celebrate His life and His mission. If He hadn't said what He said, or did what He did, there wouldn't be much of a reason to celebrate Him. 

But that's just the thing. He did what He said He would do. 

He lived. He loved. He taught. He healed. He suffered for our sins. He died. And He rose again. 

One thing I love about the Christmas season is all of the symbolism. There's a lot going on at Christmas time, but if we take a step back, we can see what the scriptures call "types and shadows" of Christ, or symbols of Him.

Christmas trees are evergreen, meaning they live all year. We are made alive in Christ, and because of Him, we can live forever in the presence of our Heavenly Father. 

Snow is white and pure, just as we can be through His Atonement. 

He is the Light and the Life of the world, who's light cannot be hid, just like all of the Christmas lights that line our homes and envelop our trees. 

Even Santa Claus dresses a bit like Him. Have you ever noticed that? The famous gift deliverer dresses in red and white, the colors we so often see depicted in paintings of the Giver of all good gifts. 

There's a big difference between Santa and Jesus Christ, though. Because Santa is only the deliverer of gifts. Christ is the deliverer and the gift itself. No wrapped present under the tree compares to the matchless gift our Heavenly Father gave us: that of His Only Begotten Son. 

I could go on and on about the dozens of different symbols that surround us this season. But, today I felt impressed to share a little insight, a new symbol, I discovered in some of my studies this week. 

The symbol is that of an embrace. 

We see it everywhere in the scriptures. "I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love," "Jesus [stands] with open arms to receive you," and so forth. 

This week I learned from a book I've been reading that, "the prime reason the Savior personally acts as the gatekeeper of the Celestial Kingdom is not to exclude people, but to personally welcome and embrace those who have made it back home."

Can you picture that? He's waiting there. For you. Anxious to give you a big hug and say "welcome home."

The Christmas season tends to be a time for a lot of forgiving and forgetting, returning and rejoicing. It's a time where we see people we haven't in years, or maybe we just spend a little extra time with our friends next door. 

Whatever the dynamic of your Christmas celebration, it's likely to bring with it a hug or two. 

I hope from this day forward you remember the beautiful symbol that is an embrace. I hope that when you see someone and greet them with a hug, you remember that your Savior has a hug waiting for you. And that He has a hug waiting for everyone else too. We are all His, and He is ours. Maybe, just maybe, He sends us people to give us that embrace He is ever so anxious to give us, until it is finally His turn. And maybe that means He is sending you to give that embrace to someone else. 

Because a hug communicates so much more than words can, sometimes. A hug is an, "I'm here, it's going to be okay" in times of trouble. Or a, "welcome home," after a long departure. A "I forgive you," after who knows how long of withholding that forgiveness. More than anything, I suppose it's just an "I love you," in a variety of ways. 

I hope that this holiday season, and every one after, is full of hugs and full of reminders of how much your Savior loves you, because he surely does love you. 

The Spirit is the same

 Large Plates 

Another good week!! It went by incredibly fast. 

It's been another week in paradise!! Island life is so good, you guys. 

We've still been making a lot of visits, and it's going well! We're getting to know a lot of members and we're getting to know our area better, too. Speaking of members: we have been fed at least once a day by members! In my other areas we definitely got fed, but not quite like this. Our fridge is completely full of leftovers haha. 

We've also had lots of good lessons! We met with our friend Leo this week and it was great! He's about to turn 90 but he still loves learning and really likes the Book of Mormon. He said he already thinks it's true! We brought Sister Sweetwood with us, and her and Leo just hit it off! Leo was in the Air Force, and so was Sister Sweetwood's father-in-law. We're pretty excited about Leo!

We also met a couple of times with Phil. He has a really cool story and it has been fun to watch him learn. He's really busy with work but he always makes time to learn more!

We've still never met Billy in person, but we do a lot of phone calls with him! He's struggling with a lot of things right now, but he's been reading the Book of Mormon!! Last we heard, he's finished 1 Nephi! We're just praying that he can turn to God for help with his trials and overcome them. 

One of the highlights of the week has been nature!! We've been trying to get out of the apartment as soon as possible every day, which means we do a lot of our studies at parks! We've found a few we LOVE. Obviously there are a lot of parks on the waterfront, because it's an Island haha. We've found lots of beautiful parks, which come with lots of great views, and often a few crazy animals. We've had squirrels take our go-go squeeze, seen some wacky birds, and watched a couple of pods swim by our new favorite personal study spot. I won't lie to you, this week has definitely strengthened my desire to move out here. Merritt Island is so quaint and strange and beautiful!

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The Spirit is the same

When I moved to Merritt Island, I picked up my English book of Mormon for pretty much the first time on my whole mission. For the last year or so, I have loved studying for the Spanish Book of Mormon. After all, it is the language of heaven, as they say. 

The reason I enjoy studying the scriptures in Spanish is because I feel like it allows me to see God's word through a new lense. However, when I moved out here I saw it as God giving me the opportunity to see the scriptures with new eyes, again. It was a good opportunity, too. Something that happens a lot for language missionaries, whether they serve in the States or not, is they forget how to feel the Spirit in their own language. It's happened to friends of mine, and I've been trying pretty actively to not let that happen to me. 

So, on day 1 of being in this area, I dusted off my Book of Mormon with a determination to search its pages, as I had been doing in Spanish for so long. 

It's been like reading the Book of Mormon in a new language all over again! By reading so much in Spanish, I had developed a tendency to pay closer attention to each individual word and what it teaches me, and that tendency has carried on as I've switched back to English! 

That's what happened as I read this verse in the beginning of 2 Nephi 2 the other day:

"Thou hast beheld in thy youth his glory; wherefore thou art blessed even as they unto whom he shall minister in the flesh; for the spirit is the same, yesterday, today, and forever."

I had never really paid much attention to this verse. I saw it more as Lehi saying "Jacob, you're a good kid, you believe in Christ,'' before jumping into some eye-opening doctrine about the Plan of Salvation in the following verses. 

But no, this verse actually teaches us a lot. Not only did Jacob believe in Christ, he beheld His glory. What does that mean? It means he had a sure testimony of Him and His existence. 

But Lehi goes on to say, "thou art blessed even as they unto whom he shall minister in the flesh." Jacob, who was born almost 600 years before Christ, beheld His glory even as those unto whom he would minister in the flesh. How is that so?

"For the Spirit is the same, yesterday, today, and forever."

The Spirit who testified unto Jacob of his Redeemer is the same Spirit that caused shepherds to fall down and adore a baby in a manger. He's the same Spirit who caused Christ's disciples to wonder aloud, "what manner of man is this!" That Spirit is the very Spirit who testifies to us, and makes us sing "I know that my Redeemer lives" and mean each word we say. 

I've always thought that I would have a stronger testimony of Christ if I had lived in His time and seen him in the flesh. But after reading this verse and pondering on it a bit, I'm not so sure that would be true. 

Without the Spirit, no one, not even those who knew Him personally, would have recognized Jesus as the Christ, the Savior of the world. Without the Spirit, anyone who saw that baby in a manger would have seen nothing but a newborn with an unfortunate living space. Without the Spirit, everyone would have just seen Him as a man, and maybe a prophet, but certainly not as their personal Savior. Without the Spirit, we would probably just see Him as some person from the history books. Or maybe we wouldn't know anything about Him at all. 

No one saw Him suffer for their sins, not even the people who were alive at the time. But many still believed that He did so. They believed because they allowed the Spirit to testify to them. 

We can have the very same testimony they did, because the Holy Ghost still testifies unto us the way that He did unto them, thousands of years ago. It reminds me of a quote from Bruce R. McConkie's final General Conference address. With tears in his eyes and emotion in his voice, he wrapped up his concluding discourse with these words, "as pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person. I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears. But I shall not know any better then, than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way."

We can know of a surety, for ourselves, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, even the Savior of the World. We don't have to see Him to know Him. That would be my challenge, and my plea, to each of you. We have less than a week until Christmas. Take some time to gain, strengthen or renew the testimony you have of Christ as your Redeemer. I know He is just that. I know He knows you personally. And I know that we can know Him personally. I may have never seen His face or shaken His hand, but I do know Him. And I'm getting to know Him better every single day. 

A little lesson in ship building, written by the girl who lives by Port Canaveral;)

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Miracle lessons, amazing friends, and some of my favorite members:)

This week flew by. We've been meeting a lot of people and teaching a lot of lessons! It's awesome! We made a couple of trips over to the Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral part of our area, which is something we hadn't done last week. I saw the ocean for the first time on my mission! Its beautiful, but it's hard not to just take off my shoes and run full sprint into the water haha. 

We also went with some incredible members, the Budges, to a place called Old Fish House. It's a fish n chips place over by the beach, owned and staffed by some other members of the ward! The Roderers, the owners, are an adorable family from Switzerland and they just love the missionaries. They have a daughter out right now. We ate some yummy fish and enjoyed each other's company. Island life is a good life, folks. 

We've had a ton of miracles and met some really awesome people. I don't have time or thumb strength to tell you about all of them haha. It's been really good though. Lots of people are really set in their ways, but lots of people have also been prepared for this gospel! When I first got to this area my dad said "you're gonna be teaching cruise ship employees and rocket scientists." I thought he was funny. It turns out he's not just funny, though. He's right. 

Our friend Alfreda is the one who works with the cruise ships. Last week she told us she was supposed to be on the Harmony of the Seas, but had a change of schedule haha. Anyway, she's great! She submitted a pray request through one of the Church's ads, because her son is going through some health problems. We called her and prayed with her and had a really powerful discussion. She came to church, too! Everyone keep her and her son in your prayers:)

Our friend Veronica is the rocket scientist. She and her husband both work here in Cape Canaveral– that's actually where they met! We met them when their friend Sandra (a member of our ward) brought them to our Christmas party! Sandra is an incredible member missionary, and Veronica is an absolute sweetheart! We went over to her home for dinner last night and ate some really yummy enchiladas and hot wings. 

Our friend Philip is awesome too! Although, I'm not sure what he does for work. I'll have to ask, haha. He's a middle aged southern man with a lot of love for Jesus, and tons of desire to learn more! He came to church yesterday, too, and had a great experience. He made lots of friends and they all invited him back next week! High hopes for him!

Unfortunately, Yoannis told us that he's too busy to keep learning more right now. We know this gospel is exactly what his family needs, but he just can't see it. Pray that he can have a change of heart here soon!

Last but not least, I wanted to write about a super tender experience we had yesterday, Sunday. Some of the recent converts in the ward, Sandra and Valeri, had to move out of where they were staying, but they didn't have anywhere to go. When we got here last week we went to ward council where we discussed what could be done to help them. There was discussion for a while about who might be able to help, and what the options are. But then sweet Sister Brown volunteered herself and her home. Yesterday was the day they started moving in. We went over for lunch and Sandra, Valeri, the Rusks, and the Browns were all there. Sandra and Valeri only speak Spanish, the Rusks are bilingual, and the Browns only speak English. Brother Rusk was doing a lot of translation haha. 

We got a little house tour and showed Sandra and Valeri where they would be staying, and then we sat down for some Chicken soup and good conversation.  At the end we shared a spiritual thought, as the missionaries always do. It was one of the most spiritual I've been a part of. I was afraid that my jumping back and forth from Spanish to English would distract from the spirit, but it was all the opposite. We got to talking about Christmas and what it means and what we should be doing to turn outward and help those around us. I am blown away by these families. Each one of them are such good examples of turning outward and being Christlike. Each and every one of them could be heard saying "here am I, send me" every. single. day. They're all just so willing to help others and be a light in this world and I'm so grateful for each of them. Love this ward.

Small Plates 

A little lesson in ship building, written by the girl who lives by Port Canaveral;)

This week I was reading in 1 Nephi 18. It's a chapter I've read dozens of times–a story I'm quite familiar with. But, just like every other chapter in the Book of Mormon, I fall more in love with it each time I read it. This chapter is where Nephi writes about what it's like for him to build a boat. 

Although, this story isn't just about a boat. He didn't tell us about boat-building because he wanted us to know how to build a boat. He wasn't much of a carpenter himself, let alone a shipwright. He didn't have much expertise in the field of boat-building, and any wisdom he did have frankly wouldn't be of much use to us. I don't know about you, but I've never had much need to know how to build a boat, nor do I know anyone who has. 

Nephi did have some skills we can learn from, however. He was well trained in the art of trusting in God. He had done it time and time again, and we will need to do the same. 

Nephi's account of his career as a shipwright is condensed into 4 mere verses, right at the beginning of the chapter. But wow, there is a lot to learn from them.

He explains that they first got to work on the timbers of the boat. After all, they couldn't build much of a boat without the beams of wood needed to do so. Out there in the wilderness, they didn't have the option to go to the nearest Home Depot and pick out the straightest 2 by 4s either. Everything was up to them, starting from the very beginning, even down to the very tools they used to work the wood.

As they worked, the Lord showed Nephi, "from time to time after what manner [he] should work the timbers of the ship." He didn't build the ship the way a shipwright would, nor did he prepare the wood the way a carpenter would. No, he, "did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto [him]; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men."

And how did he remain worthy of the guidance of the Lord throughout the whole process? He, "did go into the mount oft, and [he] did pray oft unto the Lord."

So what do we learn about trusting in the Lord from a story about a boat?

If we are willing to do God's will, we must do it in God's way. 

Sometimes in life we are given a burdensome task. Maybe "task" isn't even the right word. I don't know. I feel like when I say "task" I'm talking about something you can buckle down and cross off your to-do list in less than a day. Building a boat is no small task. 

It's a challenge. It's a commitment, and a calling. How did Nephi tackle it?

He started with the timbers. 

Have you ever been given a challenge like the one the Lord gave Nephi? Have you ever thought to yourself, "wow. I have no idea how I'll ever do this."

Start with the timbers. 

Or maybe you don't even know what the challenge is. Our lives are not often that straightforward. Sometimes we know what God wants us to do. Sometimes we are sure of our purpose. 

But what if we're not? What if we feel the burden of a challenge upon our shoulders but can't even tell what the burden is? What if the end is so far away we can't even visualize what it would be like if we were to get there?

Start with the timbers. 

Some of the things God requires of us seem impossible. But all things are possible through Him. If we do His will, in His way, He will guide us through. But that's just the thing. We must build our lives after the manner which the Lord has instructed us. 

Even working timber might seem to be a daunting task, no? But Nephi made sure to do even that seemingly small task in the Lord's way. He even went "into the mount oft, and… did pray oft unto the Lord."

Involve Heavenly Father in every step of the process. He wants to be there, and to lead you by the hand. My dear mission president taught in his General Conference talk that as we do so, "the Lord will give us the answers or the necessary strength for us to get through one more day, one more week, and to try one more time"

Whatever it is that you're going through–whatever ship you're building– know that your Heavenly Father is with you every step of the way. 

Maybe you're making the finishing touches on your yacht or your cruise ship. Or maybe you're halfway through preparing your first piece of timber. Wherever you are on your journey through whatever battle you are facing: know He is with you and is guiding you in every step, if you will but have the faith to let Him.