Large Plates
Another good week! Feeling extra grateful for the members of this ward.
This week has been a good one, as always! Is life perfect? No. No it isn't. Do I love this imperfect life? Yes. Yes I do.
We're at a point where we are really getting to know the members and making true friendships with them. We went over to the Blakes house for the first time this week and WE LOVE THEM! They also found out we had plans to go to the beach today for pday and they did everything in their power to make sure we had a good time. They have a cabin in the middle of nowhere in the Utah mountains and I'm determined to visit it.
We also have so many members here that are just incredible member missionaries. It makes me want to not live in Utah so I can stay in the mission field forever haha. It's not uncommon for members of the Merritt Island ward to give their friends a Book of Mormon and bear their testimony. It's so cool.
We had some really good lessons with Billy, too. He has lots of highs and lows in his progress but this week he said he was reading the Book of Mormon (in the book of Jacob, by the way) and he finally felt in his heart that it's true! We had to move his baptismal date back a little bit because we still have to review some things, but we're excited for him!
Overall it was a really good week but I don't have the time to write about it all. Island life continues to be a good life! Oh and it's warm again!!
Small Plates
Summary
I learned a few lessons this week. The first one is that I am, in fact, too stubborn for my own good. And the second one is that the Priesthood is real and we as members of the Church too often take it for granted.
Some backstory: I've been having headaches for a while now (stop right there. Don't worry about it, we're figuring it out:) ). I ignored it for a while, and then I started to self-treat. Then, I was working with the mission nurse and we still couldn't figure it out.
I had an interview with President towards the beginning of the week and he was shocked at how long I had been dealing with this haha. It was in that conversation that I realized that I had been waiting to ask for a priesthood blessing for way too long.
I asked for a blessing the next day, and I kept up with what the nurse told me to do. I didn't think too much about it, but Saturday and Sunday were the first two days in the last 3 months that I haven't had a headache. It may sound insignificant but for me that was honestly a miracle.
Then, Sunday night, we were eating dinner at the Brown's and with Sandra and Valeri. The Brown's are an awesome family, and Sandra and Valeri are the Spanish-speaking recent converts. Sandra started telling me about how she had been having headaches, and how Brother Bullinger told her she should ask for a Priesthood blessing. I translated the conversation, and we ended up teaching them, and the Brown's sons who just got ordained to the offices of Teacher and Deacon that very day, about the Priesthood.
After a very good conversation with everyone there, I shared a bit about my health journey with everyone, and I realized that I had been changing so many things in my life in an attempt to relieve my pain, and none of them worked until I had my Priesthood blessing.
But the thing with Priesthood blessings is that they often go hand in hand with medical treatment. None of my medicine or other treatment was working until after the blessing. But, the blessing didn't make all my headaches go away, either. I had one today, but I took medicine and it actually worked!! I don't know if I'm explaining myself well. But the principle is this: priesthood blessings give you access to God's power, but they don't take away God's laws (meaning the law of logic).
Anyway, I'm grateful for the Priesthood. And I'm grateful to be a part of the Restored Church where we have the blessing to have access to it.
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