Sacrifice

Well, I'm e-mailing a day late because I had to go renew my Visa yesterday at the police station and we had to wait in line for FIVE AND A HALF HOURS before my number was called!!!!! Talk about P-Day domination. Good news is though that I got my Visa and it all went smoothly . . . .just slowly. Brought back memories of waiting in line at Disneyland, haha. All the wait for a 3 minute ride.

 

I know I say this EVERY week, but it was another good one. We have just been getting busier and busier and the work continues to progress. Even this week we have a lot to get done and a lot of appointments . . .tis life in the big city. 

 

So, I gave a talk yesterday in church. It was the biggest congregation of Saints I have seen since I left home, haha. So speaking in front of a big crowd was a bit nerve-racking. It's weird that I feel so much more comfortable in the streets and with complete strangers when talking about the gospel than I do in front of a congregation of Saints, haha. I was asked to speak about Sacrifice. It went well. I tried to put a positive spin on the subject. I also found an awesome quote from Joseph Smith that said something along the lines of how ''God's church HAS TO require much of it's members, or how else would we be ready for the eternities?! '' Sacrifice is an essential part of life. I'm so grateful for the many sacrifices you all make, and have already made, as you continue to follow the will of the Father and not your own. 

 

For some reason we have been doing a lot more service lately. Yesterday, after a half day at the police station getting my Visa, we changed clothes and helped a member move apartments. Her new place is only a couple blocks away from the temple, I'm so jealous. Then we did even more service when we helped some members 40 minutes away do some remodeling and cleaning. And today we are going back to help them again! I'm grateful for the chance to serve  . . . . and show the world my awesome tan-line on my neck when I wear a regular t-shirt, haha. 

 

Some interesting experiences we had this week were:

-teaching an investigator in the guest house built right next to the temple.

-gave blessings to a family going through a hard time and asked for help from us. 

-got Dad's little package . . . THANK YOU . . . .and have been enjoying some new music ever since. :)

-talking in english with some men in the street and then we broke into Finnish when we found out they were actually Finns and they were blown away that we speak their language . . . I still love it when that happens. :P

-an investigator came to church for his first time and he and a recent convert hit it off really well. 

-our baptismal date got delayed a couple weeks instead of being this weekend. We feel good about it though and so does she. At the end we had a kneeling closing prayer which she gave and it was amazing!

 

Well, there's my week in a nut-shell. Thanks again to all of you for all you do. I'm glad to hear about all your experiences and joys you've had over the past week and I hope they continue. I know that this is the restored gospel of Our Savior Jesus Christ. Sacrifice, faith, hope, charity,  . . . . . the list goes on. But hey, ''Unto whom much is given, much is required''. We have been given MUCH. I love you. 

 

Rakkaudella,

 

Vanhin Watson