Zone Training was better than ever-it was President and Zuster Robinson's last one, so they totally killed it with their portions of the training:) and we have a ton of elders going home at the end of this transfer (July 8th - THE best day ever). For some reason, it reminds me of popsicles...but anyway, back to last week.
So, we had a lot of elders give their "dying testimony" - it's just them bearing their testimony about their mission and everyone else getting the feels:) But I learned so much this last week and gained 102% more perspective on life on the mission and after.
One thing that really stuck out to me that Zuster Robinson talked about was us living beneath our privileges as members of the Church as well as children of a Heavenly Father. We are promised SO much, in fact, we are promised "everything that the Father hath", but are we obtaining that or at least working to obtain everything that he has promised us?
She taught that our faith is the fruit of experiences and that despite what we may thing, or like to think, we NEED each and every one of our trials and difficulties in order to become what He sees in us.
Orson F. Whitney stated, "No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls..."
Jeffrey R. Holland stated that in order for us to become like Christ, to achieve our potential, we have to endure our very own miniature Gethsemane. Though easier said than done, it is through our trials, the hard days and the shortcomings, that we sift the wheat from the tares and keep only the refined attributes.
I also came to the conclusion of something amazing, at least to me, this week. In the first lesson that we teach as missionaries, the second point after "God is our loving Heavenly Father" is "The Gospel blesses families".
While I understand that families are central to God's plan and that they are important, I always found it difficult to organize and present it in away that could touch people. But, as I taught, I realized that the family sphere is the only unit of life where we can learn to love people and serve without any pre-existing expectations.
Families serve and sacrifice for one another with complete and pure love - the essence of Christ's pure love. I think of mothers - my mother, she sacrificed a whole unopened portion of her life to raise me and my sisters, to be the biggest and most powerful example in my life. For nothing, but love.
I think of my father - one of the smartest, wittiest people I know, the best German in the world; he sacrificed and sacrifices everyday personal wants and dreams to provide, to teach, and help my sisters and mother reach our potential. Only in families are we able to truly learn charity.
I speak of the need for a little more effort, a little more self-discipline, a little more consecrated effort in the direction of excellence in our lives.
Love you all!
Liefs, Zuster Dobler
This is the great day of decision for each of us. For many it is the time of beginning something that will go on for as long as you live. I plead with you: don't be a scrub! Rise to the high ground of spiritual, mental, and physical excellence. You can do it. You may not be a genius. You may be lacking in some skills. But so many of us can do better than we are now doing. We are members of this great church whose influence is felt over the world. We are people with a present and with a future. Don't muff your opportunities. Be excellent. - Gordon B. Hinckley
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| No new pictures were sent this week, but I found this random gem on another missionary blog ;) |
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Martha Dobler, Johanna's mom