Happy New Years Everyone!!
I can hardly wrap my brain around the fact that it is 2012! When did that happen?? Time sure flies, that's for sure....
So! This last week! Has been one of my favorites thus far! It was super great. The MTC is so awesome! (I'm not sure if I'll be so enthusiastic about it's awesome-ness in 5 more weeks...but! haha) Anywho...
Well seeing as it is indeed the new year, we'll start there! The MTC itself didn't do anything special to celebrate the new year, and no, we didn't get to stay up until midnight...but! We made good use of our resources. My companions mom sent her some sparkling cider. We, and by we I mean "I", had to get rather resourceful to open it though....I removed our bunk-bed ladder and pried off the bottle cap...using all of my body weight...but! Victory was ours. So we filled our oh-so-classy..water bottles...with cider and made a toast...while wearing our fake mustaches and talking in British accents. It was so fun! I'll have to send some pictures home to share...anywho, we enjoyed ourselves clear until...10:30..then we went to bed. :)
In all our silliness, we did remove the mustaches long enough to make some new years resolutions. Mine was inspired by a scripture I accidentally found last week when I mis-tracked a footnote. It's Ephesians 5:8, and says "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord...Walk as Children of Light." I love it! We have all, at time in our lives, strayed from the path and into darkness. But NOW are we light in the Lord. The Lord cares more about where we are than where we've been. So I'm resolving to let go of the past 21 years of life, focus on the present, and walk as the Child of Light that I am through my Savior and Redeemer.
So! In case you ever thought to yourself, "Hmm, I wonder what it would be like to pray in front of 2000+ people..."...you can rest assured knowing....it's a little nerve wracking. Ok, it wasn't actually that bad. My branch president called me and an elder from our zone into a meeting last week and asked us to say the prayers at the fireside last night. He said he picked us because we "were good looking"..and represented the zone well. Bahaha. Anywho, grandpa and grandma, you can be proud. One of the counselors in the MTC presidency shook my hand last night and the first thing he said was "Do you milk cows?" And I said "uh..I have before?" And he said "I can tell by your strong handshake!" Hah. Then he kept bringing it up. It was funny.
Yesterday we got to do a fun little act of service while we were out on our temple walk! We were crossing through a parking lot on the way there, when a car came zooming in towards us. For a moment, I thought he was some crazy anti-mormon that was going to take out a whole zone of missionaries in one fatal swoop. It turns out, however, that he was an RM. He got out and said "Could you missionaries do 2 minutes of service for me? And I'll pray for you your whole mission?" Hah, of course we agreed. Turns out it was his friends birthday, and he had 50 some odd balloons to blow up. He told us he was wondering how in the world he'd accomplish that when inspiration led him to us. So! the 15 (give or take..) of us blew up his balloons which filled his car to the brim, and then continued on our way. It was fun:)
Speaking of fun! Do you know what is fun? Volleyball is fun! Our zone has taken to playing volleyball in gym. I'm not very good at volleyball. But what I lack in skill, I make up for in sheer determination to hit the ball. Which can be evidenced by...the giant assortment of bruises and floor burns on my knees.....no pain no gain?
Anywho, as I mentioned, this week has been one of my favorites here. I learned so much! We had a wonderful mission conference yesterday, and Brother Brady (one of the MTC officials) gave a beautiful address on "misplaced faith". If our faith is not in Jesus Christ, it is not going to profit us anything. What I got from the address was...sometimes in life we look at a task and think "Can I do that??" Well, there is one huge thing wrong with that sentence. It's the word "I". If we ask "Can I do that?", we are placing our faith in ourselves. What we SHOULD be asking is "Can the Lord do that??" And if that be our question, our answer will ALWAYS come back a resounding "Yes, He can." Without the Lord, we can do nothing. But with the Lord, we can do all things.
Another scripture I found this week and loved is in 1st Corinthians 4:5-6; 8-9. It says "For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. [Servants=missionaries] For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. [Unto whom much is given, much is required (D&C 82:3)..we have been given much with the gospel, and we are required to share it with the world..]..We are troubled on every side, but not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." As a missionary, I WILL be persecuted. But it will be for Christs' sake. And he will not suffer that I be given more that I can bear. I am on His errand, and He will not forsake me. What a comfort and a blessing to every missionary and member in the world.
So! That brings me to my last point...attitude really and truly IS everything! "No matter what you are feeling inside, put a smile on your face." "What can happen in any given day that could possible diminish the joys that come through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ?" Nothing! This gospel is true, and it is a gospel of joy. So! Show it! My cousin Jared once wrote home in an email "I hope you all have as good of a week as I'm going to. If not, change your attitude." Love it! Happiness is not constituted so much by what happens in any given day, but rather by how you look at the things that do happen..
Anywho! I'm out of time. But I love you all! Thank you so very much for your letters and your prayers and your support. You truly do make a difference in my life. May the Lord be will you always!
Love,
Sister Bice
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