Salvation is not a cheap experience

I can't believe I am saying this, but I miss chopping wood and getting wood and getting my hands dirty. I miss the garden the most. I loved watering it every morning! hah. I am so weird.

 

The mission. It really is marriage training. Can't really say anything else about it. My comp and I have trust and communication issues. Both a little stubborn and both a little proud. I am still praying for patience and humility and self control. I figure I might as well invite all the desafios and pruebas at once so I can learn faster and be a better missionary later. Not drag things out. My three month mark is in like 3 days! Whoa!

 

With that marriage training is the quote from Elder Holland "Salvation is not a cheap experience" that is why we have all of these pruebas de fe, moments of complete depression, times where we can't see the light. Salvation isn't cheap. It isn't something that someone just stumbles upon. It is the constant striving to hold on to the iron rod and move forward. It is straight and narrow, often difficult to stay on because ya it is difficult. But the view on the top of the mountain after being stuck in the rain, stuck in the mud, sweating to reach the summit, it is all worth it. Without a doubt in my mind when I get to that celestial kingdom and see my Savior all those "hard things" in my past, not even difficult. Nothing can compare to salvation, nothing can compare to the love of the savior. But baby it ain't cheap!

 

My testimony grew this week when we were with a couple of investigators named Marc.and Mar. They are Evangelicos. Super learned in the Bible and all that stuff. To a third party it may have looked terrible for Hna V. and I because they were just bashing us. But those moments when you can testify without a doubt in your mind that we need the Book of Mormon because it contains the fulness of the Gospel, and that I know Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that I know that we need the Priesthood in our lives, that authority to act in God´s name on the earth, there is no other feeling like it. They might not have felt the spirit, that is their agency, their choice, but I felt it. Hermana V felt it. And it gives me strength to move forward. I love it!

 

So there is this lady Hermana P, she is member. She is very direct but in a nice way. She gave us lunch with specific instructions to bring the tupperware back on Sunday. So I washed that stuff like no other and made one of the little crafts for her and gave a scripture and all this sweet stuff and what not and brought it to church yesterday. The other Elders forgot theirs so I was feeling pretty good! So I gave it to her, all shiny and pretty, and she goes "Why didn't you bring it in a bag? Seriously?" hahahaha. I didn't even know what to say!

 

So I was walking back to my pew and I saw Elder K. and told him what happened and he was like "No way seriously?" and then we went to Sunday School. But the Elders weren't there..... They had gone back to their house, brought the clean tupperware, IN A BAG, and gave it to Hermana P. Those Elders. Gosh. She was so happy with them.

 

Spanish was funny and rough this week. Some guy started laughing at me as I was trying to bear my testimony. But I realized something about why they are called Grandma´s cookies or Grandma´s bread, or Grandma´s chicken. It is because she is old and experienced. She has tried every ingredient every type of flour, variety of chocolate to come up with those perfect cookies that melt in your mouth. Occasionally in her past she had one of those perfect batches, but the next ones were burnt. But that is ok, there are times when there are going to be those burnt cookies because when we taste those, we remember the good ones. That is Spanish for me! I am improving every day, but some days it is like Day one all over again. But I know that through experience I will get that bomb cookie recipe.

 

One other thing of importance that I am learning is the concept found in Mosiah 2:33. About not listing. When I think of listing I think of a boat in the water. Just sitting there. Rocking with the waves. Perhaps it is faced toward the direction it wants to go, perhaps it is in idle, perhaps it is off. But regardless it isnt moving anywhere. This boat is like us, when we are listing, not moving forward, two things can happen. A storm can come, and knock us around and possibly worse, mold and algae can start to grow beneath the surface of the water. Without moving forward, staying active following the counsel of D&C 58 and James 1:5-6, we are drinking our own damnation. Don´t list! Don't wait! Pray for the spirit and follow it!

 

IS. AND MO. HAVE THEIR WEDDING ON MARCH 8! BAPTISM MARCH 15! If you have cheap wedding ideas send me them! They have no money. And we want them to have the best day ever! 

 

Love and miss you all! Addy is precious.Love her to death. Miss all yall!

Hermana Farner