Hey Family!!!
Sorry I am a day late to emailing. I
really didn’t mean to make you wait!! Today is our pday because we got to go to
the Newport Beach Temple this morning for the 7 am session. Early morning, but
it was 100% worth it!!! It is really only 15 minutes from here but just outside
of the mission. The temple is so gorgeous and hopefully I will be able to send
you some pics in the mail this week. Sorry my pics were so large last week. I
don’t know how i did that!!
This week has been awesome!! We did
service at a members house and we were helping a lady clean out her
garage...Guess what we came across?!? A POGO STICK!!!! I still got the skill,
no hands and all. haha It was way fun!!
Have I ever told y'all how weird the
grass is here? It is not real grass no matter how many times the California
people want to tell me otherwise. It is like a mixture of golf course grass and
real grass and it feels spongy to walk on. So weird, but maybe I just really like
my Utah grass!!
Teaching is going pretty great here.
I am starting to get the hang of it. Tracting is a little difficult for me
because you never know who is going to be behind the door or what they are
going to say. Yesterday while we were out doing "5-alive" because if
our appointment isn’t home we knock on 5 doors in their area before we leave.
Anyway... we had stopped at 2 houses and no one wanted to listen to our message
and we started to talk to a guy who was working on something in his garage. He said
he wasn't interested either but as I walked away from his home I couldn't help
but think I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! And it wasn’t even sarcastic at all. I
just felt so much love for the people we had just met and I didn't even know
them and they didn't want to listen. I know that that was my Heavenly Father
helping me to realize that the work I do is important to him and he loves me
just as much as he loves all those people who have turned down listening to our
message. It really is so true that someone has to come in contact with
missionaries or members at least 7 times before they are ready to listen.
The ward here is small yet strong
and I love all the members here and I am so grateful for their sacrifices to
feed us even if they don’t have a lot. I know that they are blessed from this
sacrifice. Some families we teach here really make me grateful for my own.
There are a lot of problems with drugs, single parents, and contention. Thanks
so much for raising us in the Gospel and for helping us to realize the
blessings the gospel brings us. Thanks for teaching me the power of prayer and
for all the many fundamentals you taught me to help me build my faith. Thanks
for the spirit of love that made home a place i wanted to be and not a place of
contention. I am so grateful that our family can enjoy the blessings that come
from the gospel, especially that we can all be together for all eternity. What
a tender mercy from our Heavenly Father!!
The work here is slow but Sister
Jensen and I have faith to find and the faith to act. The Lord will bless us
for our efforts very soon!! Sister Jensen says that Heavenly Father is testing
our faith right now and since we are working hard he will bless us with so many
people to teach. She helped me apply Ether 12:14 to our companionship.
"Behold, it was the faith of Sister Jensen and Sister Gillett that wrought
the change upon the people of the Garden Grove 4th ward South, that they were
baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost." It is through our faith that
we will be able to find, teach, and convert. But we have to exercise our faith
and work hard in order to reap the reward. No work will ever be done if we just
sit in our apartment.
One of my favorite Book of Mormon
messages we have shared this week is about the life of Nephi. Just
like Nephi we have many trials and afflictions. In 1 Nephi 1:1 he says
"having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless,
having been highly favored of the Lord." Right at the beginning he tells
us of his hard times yet he realized that those hard times are blessings from
God that have helped him to be the person he is today. His family leaves and
wanders in the wilderness for 8 years!! I wouldn't be a happy camper about that
one. Especially leaving their nice home and all their riches to go live in a
tent somewhere. They starved and Nephi had a broken bow. Their wives had
children in the wilderness. His brothers sought his life. He was asked by God
to kill a man and he obeyed. He was mocked by his brothers when he was building
a ship. He was tied up by his brothers and their ship almost sank. His
afflictions could go on forever, but what amazing faith Nephi had!!! I love in
1 Nephi 1: 20 where he says I, Nephi will show unto you that the tender mercies
of the lord are over all those whom he hath chosen because of their faith. I
wish I could have the faith of Nephi. I guess that can be something to work
for!
I love my companion so much and she
is such an awesome example to me. Sometimes she gets so excited to go to
appointments we literally run to them. She has a great light about her and you
can tell that her heart is full of love for everyone!! She has really helped me
to learn and study according to my investigators needs which has really been a
struggle for me so far but I will get the hang of it. She has been out for 9
months and she says she thinks she saw Jae in the MTC. Who knows :)
California is so beautiful. I love
watching fireworks whenever we want!! I love the sunshine and the warmth here!!
It is just so gorgeous. I don’t miss the cold at all!!
I love y'all and I hope you have a
great week!! It is so good to hear that things are all going well at home. Have
a great week and I will talk to you on Monday!!!
Love, Sister Gillett :) :)
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