Christmas is Coming, The Goose is Getting Fat!

12/15

Merry Christmas, my loved ones!

Your emails were especially long and satisfying this week... I LOVE reading about all your doings, whether they be big or small. Thank you for the updates... They mean more than I can say. 

This week has been pretty solid! Before I get into anything- Mom, next week P Day is Tuesday instead of Monday (Christmas Eve for us) so I'll email Tuesday and Google Plus on Wednesday! #HollaForChristmas. Also, this past Wednesday was my 3 month mark! Whew. Time flies wickedly fast. 

As time has been flying away, I've had a few thoughts. This last week at Zone meeting we had a good lesson about exact obedience. President Lopez stresses that almost more than anything else. Exact obedience begins at 6:30 exactly. The sisters and I in the apartment have made a special effort this week to be exactly on time and schedule with working out, studies, lunch, and going to bed. We've seen such miracles! The other morning we popped out of bed at 6:30 and my first thought was, "Yes! We get to go work out! Then we get to go study the Book of Mormon and Preach my Gospel!" Man, life is good. If I'm being honest, that's definitely not the type of thoughts I would have had before my mission, as a 19 year old girl... But it's amazing how with our desire to be exactly obedient, the Lord has placed in my heart a new excitement for the work; a fresh perspective. I thought of this motto for my mission:"Don't just endure it-  just embrace it." I'm here in the Philippines for 15 more months. I could bear the humidity and heat, or I could embrace it. I could bear the fact that I take cold showers every day, or I could embrace it. I could bear the work, or embrace it. Make it my own vision, not just the Lord's. And isn't that our purpose? To bring our mind into the mind of Christ? So much of the time we just hold on tight and close our eyes till the trial has passed. I read every monday about the things my loved ones are facing back home. Let us hold on tightly, yes, but I challenge you to make it an embrace instead of a slipping grip. I promise as we open our eyes and embrace the Savior as things come that we think we cannot overcome...We will rely on the strength of the Savior, which is unlimited. "Come what may, and love it."

Okay, I'm off my soapbox. You wanna hear our miracle this week? SIster Fitzy and I were standing at the doors of the church on Sunday greeting the members as they came in. Sister Fitz started pulling on my arm, and as I looked up, who did I see? Brother and Sister G., smartly dressed and with a light in their eyes, helping their grandchildren walk to the doors of the church. Man, missionary work is rad. Their countenances were totally changed, and I could hardly believe they were the same less active couple we've been visiting since I got here. Seeing Less Actives return to church is a bomb feeling. The Spirit rocks.

T. also walked in in a new plaid yellow shirt and khakis and a huge smile. I love him. We taught him Tithing the other night, and as we sat down to discuss his questions from the Tithing Pamphlet we had given him last time, his first question was, "Who do I give my tithing to?" Jeepers. Not "Why do I have to give money to the church," not, "How much do I have to give?" but right away he wanted to know where and how he could give of himself. What an amazing example. 

Also- In case this information is of use to anyone: Filipinos in the Bacolod 2nd ward don't know the song, "Tis Sweet to Sing the Matchless Love"... Instead, it ends up being an awkward solo of the Sister missionary chorister, with a few warbling notes due to stifled laughter. 

Another miracle: Yesterday I had a HOT shower! We're still not quite sure how it happened...But I turned on the shower and the water was hot! (Although we think it's because our water thing in the back was overheating.....) But we were happy nonetheless! 

In my personal study lately I've read this excerpt over and over I have in my scriptures from my most favorite talk I think I've ever read, by Elder Holland "The First and Great Commandment." As I've contemplated my reasons for coming on a mission and studied this talk, I've come up with two statements that reasonably sum up the "Why" of how I got here. 

1. The Book of Mormon is true.

2. I love the Lord. 

Indulge me for a second while I get out my soapbox again, and quote Elder Holland. At this point in his talk, he has related the story of the Lord coming to the Apostles after his resurrection while they were fishing. Peter has led his apostles back to the water to return to their lives after their ministry with the Lord. Christ asked Peter 3 times, "Do you love me?" to which Peter responds in the affirmative, 3 times. Elder Holland says,

To which Jesus responded (and here again I acknowledge my nonscriptural elaboration), perhaps saying something like: “Then Peter, why are you here? Why are we back on this same shore, by these same nets, having this same conversation? Wasn’t it obvious then and isn’t it obvious now that if I want fish, I can get fish? What I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Peter, for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally until the day in which they will do to you exactly what they did to me.”

Then, turning to all the Apostles, He might well have said something like: “Were you as foolhardy as the scribes and Pharisees? As Herod and Pilate? Did you, like they, think that this work could be killed simply by killing me? Did you, like they, think the cross and the nails and the tomb were the end of it all and each could blissfully go back to being whatever you were before? Children, did not my life and my love touch your hearts more deeply than this?”

I want to add my testimony to Elder Holland's. Often times in this work I wonder if I am making any difference at all. The work feels mundane, no one is home, it's hot and I'm sweaty and I don't want anyone else to talk to me in Ilonggo ever again. But then I remember the words of Elder Holland, and he is exactly right. This work is not fleeting. It is not feeble. It's not hapless or hopeless. It is the work of our Almighty God. Who can limit God? 

It's my prayer that His life and His love has touched our hearts- to the point that we will serve Him loyally. Remember the invitation to share the gospel with one person before Christmas. Christmas is soon approaching, my friends, and I hope that we will remember our love for the Lord- love unto action. I want to close with one last quote from Elder Holland:

"My beloved brothers and sisters, I am not certain just what our experience will be on Judgment Day, but I will be very surprised if at some point in that conversation, God does not ask us exactly what Christ asked Peter: “Did you love me?” I think He will want to know if in our very mortal, very inadequate, and sometimes childish grasp of things, did we at least understand one commandment, the first and greatest commandment of them all—“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.”¹³ And if at such a moment we can stammer out, “Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee,” thenHe may remind us that the crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty.

If we truly love the Lord, we will be truly loyal. If we are loyal, we will be involved in this cause, in His work, in this task that the Lord has left to us. Remember, however, He has not left us to it alone. We have the help of the Almighty God, be it in His work, or in our personal, quiet lives. I imagine that the Lord's wall of family pictures is very large. Because He knows us and loves us enough to put us all on His wall of family pictures somewhere up there in Heaven. He hasn't just put our picture on his wall, however...He has engraven us upon the palms of His very hands. He loves us more than we could ever love Him- in our very mortal, inadequate, and childish state. 

The soapbox is in the corner now (maybe only till next week.) but I want you to know I love you all. I'm learning so many new things every day, and I'm so blessed to have family like you all at home. I don't feel so far away from you. :)

Loves,

Sister Luke