Well, here we are. My last mass email on my mission. It has been an emotional week! It’s also been wonderful and sweet to cherish my time with our investigators and the members and Sister Tomisin. All the goodbyes have been so sad. Of course this is a bittersweet time, endings always are. I know I can’t stay on a mission forever! But it’s still sad. The tears come so easily lately.
Highlights of the week:
- we met with our golden investigator Alexa TWICE
- I had my departing temple trip on Wednesday! We went to the temple with the Dixon’s and it was such a beautiful experience ️ I saw Sister Gunter, my MTC comp!
- we had dinner with Ed and Rebecca on Saturday (our faves) (also, they came church on Sunday for my last Sunday!!!) and dinner with the Griffins on Sunday (also our faves)
- on Saturday, one of our gated communities was having a community garage sale so we decided to do a “free lemonade and family history” booth there! We talked to some people and involved our ward mission leader and his daughter and it was so fun!
So, I’m going to miss California. I love this place. Also I have definitely acclimated to the weather here. It’s been 100 degrees this past weekend and I loved it. I am so nervous to go back to Utah because I hear it’s about 60 degrees there (brrrr).
Today I will finish packing up my stuff and Hermana Lopez (she is also going home) will head to the mission home. We will have our interviews with President, then dinner, then testimonies from the departing missionaries. I also have to say goodbye to Sister Tomisin today. Basically I’m just expecting a lot of tears today and tomorrow.
At the beginning of my mission I remember my trainer telling me, “when you’re called to the work, you’re called to the work.” This means that I’m not called to the work for just 18 months. I’m called to the work for LIFE. Being a missionary doesn’t stop when I take off that tag. I’ve been called to the work, so I’m going to work and serve the Lord for the rest of my life. The scripture on my missionary plaque is 3 Nephi 5:13, which says: “Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.”
Being a disciple of Christ is something that never ends.
I love this great work and I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I know that He lives. I know that the Gospel Of Jesus Christ has been restored, and that Christ’s priesthood authority is on the earth today. God has a plan for us. We are here for a reason. One thing I know for sure is that I don’t know everything. But I know that God does! And that knowledge allows me to trust Him. My ways are not his ways (Isaiah 55:8-9), and knowing that he is motivated out of love for me allows me to trust that what he asks me to do is right. I know that Joseph Smith truly IS a prophet of God, and that he translated the Book Of Mormon by the gift and power of God. I love that book and I plan on reading it every day for the rest of my life. If I know anything it’s that Heavenly Father loves us so much! He wants us to come home.
I just want to say THANK YOU for all the support and love and encouragement I have received from all of you while being on my mission. It means the world to me and has allowed me to cherish this experience even more. Thank you for all your prayers, service, emails, and love you have shown to me and the people around you. I will always appreciate the generous kindness you have all offered to me over these last 18 months.
AH! The end is here. But really this is only the beginning. A new chapter in life, my next mission. Luckily I know that with God in my life, things just keep getting better and better all the time. I love my mission so so much, and I will forever remember the experiences and knowledge I have gained, not to mention the incredible people I have met. I just can’t believe this time has come.
I love you all SO MUCH and I will see you TOMORROW!!!
Sister Carina Brown
California Redlands Mission
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| Last district pic |
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| Sister Dean and Avery |
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| Departing temple trip |
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| Last BOM class! (Ed and Rebecca are on the far right) |
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| Alexa!!! Cutie |
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| The grams |
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| Red Robin, broccoli vs. shake |
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| I LOVE HER SO MUCH how can say goodbye for 15 months |
Belief is the reason we go on a mission. It is the motive for preaching about Christ and sharing/Proclaiming his love. Faith is understanding we are children of God and our Heavenly Father. May this defined and explained and Meaning of faith bless you in life. Faith is defined again and because faith has an inherent joy it gives us a solid foundation that we finally have the peace we have been searching For.
ReplyDelete"Many believer's feed themselves on what God hasn't done. When I dwell on what hasn't happened, I create the atmosphere for the spirit of offense to arise and to thrive. When I dwell on what hasn't happened, I legitimize unbelief. I live with a sense of justification, for not believing God.
Faith in the purest sense is the ceasing of resistance. even when there's no physical evidence, when the other evidence is present. Not feeding ourselves on what God hasn't done Faith in it's purest form is the absence of resistance
Heaven is a place where everyone is celebrated, some are more honored but everyone is celebrated. All men and all women shall be judged on the light which they have received. Heaven is a permissible culture. God's nature is eternally permissible. These statements protect us from credit.
Faith in the purest sense is the ceasing of resistance, even when there's no physical evidence, when the other evidence is present. Not feeding ourselves on what God hasn't done. Faith in it's purest form is the absence of resistance. Faith doesn't deny a problems existence, it denies it's influence. He or she was someone whom aridity and desolation never disturbed for he or she had a deeply rooted, and a vigorous faith.
Now we can act as we have always dreamed. Now we can act as we have always been. Now we can step into the light and gather the sunlight instead of blocking out our possibilities. Instead of blocking out our joy. Variety will bloom in/under the sun. We can show off our best, we can enjoy other people's gifts. We can blossom where we stand upon the joy that faith provides us. Upon the joy that faith inherently has, which blossoms the entire field of flowers"
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDYaxabUfkA - The Definition of Faith