What's Up, Washington?: Arlington; Sunnyside Branch

16 December 2019

LISTEN UP, FAM, MY MOM SENT ME A KEYBOARD ON AMAZON AND I HAVE NEVER FELT SO EMPOWERED IN MY LIFE.

Let's get to it.

First and foremost, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL MOTHER. You are the best, momma and the only reason I turned out the way I did was becuse of you and Papi being wicked patient and loving for all 10 years of my life. So thank you. You are a wonderful woman whom I appreciate so much.

ALSO

Today is my 5-month mark folks. I've practically done it. hahaha, I'm a whole 5 months into my mission and I can honestly say now that I genuinely love it. The growing pains are for the most part over, now I just have to keep listening to the spirit and sacrificing what the Lord asks me to.

SO
I THOUGHT I MIGHT SHARE 5 THINGS THAT I HAVE LEARNED IN THE 5 MONTHS OF MY MISSION:

1. God knows YOU personally and he is going to get you where you need to be if you'll let him (Alma 26:27)

2. Growth DOES NOT exist without discomfort, so are you going to get uncomfortable or WHAT!?

3. There are a lot of people in this world who might not want you to be okay, YOU JUST GOTTA' PROVE 'EM WRONG AND USE THE ATONEMENT AND END UP OKAY

4. The Holy Ghost is A REAL BEING who will literally direct you for good if you let Him speak to you... what was it that that one dude said in conference... "Less WiFi and more Nephi." How are you going to help the Holy Ghost have access to you?

5. Maybe the most important one: I. am. nothing. BUT with the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ (that's grace) He can use me to get ANYTHING done. It's just a matter of the faith and trust I have in His ability to make me enough. (Philippians 4:13)

I've been thinking a lot lately about who I was before the mission and who I am now. Like my insides. How has my heart changed? And something I think a lot about is the fact that I feel like I have changed so much in my life because people gave me the patience and the room to grow. I hope we can all do that a little bit more. God is SO patient with us, so why do we sometimes feel like we have a right to not be patient with others? I want you to think of someone that you haven't been very patient towards and make a conscious decision to give them the patience and room and LOVE to grow.

This week was pretty tough for me, I'm not going to lie, BUT there was a lot of good stuff, too.

Hermana Fuller and I taught the restoration at the Cameron's baptism (The YSA I would teach with Sister Snowder when we were on exchange) and MAN was it amazing. There were a lot of missionaries there so it was a little scary, but the second we opened our mouths and began to testify the spirit came SO STRONG. I felt like my body was radiating with the spirit - you know why? BECAUSE THE STUFF I WAS TALKIN' ABOUT WAS TRUE. JOSEPH SMITH SAW GOD THE FATHER AND THE SON. HE WAS GIVEN THE POWER AND AUTHORITY TO ACT IN CHRIST'S NAME AND TO PERFORM SAVING ORDINANCES. If you don't have a testimony of that yet, you should really GET ONE because when you understand that you understand that God hasn't forgotten us and if God hasn't forgotten us, he hasn't forgotten you and if he hasn't forgotten you, He really wants your salvation. So are you going to exercise some faith or what?

I loved seeing Sister Snowder!! We spent SO much time together with my first transfer and I am beyond grateful for her! So that was pretty awesome, too.

This week I got RAS REALLY bad and it was the first time in my mission I felt like I was in real trouble. But I got through it and I'm doing good now. hahaha. I finally got to start opening my 12 days of Christmas presents from Nikki and they're pretty lit. I've always got snacks and my house smells like Christmas. Enjoy this picture of my companion with our goodies.

It was Hna Fuller's 9 month this week and Hna Chatfield just happened to be in Marysville because she was on exchange with the Russian sisters, so what did we do? PANDA. It was so awesome to catch up and have a good time with my old pal, even if it was just for half an hour. (;

That's about all I've got for you today, family. Please enjoy this picture of what I did with all of the notes that my fam sent me for Christmas. Peep Ryan's turkey drawing. It's basically my favorite thing in Washington rn. Also, check out the picture Nina drew of Hna Fuller and me.