letter.two 03.27.2013

We got our second letter from Ann in the MTC, she was delayed for a week waiting for her visa.

I am soo blessed! I love being a missionary! So hard, but so good. This past week has had its challenges and its tender mercies. Its weird to still be here in the MTC when today was supposed to be my first day in Australia, but I know I'm supposed to be here still and the Lord has been blessing us with many tender mercies to compensate. Honestly, the hardest thing is that there are only five people in our district now. I miss the rest of our district a lot. We were all best friends and it feels sort of empty without them, but it's also nice that we have a smaller class now so it's more personal teaching. Second hardest thing, unpacking again. ha. Well this week has been a life changer again so I think I'll highlight a few of the best moments and inspiration.

We watched a clip of a MTC devotional given by Elder Bednar in class and he talked about how we all worry about whether it's our own thoughts or the Spirit. He rather boldly said, "Stop worrying about it! Just be a good boy or a good girl and all your thoughts will lead you to where you need to be and what you need to do. You may never know what little things you do that change someone's life." Wow. Awesome. I have been set apart and as long as I'm trying to be a "good girl" my thoughts will be the Spirit's direction. That's pretty incredible.

Brother Dickey talked to us about how we had been prepared for our missions. He told us that we had been prepared in more ways then we would ever be able to comprehend by ourselves. So, he had us pray to ask Heavenly Father how he had prepared us. Then, he told us to write down the ways the Lord had prepared us and to not stop writing because as we wrote the Lord would bless us to know ways that we had been prepared. It was an incredible experience. Heavenly Father was able to remind me of some very hard, sweet, and sacred experiences that I have had in my life. Experiences that I have treasured, but I had never realized how they prepared me for a mission. God really does love His children! He loves them so much that He would have a girl, who never thought she would go on a mission be prepared to help specific people in Australia (where she never even thought she would go in her life time) at a very young age. What a privilege. It makes those experiences that I have had even more sacred. I thought at the time that they were just for my benefit. That they were to help me come closer to Christ and become more truely converted and they were, but they were also for the benefit of so many of His children that I never even thought I would meet. The section of PMG "God is Our Loving Heavenly Father" takes on a whole new meaning.

A theme of In-field orientation and of my branch president was to not lower your expectations. God is not sending me on a mission to do nothing and have no success. The field is white! It's harvest time not planting time! Not that we won't be doing a lot of planting too, but we should expect success because the Lord will only be able to help us achieve what we think is possible. I also loved that my Branch President said, "Don't fall into the trap of mediocracy! Other missionaries will try to tear down your enthusiam. Don't let them! This is how it's supposed to be!"

One of my best experiences of my entire MTC experience so far was watching a MTC devotional from Christmas of 2011 by Elder Bednar called "The Character of Christ". Seriously, life changing. Mom I wish you could see it. You would have loved it! He said that Elder Maxwell had said to him that, "There would be no atoning sacrifice without the character of Christ." He talked about how he thought about it for a long time and finally figured out what the character of Christ really is. He said His character is that, "He turns out in compassion and love to others when we, as natural men, would turn in." I had never thought about it in that way. Then he gave all of these examples of Christ turning outward just when anyone else would have thought about himself. For instance, after He had fasted and Satan had tempted Him (in Matthew 4:11) it says that angels came and ministered to Him. That would make complete sense after all He had been through, but when you read the JST you see that it says that Jesus knew that John was in prison and so He sent angels to minister to John. Wow. I can't even imagine. That's how the Atonement is possible. He never could have done it if He had even once thought of the natural man in Himself.

Then he talked about how this is how we too become truely converted to the LORD. It was actually similar to his conference talk. He talked about true conversion. Then he told a story of some women that were truely converted and had put off the natural man. One woman's daughter had been killed in a terrible accident. She was her only child and she was a single mom. She was also the RS president. On her way to the funeral a woman in the ward, who didn't know of her daughters death, called complaining that she was sick and no one had brought her food. So this mother, who was truly converted, took this women food before she went to her own daughters funeral. I can't imagine being that Christ-like but that is how I want to be someday. I want to work on it every day for the rest of my life.

He also talked about how we should all study the character of Christ for ourselves. He said to take a cheap copy of the BOM and mark everything in it that demonstrates the character of Christ. Then to ponder it. Write a brief summary to go inside and then put in on the book shelf. He said we could do this often with different questions and by the end of our lives we would have book shelves full of our questions and how the BOM answered them. Cool right?! I am going to do that while I'm on my mission. Obviously I'm studying for investigators, but if I can just read a little of the BOM each day to find the character of Christ I should be able to finish before I come home. I can't wait. Maybe I'll even just read it during lunch so I can use all of personal study for investigators...

Another neat experience for me was when they came to tell us that our visas didn't come and that we would be here for at least another week. I felt an immediate peace rush over me and the spirit tell me that I was here for a reason. There was more that I needed to learn so I could bettter bless my future investigators lives. My teacher also said that he thought another reason was so we could bless other missionaries because we have already been here and because we're so strong. (I thought that was nice of him) Then we went to Zone teaching and we were with all the new missionaries. I was put into a group with three Elders from another district. We were practicing doing something that I don't feel like I'm good at all, but Heavenly Father really blessed me with added understanding and knowledge. These Elders were really struggling and I was able to help them better understand and I understood it better too. The Lord allowed me to help some of His children, which really helped me. It was such a tender mercy. And there have been many more. I have learned so many skills that they just didn't have time to teach us before. I am actually very glad to be here for longer. And I get to be here for Easter! We're having a sacrament meeting with the whole MTC and a general authority will be there. Sounds like an awesome experience. One that's worth the wait. :)

Lastly, I just wanted to share something I learned at devotional last night. The speaker talked about how in Christ's time it says in the scriptures a million times that the people were "astonished", but it doesn't say that after miracles were performed. It says they were astonished by the doctrine! That is awesome. These simiple doctrines are astonishing! I think I too often take for granted that I already know these INCREDIBLE truths! What a blessing to be able to share that with others!

(David (Annie's brother)received a mission call to serve in the Oklahoma City Oklahoma mission last week.)

I love you all so much! I'm SOOOO excited about David's mission call. Cool that while Alan and Michelle were out as missionaries one was out of the country and one was in OK and now when David and I are out one will be out of the country and one will be in OK! He's going to be such a good missionary. I've been wishing he was in my district! Although I think that would be too good to be true. I already get to be with Sister Benjamin. (Annie's cousin) It's been so awesome! And now she's companinons with my companion and I! How cool!