Thursday, December 29, 2011

Week 7 in CCM - 12/29/2011

WEEK 7 in CCM

Place: Provo MTC

Companions: Hermana Thacker y Hermana Latham

Date: 12/29/2011

Hola Mi Familia!!

Buenos Dias!!! How are all of you doing this fabulous day? I really hope things are going well and that Christmas was really good, I can tell you that mine went amazingly well! Before I start I just want to say I got mom's dear elder and I'm sorry to hear about ginger; it was really sad to hear about but I agree with mom that she is doing much better now that she is gone and she was really old for a lab, and I'm sure that she knows that she was and still is dearly loved by all of us, you could see it in that smile of hers, if you look at that painting I painted of her with Amy I made sure to add that smile because that was my absolute favorite part about her! and I'm thankful that you sent me that picture of me and her before I left, I love to look at it!


Ok on to what occured during Christmas! So I was able to kindof tell you things that happened on Christmas Eve, we had that fireside and watched a Christmas Carol. But Christmas was really fun! Before our morning devotional one of my favorite parts was when we were all waiting outside to go into the devotional and all the missionaries were singing christmas hymns, songs and carols!! but to tell you a little more about Elder Bednars talk, which really was amazing! He talked to us about like I said in my last letter, testimonies and being converted; one of the things that he told us was that "A testimony will never be enough you must be converted unto the Lord as well!" I can testify that I know that this is true because a testimony is what leads us to a more deepened conversion and a stronger relationship with Christ! He told us that it is that conversion that helps us stay very close to christ when others aren't able to. He told us a story from when he was on his mission and said that his I think mission president asked this hypothetical question, asking "would you fall away if one of the twelve apostles decieded the church wasn't true anymore?" ok I know that, that is a very drastic situation but if you are able to strengthan your testimony in Christ and deepen your conversion, if doesn't matter what happenens around you, you will know personally for yourself that the Church is true and that Christ is the center of this church and you will always do whatever he would do. Something that I like to think about a deepening conversion is that the tie you have with our Heavenly Father and Christ as you first start our your testimony and conversion unto Him is like a piece of string, it is very weak as you begin but through daily study of him, doing what he would do and testifying of the things you know to me true and as your conversion becomes stronger so does the piece of string that binds you to him, that piece of string I believe as your conversion unto Him becomes stronger begins to become more than a piece of string but more like a metal chain or as strong as the iron rod, which is very hard to break.


Another thing that he talked about was the charcteristics of Christ and how we need to daily strive to learn about those characteristics so that we can become more like Him day, by day. One of the characteristics that Elder Bednar told us about was how Christ was always turning outward and cared for the people around Him and never turned inward and thought about himself. Think about the story in Matt. right after his 40 day fast and the situation He had with satan, he must have been very tired and if it were me I would be thinking about myself at that moment but He didn't, it says that angels came and ministered unto him, but if you look in the footnotes you will see that it wasn't Christ that the angels were ministering unto, Christ knew that John the Baptist was in jail and Christ sent those angels to minister unto John, even during a situation like that Christ always turned outward and cared about others and not himself. Elder Bednar told us that the reason we turn in is because of the natural man that is in each of us, he related the natural man to the cookie monster from Sesame Street, "I want cookie now", I just want to add the voice he said along with that was awesome and very funny, especially when he related it to us as missionaries saying, "I want baptism now" "I want investigator now" haha! but in all seriousness we should all do our best to continually think outward and think of others more than ourselves, to become like Christ we can't think "I want" we need to tell ourselve "What do they need." Elder Bednar talked about some very amazing things and I hope that I can and that all who reads this, (Which I hope it makes sense cause I don't have time to read through it) will be willing to worry and think about others and learn about Christ; I like to think that as we learn more about Christ, we become more like Him, and when we become like Him, we become someone he can trust and we are instruments in His hands.


I'm very sorry but I'm running out of time again, but I want you to know that Christmas was amazing and that the Spirit I felt was so amazingly strong, It was such a special opportunity to have my complete focus on Him throughout the whole day. I hope that everyone can think about Him in their lives always! Remember He is always there for you! Ok I have to go, our district has been asked to clean the temple today!!! can you say mucho animado!!! I want you to know I love you all so much and I hope all is well!!


Love Always and Forever!

Hermana Aubrey Jo England

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