Week 43 - Ceres, Hughson

Well this week was a hot one that's for sure.  We are drinking a lot because if we don't, we get a headache. 

The week started of interesting when we received a text from this man we contacted the week before asking if we could go out and get a drink or beer with him.  He sounded interested in our message when we first contacted him but I guess not.  The next time missionaries go by his house to follow up, they'll be elders.

I have pondered a lot about how the Gospel Blesses Families.  It's the second principle we teach as missionaries, right after God is Our Loving Heavenly Father. 

As I have spent time being a missionary, I have realized that most people struggle to place the Gospel on an individual basis.  Yes the gospel blesses everybody and yes it tends to make people happier, but how does the gospel change you.  As we have spent this past week speaking with many who are generational catholics, I have found a lack of personalizing the teachings of Jesus Christ.  Upon asking almost all of them 'How has the teachings of Jesus Christ blessed your life?' they then respond 'en todo' In everything.  It is something held at a very surface, superficial layer that has yet to reach the heart.  

Why is it so hard to apply it to ourselves? I believe that Satan really doesn't want us to apply it to ourselves. He wants us to be satisfied with believing that we don't need to recognize how it truly affects us as a person and our families.  

For me it's meant that although I don't want to let go of things in the past-it's required to progress. It's helped me realize that sure I disagree often but through counsel it can be resolved.  It made me realize that it's not so much about what I want but what my Heavenly Father wants.  He wants us to be happy and he let his son come to teach us that we may make the most of those teachings.

I invite you all to think on how the Gospel of Jesus Christ (or in other words His Teachings) has blessed your life and shaped you. 

The gospel is great for everyone. But really it allows us to have spiritual and miraculous experiences. Made not only for the blessing of ourselves but of our families.  That is how we got the scriptures..Just a bunch of spiritual experiences our forefathers had.  And it's here to bless us and strengthen us.

I invite you to write down in your journal sometime this week how the teachings of Jesus Christ, his gospel, has lightened your burdens, gave you more perspective, shaped your life, and lifted your family.

I know God loves us. I know as we individually apply the gospel of Jesus Christ which consists of Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end we will find ourselves happier and we will consider ourselves blessed.

I love you,

xoxo

Hermana Waters