Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Glitter and Farewells

What is up, my friends?! It's been quite the week!

We did service on Tuesday with Feeding the Gulf Coast. We packed up a bunch of produce and canned foods from a food convention thing (that's the technical term, yes) and sent it to the food bank! It was so much fun, and so rewarding!

We have two new missionaries in the Biloxi District. Elder Ahanonu has been blessed with a son from Boise, Idaho, named Elder Scoresby -- fresh out of the Mexico MTC! And Elder Hughes has been given Elder Hunt, who I served with in the Hattiesburg Zone!

The Gulfport Zone is also happy to welcome our new Zone Leader -- Elder Bledsoe! Do y'all remember him? I served with him in the Jackson Zone! That was literally forever ago. He is now blessing the lives of those in Gulfport, and Elder Smith has been swept away to the land of Shreveport, Louisiana!

Speaking of Louisiana, flooding has hit Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I've been told that the damage from that flood has been worse than the damage from Hurricane Katrina. (Although, not comparable to the damage done to New Orleans in Katrina, before y'all panic!) Please keep the folks in Baton Rouge in your prayers. Members of our congregations in Mississippi have been sent down to the people in Louisiana, which caused our meetings on Sunday to get cut down to only sacrament meeting. There's a lot of work to be done there -- do all you can to help, even if it's just prayers!

This week, we bid farewell to my mission mom, Sister Harrison. She's Hana Harrison now! Weird! Sister Barney has also gone home! WHAT! And Sister Nash! Sister Williams! Sister Kay! So many people I know and love have now finished their time as full-time missionaries. Their service was well-spent and will be well-rewarded.

This week, I've learned a lot about people, about the Lord, about our desires has children of God. We are all just where God needs us to be right now. He puts us in the right places just at the right times -- and I'm sure I say that every week, but my testimony of that grows stronger with every passing week.

Heavenly Father loves us and all of our infirmities. I won't waste any time beating around the bush today. God loves you. He loves me. I have things about me that I don't particularly enjoy about myself. We all do. Heavenly Father has blessed me with an anxiety disorder that likes to jumble my world around sometimes. Heavenly Father gave that to me for a reason. It's a trial, and that's okay. He loves me anyway.

Sometimes we get through a trial. Sometimes we repent. Sometimes we relapse; we fall back; we try to catch ourselves, and we don't. We're lying flat on our backs, surrounded by darkness, staring into the night sky of our spiritual depression wondering where we went wrong. We feel the adversary closing in on us, and we feel as though we deserved this. We messed up. We disappointed our Father in Heaven. We caused our Savior to suffer. We are stuck; we are ineligible for forgiveness.

That last part is incorrect. Most of that was incorrect. That is the adversary working hand-in-hand with the natural man. He is lying to you. He is the father of lies, after all; he knows what he's doing.

If you are in this darkness; if you feel in yourself that you are somehow exempt from mercy and love, I want to rebuke you and tell you to stop.

Heavenly Father is not disappointed in you. He does not agree with our decisions, but He does not hate us for them. He is the utmost example of a patient parent.

Heavenly Father wants you to come back to Him. That is literally the entire point of our being here. You are supposed to mess up so you can learn how to be better. You are supposed to stumble so that the Savior can reach out to catch you.

As Elder Bruce C. Hafen once said, "Because of the Atonement, we can learn from our mistakes without being condemned by them."

That is what I want you to realize. In that darkness where you fell, the Savior is behind you -- bearing you up. He will not desert you. He will not forsake you.

He will never leave you in darkness.

Do not believe you are nonredeemable. Do not believe you cannot be better than you are. Do not ever believe the lie that whispers that God has forsaken His love for you.

He loves you.

Have a good week.

Be good.

Godspeed!

Sincerely,

Sister Rose


Sister Jones being a creeper

Sister Jones and I might have stolen the Zone Leaders' name tags. (Shhh. Tell no one.)

I wear the same shoes everyday. Can you tell?

Photo with the ZLs! I fit in because my shirt has flowers B) Left to Right: ME!, Elder Bledsoe, Elder Bennett, and Sister Jones

I don't think I've ever gotten a clear photo of all of us. Sister Jones and I are super epic.

Elder Bledsoe got really close to the camera, yo

This was the clearest photo we had of a district + ZLs photo. Left to right: Elder Hunt, Elder Ahanonu, Elder Scoresby, Elder Houston, Elder Roberts, Elder Bledsoe, Elder Hughes, Elder Bennett. (NEXT ROW!) Sister Steadman, Sister Lindberg, Elder Bingham, Elder Tenifa, and then the invisible Sister Jones and Sister Rose

 The Jonesasaur in her natural habitat.

Us at service!



3 comments:

  1. I asked permission from your mom to share some of your words with a newly returned missionary in our ward who is going through a very tough trial (Sister Jones can tell you about it). I received a text back from his mom thanking me for sharing. Just thought I would let you know that you are even touching lives here in Utah. <3

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  2. ROSE! YOUR FOOT TAN LEVEL IS OVER 9000! I'M SO JEALOUS YOU JEWISH QUEEN! AHHHHHHHHH!

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