Sanctification

"Nevertheless they did ^afast and ^bpray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their^chumility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the ^dpurifying and the ^esanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their ^fyielding their hearts unto God." Heleman 3:35

dear family-

thank you so much for the letters they meant SO MUCH to me especially hearing your testimonies. this was a birthday unlike any other i have ever had or will ever have again- i have never felt more surrounded by love in my life. Many members had us over and were so thoughtful and kind- i received many cards and pictures from little girls, ballons, flowers, 6 cakes and 2 pies (most of which were carrot cakes, they were trying to be "healthy" for me hahaha - so sweet =)  most precious of all how ever was being able to spend a full day working and setting a baptismal date with Dion for Nov 2nd!! 

The weather here is now amazing- perfect in fact. the anticipated hurricane passed us by so we were spared of evacuation. We experienced some trials this week. Well this week was general conference- and much needed- nearly all that was said addressed my plea for help. As president Monson said- "will you falter or finish?" and as Elder Bednar stated, "sometimes we pray for relief- but instead god gives increased RESOLVE AND RESILIENCE." resolve and resilience- that is what I need. Richard G. Maynes described "spiritual stamina" and prompted "get into spiritual shape!! run with patience the race of life!" It seems I have traded marathon running and intense physical endurance training for an equally intense training of spiritual endurance. The latter is far more difficult, because it requires ALLLLLL and cannot be feigned, however that is fitting because it is of INFINITE more worth and value in an eternal sense. Meekness was also discussed a great deal- meekness. humility. teachable. submissive. willing to YIELD ourselves to god and his will. That is what i must do, pray for spiritual stamina. 

   And how does one  yield and submit themselves? how do we become sanctified? Helaman 3:35 answered this for me. I am in the throws of a deep doctrinal study of every aspect of that verse- it starts with prayer- then scripture study so "his words can become our words". I now see that when I become sanctified and yield my will entirely to God's- that is the moment when i will be who he wants me to be. that is how he will mold me. As president monson said, "God allows us to be pushed to our extent and to our full capacity so that we can  change. it is when we reach this point but press on that he can change us." Sanctification, purification, comes as we submit ourselves to GODS WILL and are willing to change our character to match HIS CHARACTER. the time is now. my time is now. any lessons we fail to learn the first time will have to repeated in this life or the next so i choose to learn mine now! 

We had 2 investigators watch conference with us, which was really amazing- JC was Sunday afternoon and Dion was Sunday morning. We also had 4 less actives come to watch conference with us on Saturday. I cherish this opportunity to be a missionary during general conference- what a joy that was! and a privilege- I am grateful. We also placed 2 book of mormons this week- one of which is kind of a cool story- we were out driving and saw this guy sitting outside with a little kid on his lawn and felt prompted to stop. As we did we shared with him about the church- our belief in christ- we introduced the book of mormon to Him and he accepted it- that was a sweet moment. This is a great work- of the utmost importance and value. these are god's children! they need what we have just as much as we do! I know that as I sanctify myself and yield my heart even more to god, holding nothing back, the work here will be blessed. we will be endowed with greater power. And that alone is reason enough to do so. I love you all very much. I love this work and I love you all. Most of all I love my Savior.

much  love 

sister b