wow. another mind blowing week. This week i have been doing an in depth study of Godliness: the quality of living a Godly life, devout holy, sanctified, and essentially in the world BUT NOT OF IT. I have also been doing an in depth study of CHARACTER- and the more I study it, the more i see the complexity and importance of our character, and the more my desire to have the character God would approve of has sky-rocketed. I wrote this this morning- I have learned that character takes:
c-courage
h-hope and honesty
a-ageny CONSISTENTLY used for good. every right choice you make, unseen by all but God, everyday, THAT is what develops character. everyday I get up at 6:30 am with a pounding headache or not- my character grows- everytime you read your scripture or choose to serve or not watch an inappropriate movie, your character solidifies a little more. Every time I kneel to pray instead of stand, or make another phone call or knock another door when I am drained, my character is deepened. that is how the Lord has shaped me on my mission- right choice by right choice- it is the same for all of us.
r- righteousness. pure desires and thirsting after truth and God's will
a-active faith. its not enough to just say it or think it- true faith requires ACTION- action is what biulds character.
c- confidence in the Lord and in yourself. "Search me O God and know my heart". Psalm 139:23 If we can be this open with the Lord, than he can purify and purge us from our fallen natures and all our "secret parts" will be known to Him and purged- THAT is true confidence before the Lord. This is what has increased my confidence within myself- knowing that God knows me bc I evaluate myself with Him each night.
t-true to God and self. this is where peace lies, when our actions are consistent with our beliefs.
e- effort and eternal perspective. when we make decisions based on ETERNAL TRUTHS, rather than circumstance or popular opinion, that builds character. this takes great effort and often requires us to sacrifice our comfort zone or pleasures that others indulge in- but it ALWAYS deepens character.
r- respect. respect for self and respect for others. respect precedes love for self and others- which is one of the greatest commandments- "love one another as I have loved you" so we must respect all men and ourselves first.
I know that suffering precedes sanctification. I know that sounds brutal! but it is worth it! Lorenzo Snow said, "He will try us and continue to try us, in order that he may place us in the highest positions in life and put upon us the most sacred responsibilities." I know this is true. I have learned this on my mission. I see that my whole life has actually been in preparation of my mission- its crazy- and i know that my mission is preparation for my future life, which is ultimately preparation to my eternal life, where I will continue to progress, as we all will. that is God's great and glorious plan!
Well- this week- I was really taught this. It was amazing. first of all- we had interviews with President- I love him so much. He is truly my father away from home.He knows me so well- I will really miss him.
second, big news!! We are meeting with Elder Ballard in 3 weeks!!!! March 8th we will be meeting with him in person, he wants to speak with us, and it will be for 2 hours!!!!!! I cried when we were told the news- I have been quoting that man for years and now I get to meet him in person! what a blessing and privilege. so yes- big news! I was excited to tell you.
Also, we had trade-offs and I went with a sister for a day who was struggling a lot ( I love her a lot) so I prayed all day that i would be strengthened so that I would know how to help her and so we could have a day of miracles. I prayed all day. Well- we did!! we ended up finding 6 New investigators, placed 3 BOM, and had 3 lessons contacting on campus- it was amazing! and she was so happy, she kept saying "I needed this day so bad- we haven't had a good day like this in forever! I needed this." It was the lord who gave us success and I told her that- I told her that they could have days like these all the time if they wanted and had the faith. I was so happy to see her so happy- I thanked the Lord all day. it was awesome!
I felt kind of sick on the exchange day but just kind of ignored it- but Then the next day after the exchange I was really sick- i was so nauseous/body achy I couldn't eat all day it was so awful. but we had a busy day so I just prayed all day for strength and we had great lessons. It lasted all day yesterday at church too- total agony- still couldnt eat bc my body aches were making me nauseous. but then i realized- this was God letting me prove and build my character- I think the old me would have curled up in a ball and complained and cried and slept- but I thought- how would I want my husband to handle this situation? what would be the admirable way of handling this? what does God want me to learn? so I just ignored it and we went from lesson to lesson- we got 5 new investigators: Rex (just out of jail, read the Book of Mormon in jail) and taught a man named Marlo the family Proclamation and he loved it so much he said he wanted to share with his whole family! we are going back to teach the family next week :) ! So my point is- i saw that as we worked through fatigue and physical pain, the Lord spiritually blessed our efforts even more and helped us have success. Izola is being baptized this saturday. And Cierra is being baptized next saturday!!!!!! so excited...we thought we were going to lose Izola bc when we taught her the Word of Wisdom she didnt like "no tea and coffee"- but we urged her to pray for understanding, (and we prayed too) and when we went back to see her (the day I was way sick) she announced that she had prayed- and she said that god told her, "you can choose: do you want tea and coffee or do you want MORE. More knowledge, more spiritual understanding, more blessings, closer to God" and she said, "I choose more, so I choose no tea and coffee and I choose to be baptized." me and sis. harris practically cried we were so relieved!!!! haha it was amazing. "sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven."
Now mom! I got your chocolate package!! we have been giving out to the kids and they love it!! thank you! love you all so much.
Much Love sister Bertoldo
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