I'm trying to type quickly, but I only have about 45 minutes today! I really love you and want to share this amazing time of my life with you; all parts of it! I will admit sometimes I wish I could just call you up and tell you about my day. Please forgive my scattered thoughts though, I am becoming my mother's daughter and have billions of thoughts on my mind at once. It is a blessing and a curse :-)
I was actually thinking about this bit of research I've
been doing and wanted to share it with you, and I also want to hear your
thoughts on it. Last Thursday I was reading in Mosiah 15. Context is basically
Abinadi SLAYING King Noah for being all wicked, lazy and hypocritical (I
compare King Noah to the giant slug guy that captured Princess Leia on Star
Wars. I think his name is like Jumbo Fett or something hahahah). But in verse
27 it says, "For salvation cometh to none such [meaning the wicked
people]; for the Lord hath redeemed none such; yea, neither can the Lord redeem
such; for he cannot deny himself, for he cannot deny justice when it has its
claims".
Okay, immediately I thought of a BYU devotional given by
Brad Wilcox called "His Grace is Sufficient". It is an AMAZING talk.
Go listen to it right now if you haven't heard it! But I pondered for awhile
why it said that Christ would not redeem them... I grew up learning that Jesus
atoned for all of our sins! Now this scripture is saying that he didn't?!
What?!
I want to hear your interpretation, but here is what I
think: This is the key to understanding grace. He did, in fact, atone for all
of our sins. He paid the price for all of them. That means that He begged for
our sake to overcome the demands of justice, and as a result, we have the
opportunity to be cleansed of all of our sins. However, the Atonement of Christ
does not overwhelm our personal agency. I think that we completely control how
much we use this gift that he gave us through His blood. People that will not
repent, meaning they do not beg for mercy and ultimately change their behavior,
yet still believe they are saved, do not understand how they play their part.
It's the same as dad writing a check for an infinite sum of money and saying
"Here. Pay off all of your debts." I do so, and then I either 1. Feel
the freedom of being debt free and learn to better manage my money or 2. Expect
dad to pay all of my debts, and in the end I've learned absolutely nothing
about managing my money. So all in all, Christ made this sacrifice for us to
have the option to choose for ourselves good vs. evil. That's what this is all
about! We make mistakes along the way, hence the need for an atoning sacrifice,
but we are supposed to be learning and progressing! If we learn nothing and
stick to our same behaviors, it is all for naught!
It's hard for me to explain in written words, but I think
grace is so beautiful to study. Let me know your thoughts, though!
This week we started teaching a guy named Martin. Really
nice cool guy. Found out about us through mormon.org and Lindsey
Sterling (famous violinist. Also mormon). We went by his house on Tuesday to
give him the Book of Mormon he requested. He answered and we showed him the
book and his face immediately lit up! He was alone so we scheduled an appt.
with him for later so we could find a joint teach to come with.
Well, after calling the entire ward, we finally got two single
old men to come with us…when the missionaries ask you to do it, REALLY try to
go with because I'm 100% positive they are desperate... So the lesson went okay
except He brought out a beer and drank through our whole lesson. Hah yeah that
was funny we were like man, we have a message to share with you in a few weeks
;-) I so badly want him to accept the message we have because I KNOW it will
help turn his life around. It's obvious he isn't happy and needs to know his
purpose in life. I could already see him as a member of the church, active in
his calling.
We got to teach him two lessons this past week, and then
we invited him to church. He kind of half heartedly said that he'd come, so we
didn't expect much. But I still had hope that our investigators would come to
church on Sunday, and 2 of them did, 1 being Martin! It was so awesome. He
actually biked all the way there (that’s at least 10K up hill!). I sat by him
and prayed the whole time that even if I couldn't understand more than 40% of
what people were saying, that he would understand and feel something from it.
It was so cute, in the middle of one of the talks he said, "This is really
good. Would you like me to translate for you?" HE IS THE BEST. But from
what I did understand, all 3 of the speakers directly answered the questions
and concerns he had with life. He told me after that he felt a burden lift from
his shoulders. That is totally what the truth and happiness of the gospel of
Jesus Christ does!! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. I totally live for moments like
those.
We had interviews with the President last Thursday in
Leipzig! It was an all day thing, even though Sister Alton and I were first to
go! The new mission rule is that we have an interview with the president every
transfer, so he can get to know us a lot better. They are supposed to be about
15 minutes, but naturally mine was about 45... I went in their saying
"President! You have no need to worry about me. I'm happy, healthy, I love
my companion, area and family and I am overall good!" I know he deals with
a lot of problems, so I just put it on the table right away that I had no
intention of being that missionary. I asked a few questions to clarify rules
and then said I only ask because I told my parents and God that I would always
try to be the most obedient missionary I could be because the people need it!
Well, I think I must have given some type of impression because he asked me a
very hard question at the end. Since Sister Alton leaves after this transfer,
he said I have basically 2 options: 1. Bring another person, possibly one the
same age in the mission as me, to Zwickau or 2. Give me a brand spankin' new
trainee. YIKES YIKES YIKESSSSS. Yeah so that terrifies me, but I felt really
calm when he asked. I said that it would no doubt be difficult, but there isn't
anything I can't handle when I rely on God. So yes, I would be willing to.
Sooooo we will see if I get a new trainee or the President will have mercy on
me haha.
Yesterday, after church is when it all fell down the
waterfall... We had an eating appt. with a sister in the ward and her sister in
law (they are actually best friends now because both of their husbands who were
brothers died awhile ago and now they are family). We had a full-on 4 course
dinner. I'm talking salad, stuffed mushroom and spring roll , then a super
thick bowl of veggie soup THEN chicken, noodles and more mushrooms AND THEN ice
cream and homemade apple pear cake! Oh my gosh, my stomach was in so much pain
by the time we left. It's considered very rude not to eat a bunch when they
cook for us. After that 3 hour eating appt (they are a lot longer here), we
went to our investigators house for DRINKS AND PASTRY AND ICE CREAM. BUT WAIT
THERES MORE! We had studies with Jared and Janina after, and her mom made us
more cake. So, all in all, I'm pretty sure I ate a week’s worth of calories in
a period of 8 hours. It's hard when I don’t have time for a hard core work out
every day. So yes, pray for me. That was a lot of cake.
CONGRATULATIONS TO SARAJEFFTRAYSONLUCY!!!!! I actually
read her email at the mall this morning and burst into happy tears. I can't
believe the baby will be 8 months old by the time I get back. That kind of
stinks actually, but it's okay because my awesome family will keep me posted
:))))) I definitely already looked at cute little baby clothes this
morning....... AHHH
Also, I'm pretty sure Matt's birthday is on the 6th this
week. I don't have his email, so please give him a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAYYYYYYYYYY
for me! :-)
Love you a million wild blackberries!!
Sister Macey Ingalls
(the coolest daughter you'll ever have)
No comments:
Post a Comment