Why hello! MELISSA WHAT?!?!?! AHHHH!!! I wanna meet him! Someone, tell him to write me a letter! Marriage trumps mission if God tells you so.
One of Peter's biggest concerns is prayer. And in studying and reflecting upon prayer, I have come to feel such gratitude for the relationship I have been able to develop with by Beloved Father in Heaven. I love Him. I feel so close to Him and to His Son, my Savior. President Monson said, "Not a day has gone by that I have not communicated with my Father in Heaven through prayer. It is a relationship I cherish - one I would literally be lost without. If you do not now have such a relationship with your Father in Heaven, I urge you to work toward that goal. As you do so, you will be entitled to His inspiration and guidance in your life." I am so grateful that I can continue in learning more about Him, in coming to truly know Him and love Him, and in striving to become more like Him through the incredible and "sacred privilege" of prayer. Oh how great is our Father in Heaven! What an honor it is that we can talk to Him. And what's most humbling of all, He, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Almighty God, He who governs the universe and the stars, He, the Omnipotent, Omniscient One, He is listening. And He listens with the all encompassing love of a perfect and loving parent. "Compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to God" (Dieter F. Uchtdorf).
Elder Packer (President Packer's son) and his lovely wife and companion spoke to our mission yesterday! And guess what! He remembers Grandpa Jeppsen :) He laughed and said he loved him and that he was their doctor for years. Oh how I wish I could describe just how powerful the Spirit was as they spoke. One of the many things I learned that I feel so prompted to write has to do with always keeping our hearts and minds open to the Spirit. Though we close our prayers, we should "pray unto the Lord [our] God continually" (Alma 62:21). We must never close our hearts and our minds to the Lord, but we must keep the channels open. We must learn the language of the Spirit and hear, understand, remember, act, and become as the signals come.
I love Lexi. I am so grateful to be blessed by my Father in Heaven with such wonderful friends and family who are so close to Him and so active in following the direction He gives them through the power of the Holy Ghost. She sent me an incredible talk by Lawrence E Corbridge (entitled "The Fourth Missionary") of which was I am so thankful for. Everyone, READ IT! Its a gazillion glorious pages, of scriptures expounded. He said, "You can't be happy if you don't WANT to do the things that lead to happiness, even if you do those very things."
Upon pondering about where I would be if I were not here serving a mission, I felt absolutely horrid. There is no other place I would rather be than here, no other work I would rather be doing. I want to do the Lord's will. Tho often I forget and become prideful, selfish, and foolish - I am so grateful for the power of the Atonement. I can change and I can align my will with the Lord's.
Elder Bednar said, "..Our rather routine emphasis on GOING misses the mark. The issue is not going to church, the issue is worshiping and renewing covenants as we attend church. The issue is not going to or through the temple, rather the issue is having in our hearts the spirit, the covenants, and the ordinances of the Lord's house. The issue is not going on a mission, rather the issue is becoming a missionary and serving throughout our entire life with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. It is possible for a young man to go on a mission and not become a missionary, and this is not what the Lord requires or what the church needs."
This applies with everything we do, with everything that the Lords asks of us. Just to go and do is not enough. But we must do so with all of our mind, with all of our might and strength, and with all of our heart. If we do not desire to be doing the Lord's will, though we still do it, it will profit us nothing.
Miracles? Of course! Heavenly Father is a God of miracles! So the evening before in nightly planning, I felt that we should go visit Afifa and Hebba after conference. But Sister Evans reminded me that we hadn't yet planned our study time. But after conference, I felt again that we needed to go check on Afifa and Hebba - so we started for their home. We saw this man out walking his dog and tho it was far from Afifa's place, we parked and hopped out to talk to him. We walked with him and through us, Heavenly Father was able to give dear Roger hope and comfort. And along the way to his home, Roger stopped to talk to his neighbor Erica - who is this adorable Brazilian mother of which we asked if we could come back after walking with Roger and she kindly agreed. Not only will we have the opportunity to teach Roger, but we were welcomed into Erica's home and had an INCREDIBLE and POWERFUL lesson! I love our dear Father in Heaven. This is His work and His glory, and I am so forever grateful to be apart of it.
LOVE SISTER JULIA JEPPSEN
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