Dearest Family and Friends,
Something I remember learning from one of my MTC teachers is that when you learn new things (or put things together and strengthen your testimony) while you're teaching, that's the Spirit. So just yesterday I really felt that. We had this great lesson with one of our less active sisters. Her situation is legitimately rough financially. She's a new member so she doesn't quite see how important and how real the gospel is yet. I shared the talk from conference by Elder Perry, I think, about the two different groups of people in the Book of Mormon. The Lord was slow to hear the cries of the first because of their iniquities, but God delivered the next group on the morrow because of their patience, faith, and humility. Then Sister Daclan shared this great scripture from Mosiah 2:22. We both shared our family experiences, and we both realized that we really wouldn't have gotten this far in our lives with these many blessings if it wasn't for the gospel. It's amazing, but God really does keep his promises.
And yesterday's church attendance was a miracle. I saw real sacrifice. One of our less actives came riding on a bike with a side car in the pouring rain. His wife was in the side car holding their granddaughter and an umbrella. A couple minutes later all their kids showed up. Another less active who has polio and can't really walk came with her younger daughter on crutches with the help of her older son. And some other whole families and members of families came, and it's just a really different feeling to go to church as a missionary. Your happiness kind of depends on how others use their agency. The fast and testimony meeting was also amazing because it was mostly youth (young men and young women ages 12-18) who bore their testimonies. Many of them are more active than their parents, and it's amazing to see what the seminary program is doing for their lives, and other experiences that they're having. The spirit was really strong, and Sister Daclan and I joked that we want to go back to seminary. (I was actually a horrible seminary student... :)
Something I remember learning from one of my MTC teachers is that when you learn new things (or put things together and strengthen your testimony) while you're teaching, that's the Spirit. So just yesterday I really felt that. We had this great lesson with one of our less active sisters. Her situation is legitimately rough financially. She's a new member so she doesn't quite see how important and how real the gospel is yet. I shared the talk from conference by Elder Perry, I think, about the two different groups of people in the Book of Mormon. The Lord was slow to hear the cries of the first because of their iniquities, but God delivered the next group on the morrow because of their patience, faith, and humility. Then Sister Daclan shared this great scripture from Mosiah 2:22. We both shared our family experiences, and we both realized that we really wouldn't have gotten this far in our lives with these many blessings if it wasn't for the gospel. It's amazing, but God really does keep his promises.
And yesterday's church attendance was a miracle. I saw real sacrifice. One of our less actives came riding on a bike with a side car in the pouring rain. His wife was in the side car holding their granddaughter and an umbrella. A couple minutes later all their kids showed up. Another less active who has polio and can't really walk came with her younger daughter on crutches with the help of her older son. And some other whole families and members of families came, and it's just a really different feeling to go to church as a missionary. Your happiness kind of depends on how others use their agency. The fast and testimony meeting was also amazing because it was mostly youth (young men and young women ages 12-18) who bore their testimonies. Many of them are more active than their parents, and it's amazing to see what the seminary program is doing for their lives, and other experiences that they're having. The spirit was really strong, and Sister Daclan and I joked that we want to go back to seminary. (I was actually a horrible seminary student... :)
Anyway. Sulit ang ebanghelyo ni Jesucristo. It means the gospel is worth it. And there's this quote from Elder Dallin H. Oaks' talk last conference that just sums it up: “A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation. … It [is] through this sacrifice, and this only, that God has ordained that men should enjoy eternal life.” I know this is true.
Mahal ko kayo,
Sister Cope
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