One Year

October 05, 2020

One Year

Hello hello!

Haha this week felt like a thousand years, but that's how it is when you're learning something new!! We did so many things this week... from meeting with the other Sister missionaries in our Zone (as a Sister Training leader we help make sure all the Sisters in our area are doing ok), to teaching LOTS of lessons (this area is a lot more phone work), to some new meetings that I had no idea were even a thing haha! Plus... I hit ONE YEAR in the mission this week!!!!

It really is crazy to think that this whole past year of my life has been dedicated to serving my Heavenly Father and His son (+ a random surgery and some covid stuff, but ya know)!! With this milestone coming up, and all these new things coming at me this past week, I really reflected on some of the biggest lessons I have learned throughout this past year. Here's the biggest lesson I think I've learned: joy does not come because everything is going your way... joy comes because you know what it feels like to have things not go your way. In other words... because you go through hard things and down times, the more you are enabled to recognize, appreciate, and enJOY the good times!

This past year has not been one I would look back on and say "wow, that was so fun!" haha... not to be negative, but really! Missions aren't easy and a lot of trial comes with the growth. But, I WOULD look back at this year and say that I had some of the most joyous moments of my life. Why? Because Heavenly Father truly does allow opposition in all things (2 Nephi 2:13).

One of our favorite scriptures to share with people, about missionary work, comes from Alma 28 in the Book of Mormon. Verse 8 is specifically talking about some missionaries... "And this is the account of Ammon and his brethren, their journeyings in the land of Nephi, their sufferings in the land, their sorrows, and their afflictions, and their incomprehensible joy..." This scripture states so clearly the course of a mission... suffering, sorrow, and afflictions... but also incomprehensible JOY!! I will never forget the moments I saw someone understand what the Book of Mormon really WAS for the first time, or how amazed someone is when we show them a picture of modern day prophets and apostles, or when they say a prayer for the first time and get so excited afterwards, or when someone we've been praying for, for MONTHS, finally accepts an invitation to be baptized, or when someone calls US to tell us they can't stop thinking about the good feeling they get when they talk to us... THAT, that is joy!!!!!

This past weekend was General Conference, a meeting which is broadcast across the world for anyone who wants to listen to modern day prophets and apostles speak. Two of my favorite themes came from our prophet Russell M. Nelson and another apostle, Henry B. Eyring. They both talked about the pathway of discipleship. Some of the main sources of JOY in our life are to "let God's will prevail" and to continuously strive to become more like Jesus Christ. The thing about that last one is that because Jesus Christ's life was by no means easy, the road to becoming like him won't be easy either. But, when we stay focused on Him as the source of our strength, we will find joy along the way.

Getting ready to watch Conference with our German Pancakes

I wouldn't trade anything for the experiences I have had on my mission so far. I am convinced that God needed me to come out here because He needed me to grow and become better than I was. The one thing that has been made unshakable in my testimony over this last year, would be that I truly know that my Savior lives. I know it. I know it because I've felt him by my side, helping me literally move forward when I could not do it on my own. He has carried me as I know he carries each one of you. He's helped me do a year of this selfless service and now I just pray he'll help me finish strong:)

Talk to you next week,

Hermana Leonard