Well family, and this includes Courtney Elise
King,
I don’t
have one idea how to start this letter. Oh man, I don’t even know what to
say right now. I am sitting here with tears streaming down my face and my
heart is pounding all weird and I feel happy and sad and amazed and surprised
and not surprised. I just read the email that Court’s going on a mission,
too.
I really don’t know what to say.
The gospel's actually true. Sometimes I will just be going throughout the day and I just get this weird feeling all over me, and I’m seriously stopped in my tracks and I think, "It's real."
Joseph Smith actually saw God in the Sacred Grove. He restored the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is actually our Savior. And He prophesied that a great and marvelous work was about to come forth and that the gospel would be spread to all the world.
And look at what's going on.
Oh my goodness, look at what's going on! Amelia, Courtney, all the missionaries who are getting ready to go- we're doing it! It’s all coming true.
It's real, real, real.
We're children of Heavenly Father. We lived with Him before this life, and now here we are, all in the middle of our big adventure on this beautiful earth, our big chance to become like Father. And the Savior, Jesus Christ, came here and lived on the earth and performed the Atonement. He unified His soul with ours and offered to become our truest Friend, to be there for us during this experience, to give us His spirit and love and support at all times when we need it Through the Spirit, which we receive after our baptism in His name, we have His help in the moments when we fail, when we are weak and confused and even bad. He lifts us up and forgives us and encourages us. And with His help, and only through His help, we make it through this life. And after this life, we'll be back with Them. For the moment, we've got all kinds of help. We've got an actual prophet, real apostles, scriptures, and incredibly, we have prayer.
The reality of everything is that the distance between us and heaven is pretty much zero. Life’s so much better than we think it is. It’s so much bigger and fascinating and important and beautiful than we think it is. We're literally children of God. We get to become like Him, and we know how to do it, and we have the Savior to help us.
That’s the gospel! That’s why we're going on missions. Hallelujah!
A few little thoughts/experiences from this week:
- Remember how grossed out I am by the dogs around here? Not anymore. For some reason, my heart is changing. I love them. And I feed them leftovers every day. And they know me, and we are friends. It feels good to be nice to sick dogs.
- There are some punk teenagers who hang out at the bus stop with a big boom box like they are just the coolest cats in town. You know, gold in your mouth, hat turned sideways, all that jazz. And what do they boom from their boom box? Any Man of Mine by Shania Twain. I will not deny that this makes me laugh out loud every time, and I absolutely love it.
- Last night I was lying in bed and I realized that I could not remember what anyone wore yesterday at church. No one. I didn’t pay attention to a single outfit. Isn’t that kind of cool? It just doesn’t cross my mind anymore to pay attention to how people are dressed. That’s a cool thing.
- I found some nesquik in our cupboard. Despite the fact that it is blasted hot and I sleep all sprawled out on my bed without even a sheet to cover me, I drink a cup of hot cocoa before bed. Because I am still me.
- I prefer to read my scriptures in French than in English.
- The other day I looked out at the ocean and realized that it is not just a bunch of water! It is full of fish and whales and dolphins and octopuses and crazy creatures! I thought, I wonder how many times I look at something and think it’s a bunch of water, when really it is full of beautiful, fascinating, cool stuff.
I love you all with all my heart!
Happy week!
-Soeur Mann
I really don’t know what to say.
The gospel's actually true. Sometimes I will just be going throughout the day and I just get this weird feeling all over me, and I’m seriously stopped in my tracks and I think, "It's real."
Joseph Smith actually saw God in the Sacred Grove. He restored the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is actually our Savior. And He prophesied that a great and marvelous work was about to come forth and that the gospel would be spread to all the world.
And look at what's going on.
Oh my goodness, look at what's going on! Amelia, Courtney, all the missionaries who are getting ready to go- we're doing it! It’s all coming true.
It's real, real, real.
We're children of Heavenly Father. We lived with Him before this life, and now here we are, all in the middle of our big adventure on this beautiful earth, our big chance to become like Father. And the Savior, Jesus Christ, came here and lived on the earth and performed the Atonement. He unified His soul with ours and offered to become our truest Friend, to be there for us during this experience, to give us His spirit and love and support at all times when we need it Through the Spirit, which we receive after our baptism in His name, we have His help in the moments when we fail, when we are weak and confused and even bad. He lifts us up and forgives us and encourages us. And with His help, and only through His help, we make it through this life. And after this life, we'll be back with Them. For the moment, we've got all kinds of help. We've got an actual prophet, real apostles, scriptures, and incredibly, we have prayer.
The reality of everything is that the distance between us and heaven is pretty much zero. Life’s so much better than we think it is. It’s so much bigger and fascinating and important and beautiful than we think it is. We're literally children of God. We get to become like Him, and we know how to do it, and we have the Savior to help us.
That’s the gospel! That’s why we're going on missions. Hallelujah!
A few little thoughts/experiences from this week:
- Remember how grossed out I am by the dogs around here? Not anymore. For some reason, my heart is changing. I love them. And I feed them leftovers every day. And they know me, and we are friends. It feels good to be nice to sick dogs.
- There are some punk teenagers who hang out at the bus stop with a big boom box like they are just the coolest cats in town. You know, gold in your mouth, hat turned sideways, all that jazz. And what do they boom from their boom box? Any Man of Mine by Shania Twain. I will not deny that this makes me laugh out loud every time, and I absolutely love it.
- Last night I was lying in bed and I realized that I could not remember what anyone wore yesterday at church. No one. I didn’t pay attention to a single outfit. Isn’t that kind of cool? It just doesn’t cross my mind anymore to pay attention to how people are dressed. That’s a cool thing.
- I found some nesquik in our cupboard. Despite the fact that it is blasted hot and I sleep all sprawled out on my bed without even a sheet to cover me, I drink a cup of hot cocoa before bed. Because I am still me.
- I prefer to read my scriptures in French than in English.
- The other day I looked out at the ocean and realized that it is not just a bunch of water! It is full of fish and whales and dolphins and octopuses and crazy creatures! I thought, I wonder how many times I look at something and think it’s a bunch of water, when really it is full of beautiful, fascinating, cool stuff.
I love you all with all my heart!
Happy week!
-Soeur Mann
