Come unto Christ and be perfected in Him

29 June 2015

My new companion is Hna. Peabody! She's from Park City, Utah and she is amazing! She didn't even know she was being transferred until transfer meeting! They called out her name and she said, "Wait, what?" Usually, we get the call two nights before that we're being transferred, but the assistants forgot to tell her district leader, so he told her she was staying. So it was a good thing it was a whole mission conference because if it wasn't, she wouldn't had known she was getting transferred, and I would have been companionless! But, she was there, so it was good. 

We had a dinner appointment, so we went to that and then went back to her old apartment to pack her up. We got home late, but we got everything except the toothbrush and the toothpaste! Those we just bought the next day. Also, we took home 2 elders in our car (yes, we are allowed to take elders to and from meetings) and 3 bikes from transfer meeting-two for the Chinese elders and one for the Russian elders. Now I know how to work a bike rack! :) We had to take it off as soon as we were done delivering the bikes because Virginia law says it's illegal to have a bike rack on if you don't have any bikes on it! The elders helped us to do that. Thank heavens for the elders!

But, yeah, we're getting along great! She's still kind of in shock from being transferred on such short notice, but she's settling in well. This is her second area.

One of the great things about goals, beyond the fact that they're not set in stone, is that often God has us set goals higher than we can reach, but He has us set those higher goals because He knows we wouldn't get to where He needs us to be if He didn't have us set those goals. When I learned that, I realized that was why I didn't make many of my goals before my mission. God helped me to set higher goals than I could reach so that I would get to where He wanted me to be, even though I felt horrible that I didn't reach those goals. Now I understand better about goal-setting, and I'm not too scared to set them anymore. :) I'm still scared, but not too much! :)

I also forgot in my email last week about how we can achieve goals. Because the ultimate goal is to be like Christ, but how do we do it? Moroni 10:32 has the answer: "Come unto Christ and be perfected in him." I love John Bytheway's explanation about this. He quotes someone about a "spiritual dyslexia" and then says "It's like not going into the doctor because you're too sick. Can you just hear the doctor?--'Mr. Jones, you look terrible. Why didn't you come in sooner?' 'I couldn't come in, doctor, I was too sick!' And the doctor says, 'but I help sick people.' Or like not going into the orthodontist because your teeth aren't straight--'What happened to your teeth?' 'Well, I couldn't come in with crooked teeth, so I straightened out my incisors with the pliers!' And the orthodontist says, 'But that's what I do.' It's not fix your car and then take it into the mechanic-- 'Honey, I can't take our car to the mechanic! Do you want him to hear the squeaky fan belt? Have you no shame?!' Then they get there and the mechanic asks, 'why does it smell like I-hop in here?' 'Oh, I put bacon grease on the fan belt.' And then the mechanic says, 'but why didn't you come to me? I fix cars! That's what I do!' It's not stop the bleeding, set the bone straight, stitch yourself up, and then go to the ER--'Dude, did you stitch yourself up with fishing line?!' 'Yeah, I couldn't find the stapler. Or the duct tape.' And the paramedics are going, 'But that's our job. That's what we do.' And this one--'Honey, I thought you were sick and asked your sister to come help you clean the house.' 'Yeah, but I don't want her to see the house in this condition!' 'But that's what housekeepers do!' And too many of us think that we have to be perfect before we come unto Christ, and Christ is saying, 'no. You'll be perfected in me. That's what I do.'" That's why I'm so grateful for the Atonement, because I know I can change through it and eventually be perfected in Him.

There's another baptism coming up! Last night, I accidentally locked us out of the apartment (left the keys on my desk), so we walked to the church while we were waiting for the elders to come bring a spare key and I got a call from some Hermana missionaries from my last area and they said, "Gilberto wants to talk to you!" So Giberto got on the line and he said, "Hermana Brown, I told you before you left that you would be the first missionary to know when I was getting baptized. I'm picking my date right now." And he picked July 18! I'm so excited! He's come such a long way! He'll need all the prayers he can get, though, so please pray for him. 

President Riggs and his family are leaving this week! From what I understand, President Huntsman and his family will fly in, and he and President Riggs will spend one day together, and then President Riggs and his family will fly out! We're going to miss President Riggs, but we know President Huntsman is going to be just as great!

So, I have a confession to make, and that is that mother knows best. I know you warned me to be well-hydrated and drink lots of electrolytes, and I thought I was doing really well! But last Monday, we taught a lesson outside, in the hot humidity, and I almost passed out. Then the next day, after district meeting, we went back home and I slept the whole day. And I feel bad because it was Hna. Mensinger's birthday! But she was ok with it. So, I'm repenting and drinking lots of water and Gatorade and the Emergen-C Now hna. Peabody is kinda suffering from heat, too, so we'll work through it together! :)