My dear family and friends,
I now bear my solemn testimony that time flies like no other. I can't believe my time in the MTC is already half gone! While there have been hard times as I've jumped into the missionary schedule and language learning, it's overall been a wonderful experience.
Speaking of wonderful experiences, how about that conference! I look forward to conference so much now, and this conference didn't disappoint. We watched all the general sessions as well as a rebroadcast of the General Women's meeting this weekend, so I was very spiritually fed. I wish I could share all of my thoughts with you, but for sake of time, I'll stick with just a few. Elder Uchdorf's talks are always wonderful, and his thoughts about revelation and understanding were particularly poignant to us as missionaries because this is what we want for our investigators. It was the same with Elder Bednar's talk- he really hit a home run in describing why it is that we want to share the gospel. That is why I'm here right now. I especially loved when Elder Bednar said, "Absolute truth exists in a world that increasingly disdains and resists absolutes." What an amazing fact that is! Absolute truth, which will never change and will always be there for us to find when we seek it. Another awesome moment was from Jorg Kieblingat said that we must acknowledge and face our weaknesses, but not be immobilized by them, because some of them will be our companions throughout this life. That definitely caused me to ponder a bit, since as missionaries with high expectations we are definitely exposed to our own weaknesses, and that can be disheartening. Of course we are told in Ether than those can become strengths, but we don't always see how we are improving, and some weaknesses feel like they just never go away. This thought that they may be our companions throughout this life was, in a strange way, a bit encouraging, because I could remove a little of the frustration I feel over them. Yes I should still work on turning my weaknesses into strengths, but it won't happen all at once and maybe not even until after death, so I just need to be patient with myself. There are so many other great talks, but I will refrain from rehashing them all for you. I would encourage everyone to read and reread Elder Holland's talk, though; we can all afford to show a little more kindness and charity in our lives.
So, one other thing about conference. Most of you males out there will probably have noticed that there was a small solo in the last song of the Priesthood session? Well, that was Elder Hunter, who is one of the two elders in my district. I feel sort of like I know a celebrity. This same Elder Hunter is also the kid playing the piano in the 2014 "Come Unto Christ" song that was produced for the youth, and he had a small part in helping to write that song. Crazy! Seriously though, everyone in my district is so amazing. We all work really well together and support each other, which is wonderful.
I'm afraid I don't have a ton of personal things to report, just working onward and upward here in the MTC! Not much changes as far as the schedule from day to day, although we did have our first TRC session this week! Basically, that means that we get to talk with people who actually speak Dutch in a simulated home/visiting teaching sort of thing, in that we share a spiritual thought and converse with them in Dutch. I was a little nervous, but they were all these sweet older people from the Netherlands who were so happy to talk with us. So fun!
Well, I'm out of time for today. Hopefully I'll have more to write about next week, and I love you all!
-Zuster Jensen
I now bear my solemn testimony that time flies like no other. I can't believe my time in the MTC is already half gone! While there have been hard times as I've jumped into the missionary schedule and language learning, it's overall been a wonderful experience.
Speaking of wonderful experiences, how about that conference! I look forward to conference so much now, and this conference didn't disappoint. We watched all the general sessions as well as a rebroadcast of the General Women's meeting this weekend, so I was very spiritually fed. I wish I could share all of my thoughts with you, but for sake of time, I'll stick with just a few. Elder Uchdorf's talks are always wonderful, and his thoughts about revelation and understanding were particularly poignant to us as missionaries because this is what we want for our investigators. It was the same with Elder Bednar's talk- he really hit a home run in describing why it is that we want to share the gospel. That is why I'm here right now. I especially loved when Elder Bednar said, "Absolute truth exists in a world that increasingly disdains and resists absolutes." What an amazing fact that is! Absolute truth, which will never change and will always be there for us to find when we seek it. Another awesome moment was from Jorg Kieblingat said that we must acknowledge and face our weaknesses, but not be immobilized by them, because some of them will be our companions throughout this life. That definitely caused me to ponder a bit, since as missionaries with high expectations we are definitely exposed to our own weaknesses, and that can be disheartening. Of course we are told in Ether than those can become strengths, but we don't always see how we are improving, and some weaknesses feel like they just never go away. This thought that they may be our companions throughout this life was, in a strange way, a bit encouraging, because I could remove a little of the frustration I feel over them. Yes I should still work on turning my weaknesses into strengths, but it won't happen all at once and maybe not even until after death, so I just need to be patient with myself. There are so many other great talks, but I will refrain from rehashing them all for you. I would encourage everyone to read and reread Elder Holland's talk, though; we can all afford to show a little more kindness and charity in our lives.
So, one other thing about conference. Most of you males out there will probably have noticed that there was a small solo in the last song of the Priesthood session? Well, that was Elder Hunter, who is one of the two elders in my district. I feel sort of like I know a celebrity. This same Elder Hunter is also the kid playing the piano in the 2014 "Come Unto Christ" song that was produced for the youth, and he had a small part in helping to write that song. Crazy! Seriously though, everyone in my district is so amazing. We all work really well together and support each other, which is wonderful.
I'm afraid I don't have a ton of personal things to report, just working onward and upward here in the MTC! Not much changes as far as the schedule from day to day, although we did have our first TRC session this week! Basically, that means that we get to talk with people who actually speak Dutch in a simulated home/visiting teaching sort of thing, in that we share a spiritual thought and converse with them in Dutch. I was a little nervous, but they were all these sweet older people from the Netherlands who were so happy to talk with us. So fun!
Well, I'm out of time for today. Hopefully I'll have more to write about next week, and I love you all!
-Zuster Jensen
Zusters Jensen and Fleming
No comments:
Post a Comment