I received a letter this week from a sweet friend of mine; through her letter she bore her testimony of God's personal plan for her. At the start of the school year, this friend of mine was disappointed that she was semi denied a wonderful opportunity she had had the year before. She was a bit disappointed, and I tried comforting her by explaining how I had gone through the same thing, but in years to follow, I saw that it was for a wiser purpose. She wrote, "I'm going to leave on my mission in the next few months!!! You probably know that President Monson announced that the mission age for girls has changed from 21 to 19, this will be a great blessing for me. Now, I think I know the reason I [was denied the opportunity]. I remember when I told you that I didn't make it you told me that God knew what he was doing. I understand now that you were right! I could have never imagined that me going on a mission was the reason!" Her testimony strengthened mine greatly, and helped me to see just how mindful of each of us our Heavenly Father truly is.
A big part of what we do as missionaries is knock on people's doors and get to know them, especially asking them questions like, "What do you think the purpose of life is? really." There are only a few who can even produce an answer, most are confused about the question, and haven't actually given much thought to the question. If I can cause someone to really ponder the answers to these questions, I consider it a successful contact. :]
We taught Victoria the Plan of Salvation this week. The plan of happiness that God has for each of us. Maritza ( a member of the ward) came to one of our lessons and taught something really powerful to Victoria. She explained, "every time your face a trial or tough challenge in your life, no preguntas, 'por que a mi?" pero pregunta, 'para que?'" Don't ask "why me?" ask, "for what purpose?"
Victoria absorbed every thing we taught her about the plan and after we had finished explaining it all to her she said, "I think this is the most important thing you've taught me." We helped her to gain an eternal perspective, helped her to understand WHY what we teach is so important, and she was able to see just how perfect God's plan really is, how much he loves us, and why we are here on earth. It's a simple, plain, and precious truth.
The plan has been on my mind this week, and as I was preparing a discussion for district meeting this week I came across a really great article in the Ensign from the January 2012 issue. It's an article written by Elder Stanley G. Ellis titled, "The Book of Mormon and God's Plan for Us." He opened by writing, "One of the common themes of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that God has a plan. It is described with various names reflecting its various parts--the plan of happiness, the plan of mercy, the plan of redemption, the plan of salvation (see Alma 42:5-31).
Nowhere is the plan more clearly defined and taught than in the Book of Mormon. In fact, a good way to study the Book of Mormon this year is to look for what it says about that plan and about what that plan means for us."
I made a pact to start studying the Book of Mormon for the rest of this year in the way that Elder Stanley advised. The plan is SO wonderful. It's amazing to see and gain a testimony of just how involved our Heavenly Father is in the details of the fabric of our lives. I know he loves us on an individual basis, and I know that there are no coincidences. I love you all!
Con todo mi amor,la hermanita Flores
p.s.
burst of happiness for the week. The postman is my BFF. No but really.
This week we were visiting a ward member and I told my companion hey, look it's the postman, honk at him. We honked waved hi and drove down the street. five minutes later, he drove all the way down clear out of his route to hand deliver my Halloween package (p.s. thanks mom!). He's a funny guy. I love our postman, and he always laughs when I invite him to church because he says, "you are the 1,000 person to invite me." I always tell him, "yeah, but I'll be the only one who actually gets you there!" We'll see how things go....
We have cleaning checks once each transfer. If you get a 10 on your cleaning check, you're given a case of water and fruit. Guess who got a ten this week? THESE hermanitas.
We had a cereal party today for Pday. Elder Ho Ching and Elder Weeks brought the milk, we provided the honey bunches.
Our living room turns into a makeshift clothesline when the dryer decides to stop working. -__-
Our ward had a "Festival de Otoño" this weekend! Here's a picture of us and Maritza with her hija! As missionaries we were asked to put together a little game for the niños to play. Our solution: a missionary obstacle course involving putting on a dress shirt, running to one side, putting on a tie, running back, and then handing out a restoration pamphlet. creative no? :)
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Leave a lovely little letter.