Prove me now herewith

"Hi mom! I love you!" well that's what I imagined the caption to be ;-)

​

Here are some thoughts I shared with my sweet missionary in her last email.  

I was reading over the talk by Elder Jorg Klebingat from October conference (Approaching the throne of God with Confidence)

Here is the self-assessment he outlined in the talk “1) on a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your spiritual confidence with God? 2) Do you have a personal witness that your current offering as a Latter-day Saint is sufficient to inherit eternal life? 3) Can you say within your self that Heavenly Father is pleased with you? 4) What thoughts come to mind if you had a personal interview with your Savior one minute from now? 4b) Would sins, regrets, and shortcomings dominate your self image, or would you simple experience joyful anticipation? 5) Would you linger by the door or confidently walk up to Him?”

How did you rate yourself? If you didn’t rate yourself as high as you would like (that is the boat in which I found myself), Elder Klebingat outlined 6 steps to help us gain greater confidence before the Lord.

I will not expound on them, and save that for you to read from his talk.

“1) Take responsibility for your own spiritual well-being. (okay I could really expound on that one!)

2) Take responsibility for your own physical well-being....and for this I'd like to make excuses, but then I have to look back to number one.

3)Embrace voluntary, wholehearted obedience as part of your life. (In my world, treat obedience like a trip to ship wrecked beads! okay whoa, now I have to refocus)

4) Become really, really good at repenting thoroughly and quickly. (That one is my favorite, because that is the ONLY way for me to stay caught up with my repentance)

5) Become really, really good a forgiving! (Notice, it doesn't say quick, it says good. Sometimes quickly forgiving is the best way. Sometimes, in extreme cases, it takes healing your heart and soul before you are at a place to forgive. Just remember that it is for you, not for them. It is for your peace. They don't have to seek forgiveness from you for your soul to be healed and have the peace of our Savior because you forgive.)

Finally 6) Accept trials, setbacks and "surprises" as part of your mortal experience. (This doesn't mean that some of our trials are not brought own by our own poor decisions, but it also doesn't mean that ALL of them are.)

Food for thought.”

Here is Hermana Brightman’s email from 27 April 2015

Hello everyone! We have had some crazy experiences this week, but it's no wonder as this has been the craziest week of all so far. The days seemed like weeks but the week seemed like a day. We had two exchanges this week (I got to be with Hermana Schriener!! 2 MTC companions in one transfer!) and that was just the beginning of the craziness! ​

​Milagros. Milagros CADA DIA. Es maravilloso. No puedo explicar porque solo que hemos sidos obedientes. Y Dios guarde sus promesas. (Miracles. Miracles EVERY DAY. It's marvelous. I can't explain it other than we've been obedient. And God keeps His promises)

 ​"​prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.​" (Malachi 3:10, 3 Nephi 24:10)

​These scriptures are specifically in reference to the law of tithing, however, there are other instances where the Lord extends the invitation to us to prove His promises and blessings.​

"And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie...." (Enos 1:6) Another testimony I have gained in relation to that first scripture.

We have two new investigators. Bertha y Jose. Ella es la hija de nuestra investigadora Ignacia y Jose es el esposo de Bertha. Ellos tienen 3 hijas (Jenna, 7 or 8, Julie, 5, y Jackie, 2). Ellos regresaron a casa un dia cuando estabamos terminando una leccion con Ignacia y nos preguntaron si podriamos regresar una noche y enseñarles tambien! (She is the daughter of our investigator Ignacia and Jose is her husband. They have 3 daughters. They came home one day while we were finishing a lesson with Ignacia and asked if we could come back one night and teach them too!)

Vamos a empezar enseñando a Betzabeth otra vez! Ella nos mando un mensaje ayer y pregunto si podriamos empezar enseñandola otra vez este jueves que viene!!! Estoy tan tan TAN animada!!! (We're going to start teaching Betzabeth again! she sent us a text yesterday and asked if we  could start teaching her again this thursday! I'm very very VERY excited!!!!)

Isabel esta guardando sus compromisos!!! (Isabel is keeping her committments)

Y sabado, pasamos casi todo el dia haciendo servicio con la estaca. (Saturday we spent most of the day doing service with the stake) We painted houses and cleaned up yards, like the stake used to do in Phoenix every year! It was quite fun! We were there from 11-4!

Y palabras que estoy aprendiendo a vivir. (And words I am learning to live)

"When it goes bad it's my fault.

When it goes good it's your fault.

When it goes great it's our fault."

I feel these pictures need captions just as she included them. 

Hna Schriener and I contacted for like 2 hours. My knuckle started bleeding. i felt very accomplished.

Because I know mom worries about about what I'm able to eat. This was one of my lunches this week.