Week 7(Nov 11, 2011): Needing to Rely on the Father

Dear family...

Mom, Dad, Jessica, Nick, Spencer, Caden, Grandma, Grandpa... and everyone else :)

I hope you are all doing well! I sure do love each of you. A week really does feel like only a day on the mission. I can't believe how fast time flies. Okay so what about this week..? Hmm -

Well for starters, this weeks devotional was given by Elder and Sister Gavarret. They both served missions in Paraguay and Uruguay and are from South America. Elder Gavarret is a member of the Quorum of the Seventy. Elder Gavarret was also the mission president of Paraguay Asuncion!! How neat is that? At the end of both of their talks, they bore testimony in Spanish and Guarani (the native language of the Paraguay people!) So afterwards, my district and I went up to talk to him and his wife and as they were leaving, Elder Gavarret said a bunch of things in Spanish, and we were all so nervous or SOMETHING that the only word in Spanish that we could remember was "gracias" which all 11 or so of us shouted to him in unison as he was leaving the gymnasium. I am sure he is worried now for President Callen... our mission president in Paraguay. Hahaha

Some of my favorite scriptures this week have been Ether 12 and 2 Nephi 4. I can't remember the verse in 2 nephi, but in it we are taught about how God created things to act and to be acted upon. A little background with this story...Okay and my companion, Hermana Willnauer got a letter the other day from a mutual friend who is serving a mission in Guatemala. She is always very happy but is really struggling in her mission. This just made me worried because I feel like a mission YES will be hard, but that it shouldn't be this thing that you are trying to "survive". Anyways... this was just another reason that I was grateful for my India trip. I had, before I left, promised Heavenly Father that I wasn't going to complain... not even the tiniest bit because I wanted to make sure that I got all that I could out of it. And I did that and I was able to feel the spirit so many times and learn so many lessons while I was there because of my Savior and because I decided That was the blessing that I wanted...

And it is the same and will be the same when I leave for the field in just two weeks. Heavenly Father has given us our agency... he has given us weaknesses for our benefit so that we can rely on Him and continue to be strengthened through His Son's atonement and we work faithfully and diligently. I know that this gospel is true and that our Father in Heaven loves us and has a perfect plan for each of his children. We are not alone. I love Him and I love my Savior. And I love you.

Te quiero,

Hermana Natasha Jones