Monday, August 25, 2014

Sister Kelly Emails at the Local Library


Good Monday to all. From last Thursday to this Monday (today), so much has happened. Unfortunately, the keyboard at the library is super ghetto and annoying. Yes...I have become THAT missionary who emails at the local library. My patience is already on the line. Hmmm...patience...is that....a Christlike Attribute? It is???? NO WAYYY. What a coincidence, since Christlike Attributes are what I am gong to talk about today. And, if you're reading this and happen to not believe in Jesus Christ, no worries; this still applies to you :)

The manual we refer to a lot as missionaries is titled, "Preach My Gospel." In Chapter 6 of "Preach My Gospel, " there is an entire chapter dedicated to Christlike Attributes. These attributes are so important. My companion, Sister Savage and I have been teaching ward members as well as less-actives about these attributes and we challenged all of them to pick one attribute and focus on cultivating it throughout the month of August. Here are some of the attributes: 

Faith
Hope
Charity and Love
Virtue
Knowledge
Patience
Humilty
Diligence
Obedience

Intimidating, huh? Yeah, that's what I thought too. But no worries. They're not that bad, actually...they're life changing.

During the month of August, I personally decided to focus on the attribute of HOPE. 

Trying to have hope is hard.  Not gonna lie. It's hard especially when you're going through a challenging time. For example, I remember during the only two years I did Cross Country in high school (major LOL on that one), cross country meets were very challenging for me. I would be in a race (pure torture) and these randoms on the side-lines would be cheering me on saying, "KEEP RUNNING! YOU CAN DO IT! PUSH THROUGH! YOU ARE ALMOST DONE!" I seriously wanted to kill all of them. They had no idea how hard the race was because they weren't running in it. Stop telling me to push through! The cheerleaders (parents) on the side-lines didn't get it. (Reflecting back on this time, I realize it was all me. The cheerleaders/parents were there to be helpful and add support.) In short, I used to think that is what hope was all about...being told to push through a trial no matter what. I thought having hope was accepting the shout-outs from those annoying armchair quarterbacks telling you to run faster, push harder and get through that awful trial. I have since learned that this is NOT how hope works. 

During the month of August, I learned what hope really is. Hope is trusting in God. Hope is knowing that God is going to hold you during that challenging race or trial. And, if you're really lucky, you will have hope that God will give you some Gatorade at the end of the race. Hope conquers discouragement. It does. When things are hard, sometimes hope is all you have. Hope mends wounds. Hope cures fear. God doesn't expect you to be 100% hopeful all the time; in that case, I would be doomed. But He does expect us to try, to trust in Him, and to endure to the end. As we develop this Christlike Attribute, we realize that trails will be less painful, that life will happier, and that light at the end of the tunnel will be brighter. The darkness of the tunnel won't be that noticeable. Hope pulls you through the darkness. Hope is so important. I encourage all of you to trust. Trust in God and in yourself. We all have to grow and stretch. We do this through challenges. But God and Jesus Christ get it. I know that God and Jesus Christ work as a team to help us pull through the trials. They are not those un-empathetic cheerleaders. Trust that God and our Savior Jesus Christ will be helping us and holding us....because He knows what will be at the end of the race. He knows what we are going through. I know this. I am so grateful I know this. 

Thank you so much for the support. I love you all!

And it wouldn't be a blog post without some awkward lowlights:

1. Looking like a full-on hobbit during gym time.
2. Thanking members for having us in our home during dinner appointments.
3. Completely messing up the 1st lesson to these poor teenagers from Nepal. I left them so confused on life.
4. Asking Sister Savage what awkward things I have done this week and her reply being, "I don't know, you do them everyday...I just don't write them down."
4. Layla, the Somalian girl I teach ESL to, told me I would be "ugly" if I cut my hair...among other insults in broken English. Oh, Layla.

xoxoxo
Sister Elizabeth Kelly.

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