It's been a good week! Here's a few highlights:
1, President and Sister Phillips are officially in Hong Kong! I already miss President and Sister Lam already and nothing can replace the spot they have in my heart, but I am really excited to meet President and Sister Phillips! They'll be making a mini tour through the mission this coming week, and between that and MLC, I should be able to see them a couple of times!
2. This week we had lots of meetings and language studies and cheng outs (meals) with the members. This ward is so special and I love each of them so much!
3. July is AMERICA MONTH. Sister Briggs and I love America so much that if we talk too much about it we run the risk of getting emotional, haha. We'll be wearing red, white, or blue every day this month to celebrate. In addition to that, we set a goal of getting rejected 300 times this month (obviously with the hope that 2 or 3 out of those WON'T reject us), and we've dubbed ourselves the All-American Rejects, after the band. Wish us luck.
Okay, time to get spiritual:
So we have a recent convert in our ward (that I LOVE SO MUCH), and he's so hard on himself and is constantly afraid that he'll slip back into old habits (and I'm afraid that he'll just go off and get translated on us). Yesterday in personal study I did some studying for him, but I found out pretty quick that I was actually just studying for me, and I think it might be helpful for you too.
Okay, so pretend for a second like you're Satan. If you were Satan and you wanted to get a strong saint to lose their faith in Christ, what would you do? Your answers may very, but the answer I came up with is that I would personally get them to stop repenting so they'll stop relying on the Savior. And then as I thought of ways to get them to stop repenting, I came up with two options (again, your answers may very depending on your circumstance or whatever):
1. I could get them to be too easy on themselves (complacency). If they have the mindset of "oh, I'm doing okay where I'm at. I don't need to repent of that, that's not a big deal. I don't need to change any more," then they'll stop repenting because they'll feel they don't need it. Goal accomplished.
2. I could also get them to be too hard on themselves. If I can trick them into the mindset of "I can't believe I messed up again. I can't be perfect on my own. Will God still love me? Does the Atonement even work for someone like me?" they'll stop repenting because they'll be afraid that they can't be perfect, so they won't even try (when the reality is that we can only reach perfection WITH the Savior). Goal accomplished.
Okay, so on the other side of the equation, as the saints, what can we do to prevent this from happening?
Here's what I came up with (again, feel free to add or take away from the list):
1. BELIEVE fiercely in Christ and the power of His Atonement. Seek to understand that power through study.
2. USE the Atonement. Repent of every single little thing you can think of, and do so daily.
3. TRUST the Atonement. Once you've repented, move on! Don't dwell on it. Thanks to Christ, every single day is a new day and a new start, and through the sacrament we can be completely clean every single week.
So then I guess the only thing left to ask is:
1. Do you believe that?
2. What are you going to do about it?
I KNOW that the power of the Atonement is real and it changes lives, one day at a time. Don't undervalue it and don't underuse it.
And if you, like me, tend to err on the side of being too hard on yourself, here's a quote from my dear Elder Uchtdorf that's really helped me:
"God loves you this very day and always. He is not waiting to love you until you have overcome your weaknesses and bad habits. He loves you today with a full understanding of your struggles... He knows of your remorse for the times you have fallen short or failed. And still He loves you. And God knows of your successes; though they may seem small to you, He acknowledges and cherishes each one of them."
I know that's true. Everyone breathe a bit; you're doing better than you think you are. :)
Oh, one last thing: Last night for our ward FHE Sister Briggs and I made rice crispy treats and the ward EXPLODED. I think Bishop's wife ate at least five (and snuck two more home in her purse), and at least 3 other people asked us for the recipe. This America month, make a rice crispy treat for a non-American in need. They apparently don't know what they're missing out on.
Love you all so much! Gayauh!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹
Pics:
1. Cheng out with the deaf members. I always feel like I'm floating after spending time with them, I love these people so much.
2. Sister Briggs and I had extra money this month so we chenged our district to floats (ice cream, and any other dairy product, is a BIG DEAL here). A wonderful district meeting followed.
3. Cheng with the Tangs! I love this family and Kelly just got back from her mission to Temple Square a couple of months ago and it's so fun to talk with her about it!
4. My area, summarized in a picture. Jungle. Apartment buildings. Heat and humidity and mosquitoes (not pictured). Ocean and other islands in the back. All while being situated on a huge island ourselves? Sweet.
5. A pic from finding the other day. Fun fact: thanks to the ocean breezes, Pok Fu Lam is the coolest place to be in the summer time, and boy am I grateful. It's hot enough as is.
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