Monday, June 16, 2014

Choose an Attribute & work on it

                                                                                                                                               
June 16, 2014
I went on two of the best exchanges this week! I went to a Spanish speaking area with Hermana DeLong and she is incredible! Two highlights: She taught me the basics of Spanish (including how to bear my testimony) and we taught an incredible lady named Brunhilda from Santiago, Chile. Brunhilda fed us an impeccable homemade lunch and then we taught her the first part of the Plan of Salvation. She and her husband spoke enough English that we just taught them in English so I could be part of the lesson. The other exchange was in London and we saw so many miracles! On one street we tracted we found two families to teach and everyone was ridiculously nice! That's pretty unusual to have that much success on just one street. We also taught an adorable Cuban family! The fourteen year old boy is a recent convert and the mother is a returning member.

Tomorrow is Zone Conference and I'm so excited! Sister Hansen and I are part of a musical number for it and we'll be singing a song called "Fear Not." I know it and have the music because we sang it when I was a youth, and Sister Hansen knows it because she went to Jordan High School and the seminary teachers there wrote the song! Crazy! There are two other sisters and three elders that will be singing with us. I have a testimony of the music inviting the Spirit. We've all been studying for this Zone Conference for weeks now. We'll be having a discussion on light vs dark. President Scott asked us to study the influences of good/light and evil/dark in the scriptures and it's been a journey. This morning I was organizing all the material and thoughts I've had over the past few weeks and I felt the Spirit so strong! Here are some of the things I've learned over the course of this study:
·  "Every decision we make, no matter how small, moves us one step closer to light or one step closer to darkness."
·  Satan wants us crippled and trapped in darkness, because when we are in darkness we are confused, frustrated, lack understanding, prideful, lose agency and have a distorted vision of self and surroundings.
·  Heavenly Father and Christ want us to become like them and receive a fullness of joy. We receive a fullness grace for grace,  line upon line. When we are choosing to live in the light we have a quickened understanding, enlightened comprehension, and a correct view of our self and surroundings.
·  We take a step into the light by making an obedient decision to God's commandments and standards. We take a step into the dark by making a disobedient decision.
·  L. Tom Perry's talk from this past conference is one of my favorites! He said, "Obedience is a choice. It is a choice between our own limited knowledge and power and God's unlimited wisdom and omnipotence." This statement makes disobedience sound foolish. It is truth. It is light. Satan tries to make disobedience sound attractive and desirable.
·  "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." Romans13:12
·  The foundation of all behavior and character is the choices we make between obedience and disobedience.
·  There is every degree of devotion to Christ, but there are no neutrals in the conflict between good and evil.
The stake president is from the Brantford ward and he spoke for a few minutes at the end of sacrament meeting yesterday. He had no notes, and didn't even plan on speaking, but he said exactly what I needed to hear. He read D&C 4:5-6 and said these are Godly attributes that qualify us for the work. He invited everyone to choose one of those attributes and work on it. Heavenly Father definitely told me which one I need to work on :) I extend this same invitation to all of you. One of his closing statements was this, "The Plan of Salvation is one, big rescue mission driven by the love our Heavenly Father has for us." I love that. So true. We get to use our agency to choose how involved we want to be in that mission.

Pray hard. Study daily. Share the gospel. And smile. Because it's true :) Every part of the gospel is true.

Love and Prayers, Sister Felix

Quote of the Week:
"The time will come when no man nor woman will be able to endure on borrowed light.
Each will have to be guided by the light within himself."

-Heber C. Kimball

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