Dear family and friends,
Corona is HARD. It's gonna be an awesome growing experience, but after being here 2 weeks (and 1 normal one now in which I was working the whole week and not concussed)-- now I really know how spoiled I was in Moreno Valley. Things that make Corona hard:
1) LOADS of members in our ward are inactive. Thus the ward is quite small, not many people want to come out to lessons with us, and a lot of our work is going to be reactivation. In a way though, it's gonna be a really awesome and special experience if we really succeed in reactivating a lot of these people!
2) So now, I really have had doors slammed in my face. Many, actually. One day it took us 5 whole hours to get 1 single solitary lesson. But goodness knows, I wouldn't be a real legitimate missionary if I hadn't experienced that-- huh? haha :P
I guess that's my way of saying, for whatever reason-- people don't seem to want to listen here. I think part of it has to do with the fact that this is a more beautiful, higher income place. The humility just isn't there the same way it was in Moreno Valley! People don't understand what they could possibly get from God because their lives already rock! So many people tell us all the time when we promise them blessings that they don't need anymore...and in a way it's kind of true! They have so much!! BUT of course, they're spirits can always grow more-- and they could always be doing more for others and becoming better people! But most people can't see that when everything is really good.
And with that-- the spiritual message for the day is-- COMFORT STUNTS GROWTH
Or in other words, a reason to be grateful for the uncomfortable, the difficult and the ugly. I'm pretty sure it's not just a mormon or a religious concept that challenge leads to growth. Athletes, artists, and scholars are always finding higher levels that they can strive for so that they never plateu! And this is why we should be grateful when the Lord gives us trials. If we feel like our lives are always mountains-- then oh how God trusts us and loves us-- because he gave us those mountains to grow! It's not always easy to look at things that way; and in fact on some days it seems nearly impossible to be grateful for a new mountain to climb when we just reached the peak of the last one-- but if we try to keep things in an eternal perspective, and have the faith that God will help us to reach the very top of the very last mountain and to achieve exaltation (or eternal life and living with God and our families forever); then it is possible.
One of the sister missionaries in my zone amazed me yesterday when she told me that her boyfriend died while she was on her mission. She wanted to marry him-- and she will never see him again in this life. But let me tell you something about that sister! She is always finding something to laugh about and always making others laugh. You can't be sad around her for more than a few minutes! And she amazes me. Because she is in the period of grief. And she told me she does get sad and she cries but she tries to focus on lifting people up and as she does that God helps pull her through. I thought that was so beautiful. She is my new role model! Anyways, a couple days ago on the way to a service project, she shared some of her "inspirational music" (which is basically speeches put to like techno...haha they are awesome) and their was a quote in one of them that said "The future is not a gift, but an achievement!" I don't know who that's by, but I thought it was awesome. How important to remember in those times at which we must push through-- that the future is not our gift, but it is our achievement. And what the future becomes, is what we make it. So if we want a better future-- we gotta work towards it! And if we want to survive the next mountain better than the last one-- we better start working out!
Hold fast to the word of God and God will pull you through. He will give you the energy to do what you need to do! And with that, I'll close with a scripture in 1st Nephi. In a vision that Nephi's father Lehi has, he compares the word of God to a "iron rod" that people hold onto real tight in order to get to "the tree of life" which represents the love of God. My favorite part of that vision, is this verse:
And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree.
May we all cling to the rod until we reach eternal life.
And may we remember that the future is not a gift, but an achievement.
Keep working hard!
Love,
Hermana Lindsey
PS as a source
Mountains to Climb, Henry B Eyring
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/mountains-to-climb?lang=eng