Written by Sister Rebekah Avery,
training in the Provo Missionary Training Center in preparation for her
service in the Portugal Lisbon Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.
So
one of the girls in my room, Sister Bradley, happens to have an uncle
who works for a vending machine company, so we got a huge box full of
chips that we’ve been trying pawn off. It got to the point where Sister
Bradley was going door to door in our residency trying to get rid of
them. No one seemed to want all 50 something bags, so I asked her, “did
you not tell them they were the Lord’s chips?” And she shouted back “I
never got around to it, okay?” And we both about died of laughter. But
yeah, no more chips please (anyone who doesn’t get the joke, your homework is to watch Nacho Libre)
This week, I learned a lot about joy and the miracle of the Atonement in my life.
I marvel that He loved me so much that He would take a moment to feel as I do, to feel my lack of confidence, my loneliness, my heartache, and my mistakes. And because He loved me so much, I will never need to wonder if I’m alone, for He is in my side. I have felt it as I’ve poured out my soul to Him and begged for help in learning a new language. He has blessed me with strength when I was so tired that I didn’t even know if I could keep going. And the best part? Because He loves me perfectly and has suffered for me, I can move forward with joy and hope, trusting that He walks beside me.
His birth was a miracle, as was His life, death, and resurrection. This Christmas season, I sing with all of my heart: “Joy to the World!” For the Lord came not to save us IN our sins, but He came to save us FROM our sins. He knows us Individually, personally, and perfectly. His life was for us, and the more I read in the scriptures about Him, the more I hope to become like Him, with an eye single to the glory of God and both hands outstretched to my fellow men.
I have so much hope in my heart, and I know that I can do all things through Christ. So for those who are struggling right now: Press forward. When Life gets too hard to stand, kneel. Pour out your heart, and know that the same hands that caused the blind to see and the lame to walk CAN heal your broken heart. He loves you. When you walk next to your Savior, you can find comfort and joy in any circumstance. I know this because I have felt it in my life.
I pray to see others as He does and bring the Joy of Christ to all within the sound of my voice this Christmas season, and truly be His servant. I especially hope to do this as I have been called to be a Sister Training Leader with my companion, Sister Van Buskirk. This means that we are now responsible to serve all of the sisters who will be serving in Italy, Romania, Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Cape Verde, or Angola. We get to do orientation for 28 new missionaries on Wednesday, and ensure that nothing terrible happens. So yeah, I’m gonna be praying a lot more, if that is even possible .
Wishing all of you the best! You’re all in my prayers. Take care! And don’t forget to Light the World! www.lighttheworld.org
Love,
Sister Avery
A cool experience:
My companion and I had to give another lesson in Portuguese, but every time we tried to plan it, we got this unsettled feeling like it was wrong. We erased our whole plan, prayed to know what we should do, but felt like nothing we were thinking of our trying was what we were supposed to teach. We woke up early the next morning to try to plan SOMETHING, but the same thing happened. Finally it gets to be our turn to go teach our professor, Irma Miller (pretending to be an interested person named Maria), and we still have nothing. We prayed three times just from leaving our desks, to preparing to knock on the door.
And wow, God is real. The Portuguese flowed like nothing I’ve experienced before, we were led to scriptures we hadn’t studied and received inspiration on how to respond. Not only did we understand “Maria” and the scriptures we were reading, but the Spirit was incredibly strong. It felt like my whole body was warm and my mind was heightened, and we gave probably our best lesson yet.
It goes to show that if you have faith and are following the promptings if the Spirit, God will work miracles through you. I believe He was just trying to show us that He’s in charge and we are merely instruments in His hands, and that if we are willing to trust in Him that we can do marvelous things.
