Week 21: March Forth

¡Bienvenidos a todos!

I hope everybody is enjoying the first week of March! February is only a couple of days shorter than a normal month, but those few days make so much difference. This Sunday, I’ll be celebrating five months as a missionary. Also, today marks three months until my birthday, so you should all start prepping for how you’re going to commemorate the end of my teenage years if you haven’t done so already.

The nights are beautiful in Tennessee.

Wouldn’t you know it? So are the mornings. 

I really love Hermana Stevenson so much! We talk and laugh and learn about each other from when we wake up at 6:30 to when we're going to bed at 10:30. What I love the most about Hermana Stevenson is probably how she’s very low-key and chill, but how she’ll come out and say the silliest things, and it totally cracks me up. Like on Sunday when she walked into the room and pointed to her hair (which was a little frizzy) and proclaimed, “See what this is? It’s the humidity! I hate it here!” Don’t worry, though, I promise she loves it here.

How are we liking Hermana Likes’ earrings? I think they’re a little too big to be mission approved, but at least they’re focused on our purpose.

I’m going to be real—I was not having a good time at certain points in the week. I love being a missionary, but a few days ago, I was being really hard on myself, and I just didn’t feel like I was good at getting the job done. Sometimes, as we try to improve, we can feel swallowed up by our inadequacies. Or I do, at the very least. Everything I listened to and learned about seemed to come back to the idea that I just wasn’t cut out to be enough of a missionary.

The other day, I knew I needed some guidance, but I wasn’t sure where to look. I decided that I was just going to open up my scriptures at random and read in the chapter I happened to turn to. And, ladies and gents, I literally landed on Alma 32.

For those who don't spend all of their time proselytizing, Alma 32 is basically one of the best explanations of faith in all of scripture, especially in The Book of Mormon. There are countless nuggets and bits of wisdom in it, and I would encourage you to read the whole thing because it’s the definition of powerful. What I love about Alma 32, though, was when I landed on the last verse. After Alma has described what faith is and how we can come to have and build it, he tells us the next step. It says:

43 Then, my brethren, ye shall reap the rewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you.

Faith is not about an immediate result. It is not about getting something in exchange, or selfish fulfillment. It is about understanding what God wants for us and accepting what he gives. I love earlier in chapter 32, when it says:

16 Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble.

I have learned so much in the time I’ve been out on a mission, and I’ve got a lot more to cover. One thing I am beginning to understand is grace. Huge stress on beginning. I’ve so often felt like I haven’t met enough to receive exaltation. Because in truth: no one has. That’s why we have a Savior. We wouldn’t call Him that if that weren’t the case.

Christ’s Atonement is ongoing. That sacrifice and the repercussions of it have not come to a halt. As long as we’re here, as long as we’re trying, as long as we believe, it evolves and covers everything we need it to. It is infinite, and it will never fail. The Atonement is the definition of charity; it’s the pure love of Christ.

I’m known to be artistic from time to time.

I have faith in His Atonement. For me. For you. For everyone. I hope you can keep on keeping on, and that you will see it work in your life.

— Ever faithful,

Hermana Newton