As missionaries we get to see the best and the worse of this city

Hi Familia!                                                                                          August 5, 2013

Today is a BEAUTIFUL day on Long Island. It kind of feels like fall, which is a blessed relief from the humid heat! My neck is getting sore because my hair is in a bun almost everyday and my hair just absorbs all the water in the air! (Its tempting me to cut it all off, there isn't anyone to please here haha!)

So the transfer low-down. I am staying here in the YSA Branch and staying as Sister Training Leader, and Sis Nielsen is training a new missionary so she is leaving. It is really sad to see Sis Neilsen go. We have had a pretty adventurous couple transfers, and its made both of us better. I have had enough companions to know that the Lord is behind the transfer board, and every change is His will, as long as we are obedient. As I am making decisions about when to go home and what I am going to do after this, it makes me wish that I could always be on a transfer board. All I have to do is be obedient, and then I will get a phone call telling me exactly where the Lord wants me. Sounds pretty good to me :)

This week I got to go on an exchange in Riverhead (Yes Ashley Roush, I did visit the "Roush house" as the members still call it, I got to eat dinner there and thought of you!). Riverhead is on the Eastern end of the island. There are a lot of fields and farms. It was the first time since I left CO that I got to see such a big open sky and just space. I almost cried haha; you don't get that very often here in NYC. I got to spend the day with Sis Peacock who actually is one of my good friend's cousins and my MTC teacher's cousin (Hna King). All of our plans fell through, but God led us to the people who really needed us. It is amazing the problems we avoid by just keeping the commandments of God.

We ended up being put in the path of two different women. Neither of which are married, but both have had children with these Horrible Horrible guys. Their situations were different but pretty horrific, and they felt trapped. I could feel God's love for them, and His yearning to bless them. It was incredible to know that God used us to reach out and take care of them in their current situations. It is such a sacred privilege to be someone's angel. It also was a chilling reminder of the current state of so many families in the world today. As missionaries we get to see the best and the worst of this city.  So many people scream that they want freedom, and yet they disobey the commandments of God, and get trapped in their own horrible consequences. But that is where the Lord's mercy comes in which is something I have been thinking about a lot this week.

I was studying in Alma 34 in the Book of Mormon, and the spirit taught me and changed me. I love how it talks about the very intent and reason of the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which was to encircle us in His mercy and the arms of His safety. It also talks a lot about pouring out our souls to the Lord. So I tried it. I feel like sometimes missionary work is such a rush that I don't take the time I should to really pour out my soul to him. I gave Him this sickness (whatever it is), my stress, my confusion about when to go home, the progress of the people we are working with, the new changes in the transfer, my "pride of perfection" etc etc. It was incredible because I could feel the almost physical weight lift off my shoulders. My situation hasn’t changed, but I have. Now I feel safe and secure. This is why we all need the Gospel because we all need saving. I am learning more and more that understanding the Atonement, means understanding what it means to be rescued.

He Lives and Loves us. I know he is real. He becomes more real and tangible to me every day. I love you all!