Sorry this is weird and I'm sending emails on a Tuesday,
but yesterday Elder Neilsen from the Missionary Department came. He is
the one who spoke in General Conference about his sister who had left
the church, remember? His talk is called "Waiting for the Prodigal",
it's awesome, so you should look it up. Anyway, so I'm writing today
because he came here for a mission tour yesterday. A mission tour is
just basically that. He comes and tours the mission and meets us all,
and gives lots of instruction on ways that we can improve. We had a
great discussion about the Atonement and were able to enjoy a whole day
together. His spirit was so poignant and I loved hearing all his insight
to our questions. You could definitely feel the mantel of his calling
resting upon him as he shared with us yesterday. What an amazing
experience to get to talk to and interact with someone who works on the
other side of missionary work!
During our
discussion on the Atonement, I was able to feel the love of the Savior
and the assurance that He knows me perfectly and individually. I know
that Our Savior lives. I know He loves us. I know that He died and
resurrected for US. Not only to redeem us from our sins, but to enable
us to become more than we ever could on our own. The enabling power of
the Atonement is maybe not something we think about very often, but as
President David O McKay said "the purpose of the gospel is to make bad
men good, good men better, and to change human nature". The center of
the gospel is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is by Him and through
Him that bad men can become good (the redeeming aspect of the Atonement)
and that good men can become better (the enabling power), eventually we
will be able to change our fallen state of human nature to become the
saints of God as King Benjamin says in Mosiah 3:19
"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of
Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings
of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint
through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child,
submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to
all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child
doth submit to his father." We may become saints through the Atonement
of Jesus Christ. How amazing is that? I also received many personal
insights on eternal personal progression. One of my absolute biggest
goals in life and eternity is to continue progressing. No matter if I'm
in the "bad, good, or better" state of something, I can always work
toward "best" and "saint". I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ
and for His loving Atonement. I am so thankful that He chose to suffer
for me. For my pains, my sicknesses, weaknesses, my sins, and also my
mediocrities. God does not intend for us to be mediocre. He intends for
us to becomes even as He is, and I know that it is through His Beloved
Son, Jesus Christ, that we will rise above our own abilities and
talents.
As missionaries our purpose is to
"Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored
gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance,
baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."
INVITE. We have to invite everyone. No one is going to learn things we
don't teach them. They are not going to keep commitments that we don't
extend to them. They aren't going to change if we don't invite them.
Then I love this part "...others to come unto Christ". To come where?
UNTO Christ. In order to invite people to come unto Christ we have to be
there. We are not inviting people to "go to Christ", but to come unto
Him. I have thought about that a lot lately and have tried to recognize
the things in my life that maybe keeping me from being as near unto
Christ as I should. In order to INVITE others to come UNTO Christ, I
need to be living exactly as I should. As member missionaries and
full-time missionaries alike, we need to be reading and praying and
going to church and fasting and paying our tithing, living the law of
chastity, keeping the word of wisdom and only then will we be able to
invite others to do the same. I pray that all of you are praying for
opportunities to share with others this glad message. I had someone ask
me what the "glad message" was the other day. Well it's that SALVATION
IS POSSIBLE THROUGH OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. What is better then that?
Nothing. I love this gospel and this message.
Hemet.
Hemet is awesome. It is definitely the most secluded place in our
mission so everyone calls it "the black hole" and "the armpit" of the
mission. But I love it so much. I would not be anywhere else right now!
Not even back in Jurupa serving in Mira Loma. Don't get me wrong, I miss
that a lot, but I know that I need to be here. I have seen many
blessings already being manifest to me here. My companion is awesome.
She is definitely different from my other companions, but we get along
great! I've loved her since minute one. She needs a lot of help with her
Spanish and understanding some of the ways that we teach, but she is so
willing to learn and I love that about her. She is always cracking
jokes and making me laugh! We have some really solid investigators right
now and we were able to pick up 10 in the last week (their average for
finding new investigators last month was 2.5/week, so Heavenly Father
really blessed us with 10). We have 3 investigators on date right now:
Raul, Sulma, and Rogelio. Please pray for them! They need to make some
changes in their lives to qualify for baptism, but I know that this is
what our Heavenly Father wants for His children. Hermana Emerson and I
will continue to work hard and prepare them for this sacred covenant.
Our zone is our whole stake so there are a ton of us! I love it though.
Hemet is reallllly small and there really isn't a lot here, but the
people are humble and ready to learn. I have seen myself grow a lot as a
missionary here in the last week. I am completely out of my comfort
zone, but that's what I needed. I needed something new, I never want to
get stuck in a rut and this is a complete curveball, so I'm thankful for
this opportunity to learn. The work is different here. Everything is
real spread out and it is HOT like 110 during the day the last couple
days. Yesterday when we got out of our meeting with Elder Nielson and 5:00 pm
it was like 106! Anyway, since this is our first pday together as a
zone we all (well, almost all there are a few who were sick) went hiking
this morning and then played volleyball for a few hours together. You
definitely learn who missionaries really are on a hike haha. It was
really steep and slippery with loose dirt all over the place, but
eventually everyone made it to the top! What a great bonding experience!
Tomorrow we are going to the temple as well so this week is just full
of fun!
I love you all and I want you to know
I'm doing well down here. There isn't anywhere else I'd rather be. Thank
you for all your support!
Con Amor,
Hermana Rutherford
PS my new mailing address is: 1972 W Acacia #69 Hemet, CA 92549
All of us at the top of the hike today! Love my zone :)
