Elder Tyler's letter 12/29/2014

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!

WHAT??!!!!

You are ALL soooo in-freakin-spired!!!!!  Every single one of your emails was EXACTLY either what happened this last week, or what I needed to hear!!!!

Holy crap, I think I know how Alma felt when he fainted with how exceeding was his joy! hahah I had to lock my comptuer screen, go to the bathroom, get a drink and take a break!! I'm soo serious!!!

Wow where do I start?!?! I'm definitely going to be sending a recording next week!!

Ok, so first off, I was having a rough go of it in the middle of the week. I felt just tired.  Tired of taking ALL the initiciative in every single aspect of our work here, teaching all the lessons, making all the plans, doing all the contacting and coordinating with ward members and leaders when it's my second week here, my head was killing me. Just tired. On Friday, I wasn't sure how much more of this I could take! I felt like I was in arm's length of my limit! but then I decided to take the advice from Elder Busche and instead, turning all my thoughts, grumblings and tiredness into the perspective of my eternal hope, and in gratitude of my Savior, and Father in Heaven!  Boy did that make me feel better :) Then on Saturday, we talked for a minute about what we thought our purpose was here on the mission!  It started my companion asking why I was so "go go go" all the time, and he felt like I needed to slow down.  I told him that I'm here for these 2 super short years to completely immerse myself in the service of the Lord, and to see what miracles come when I'm totally focused, heart might mind and strength on missionary work.  I feel like I have the ability, right now, to rise to MY full potential. Just like the Book of Mormon prophets, they turned into millions of people's heros by first following spiritual prompting, then another, then another, then another.  Pretty soon, the decisions that required soo much sacrifice were easy for them, because they were diligent in keeping the commandments (or promptings) of the Lord! Also that I did NOT want to look back on my mission and have an ounce of regret. I want to leave as Peter, "I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith" and I feel pleased with my service. The conversation then moved to how we felt about being consecrated to the Lord's service, being set apart from the world, and how we felt about our calling as missionaries.  I didn't like his opinion on that one, and we'll leave it at that.  

That week in sacrement meeting, a high councilman stood and delivered an amazing talk about the Savior. I went up to him and congratulated him, told him what an amazing talk I thought it was he gave, and explained that I learned a lot about what to do when times get hard, and almost out of random, he told me "I'll give you one piece of advice. Maximize every moment of your mission. Don't waste a second.  You have 2 years to put forth your best effort, and your whole life to analyze how you did." talk about confirming revelation!

Later that day, my companion expressed desires to stay in the apartment and carry on P-day activities at 7:00. At first, I couldn't believe what I was hearing.. then, (thanks to the spiritual preparation I received, I'm sure) I sharply rebuked the notion by the spirit, he then, without another word, got changed back into prosleyting clothes, and we went out and visited a family he thought we should. Turns out that the woman of the house had the strong impression to call the missionaries the day before to help her 6 year old deal with a mountain of guilt she was carrying due to life in foster care. She teared up when we showed up "randomly" the very next day. We then had a powerful lesson about being strong and of a good courage (that he lead, and it was SUPER spiritual! it was incredible!) and I experienced an angel of the devil being cast out during the closing prayer. When I prayed that Satan's grasp on her be loosened (or whatever the spirit said) it disappeared almost grudgingly! The point is, ALL your emails and ALL the quotes were all about hope and about these very principles I experienced this week!! I'm totally printing out almost all the emails sent to me today and keeping them!!! I love you all more than I can express!! You're the reason I'm able to be strong and of a good courage!! You're in my prayers always!!

Love,
Elder Judy
foot note (a) Perfect meaning whole, or complete.