Infinite Love and Wisdom

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great Easter yesterday. Easter is one of my favorite days out of the year. Amidst the Easter-egg hunts and family gatherings that often occupy most of our Sunday, we forget why Easter is significant. This past Friday marked the day in which Jesus Christ died on the cross, and on Easter Sunday he rose again, breaking the bands of physical and spiritual death. Thus, we have our cause for celebration and rejoicing. At church in the Gospel Principles class the lesson was on fasting, which I thought to be an interesting topic for Easter Sunday. I had assumed that the lesson would be on the resurrection of Christ, or another Easter specific topic, but as I listened, I was able to draw a conclusion about fasting and prayer. Fasting is abstaining food or drink for 24 hours, accompanied by sincere prayer. It is a sacrifice, and often times causes discomfort and sometimes a short temper, but it is a means of spiritual rejuvenation and strengthening. Our Heavenly Father has given us our bodies, tabernacles of flesh, and when we fast, we little by little bridle the passions of the flesh. I learned that the Lord truly desires to hear our prayers and the desires of our hearts. He loves us SO MUCH, I can't get over it. He is very aware of you, right now as you read this email. I am so grateful to have a loving Heavenly Father who knows me perfectly, who, in His infinite love and wisdom, shapes me into the disciple He would have me be.

     This infinite love and wisdom became the topic of discussion in a lesson we had this past week with a woman named Loretta who struggles with smoking. We have been meeting with her for about a month now, and this last week she expressed how she was struggling. Loretta began smoking and drinking in an attempt to snuff the emotional trauma that accompanied the murder of her son. Without the proper support, she was caught in a downward spiral of depression, isolation, cigarettes and alcohol. This last month she has been completely sober, which unfortunately left her mind open to the reality of her sons passing. However, Elder Hannesson and I had the opportunity to then share with Loretta the Plan of Salvation. We showed her the Easter video put out by the church and promised her that she and her son would be reunited again. No goodbye is forever, no loss permanent. The spirit was so strong in the lesson and I had never seen Loretta so vibrant and full of life. She even gave us the rest of her cigarettes! I'm super pumped for what he Lord has in store for Loretta.

     In other news, this week we got FREE LAUNDRY!!! This is the first time my whole mission that I haven't had to pay to wash my clothes. It feels pretty good. What hasn't felt as good is the amount of rain we have gotten lol I love the rain, I just don't love it as much when it soaks into your clothes and you're outside where the wind is blowing. Transfers are coming up this next week, and there is a pretty good chance I could be getting transferred. I have mixed feelings about it, but I may not move as well. For P-day today we might play some Rugby!!! Can't wait.
     Anyway love you all, have a great week!