Mission Log: 27 August 2012

My first transfer is New Jersey has come and gone, never to be relived again. It's incredible and ridiculous how quickly time keeps passing. Like yesterday when I was 5 years old and an hour seemed like an eternity and now months and years are passing by before I can ever get all the way woken up. It's madness I tell you. This week was like that. It just flew by and I didn't even know what was happening and then it was over. 

Hermana Lowry and I were focusing on charity, and this incredible thing happened. Heavenly Father took my heart and softened it up in His hands, then He stretched it and pulled it and made enough room for all the love He wants to store in there. That happens from time to time. My heart gets so full that I feel it will literally burst from loving so much...then I cry a little bit because, hello, my heart is about to explode here...and then Heavenly Father makes it better. I didn't understand how much He would need me to love. I thought I was pretty good at caring for people, I thought I was okay at being understanding and helping others. I knew I would have to grow and change and be more...I just didn't understand how much more. So much more. More than I ever thought I would be, more than I ever could be if it weren't for His divine help. I'm so grateful for the perfect patience of God. I'm so glad He can help me one little piece at a time, and I'm SO glad He can teach me how to be a little bit that way myself. I'm learning, you know. I am. I'm learning to be more patient. I'm learning to love more perfectly. I'm learning and I think I might even be doing so good as I do. 

As a missionary I invite others to act in their faith. Sister Lowry and I spend a lot of think thinking and talking about the people we teach and try to plan ways to help them the way they need us to help them. Every day we do this. We always invite people to read the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. We always invite people to pray. We always invite people to come to church. We always invite people to be baptized. It's what we do, not for our own sake, but because it's what God wants from His children. Every single one of His children, that's what He asks us to do. The thing is sometimes the people we teach aren't ready to do these things. Sometimes it's hard. It always requires some sacrifice, and we're always blessed for it, but sometimes it's still really hard. So this week we were thinking and praying and talking about one of the dear families we teach and we had an idea. A picture of Christ. A simple thing we could ask them to do. Just hang up a picture of Christ in their home so they can see it and remember their Savior. We even picked out a picture for them and put it in a frame to give them as a gift. They hung it up right their with us still in their home. It's a beautiful picture, so we talked about it. And our conversation turned into the bearing of testimony that Christ loves us. Before we left we were able to kneel in prayer with their family. It was one of the happiest moments of my life to feel the Spirit in their home. Then yesterday the mother came to church. Joy. That is joy. Soon her whole family will be with her, I know it. Soon that joy will be a constant feeling in their home. I love them. 

These are the things I get to be a part of. This is my life. 

There is power in simply remembering. Remember the Savior, think of all He has done for you. Also, "please never forget that you must be patient and compassionate with yourselves, that some sacrifices are better than others, that you need not wait for a golden ticket to be happy. Please never forget that the "why" of the gospel of Jesus Christ will inspire and uplift you. And never forget that your Heavenly Father knows, loves, and cherishes you." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf  

I don't know who all reads this or ever will read this, but whoever you are I hope you know that I trust God. I hope you know that I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that happiness can be found in obedience to the commandments. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and I love it. The messages it contains speak peace to my soul. I love being a missionary and seeing the miracles that take place as people act in their faith. I love the miracles that happen in my life as I do the same. 

All my love,

Hermana Jari Santos