Woodstock Letter #13

Leshelle & a silo with a face

Here is something neat that I thought of as I studied this week:

I've known since I was young that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ enables me to be forgiven of mistakes. He died for my sins. If I change my ways and repent, I will be forgiven.

My understanding of that sacrifice has grown over the years.  Consequently, I now know that His sacrifice covers far more than mistakes; that His sacrifice isn't only about allowing me to be free of guilt but also about empowering me to do what I cannot do alone - in essence making possible all things that are impossible for me personally. I've come to see how essential that sacrifice is. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, I can be happy in this life as well as in the life to come. Without Him and His sacrifice, there is NO WAY that I could ever return to God.

I love that, as I study, I understand things in new ways and from new angles. Jesus Christ's sacrifice clicked for me again the other day, beginning with a word that has been common to me: merits.

I read a scripture in Helaman 14: "repent and prepare the way of the Lord". (verse 9)

My thoughts immediately went something like this: He doesn't need me to prepare His way. He has the power and ability to make a way even if there was not a way initially. So, why do the scriptures often speak of "repent and prepare the way of the Lord" ???

He doesn't need us to prepare His way for the world. However, He does need us to prepare the way for Him to enter our hearts. He respects our ability to choose - He won't force us to do anything, even if it is a good thing. He knows that we need to apply His sacrifice in order to find joy, and to eventually be able to return to our perfect God even though we are imperfect. Even knowing our essential need for His sacrifice, He won't force us to use it. He's made it available. He's made it clear how to apply it in our lives. But, He won't force it to be applied. That, only we can do.

I took it this way: repenting is how we prepare the way of the Lord and how the power of His sacrifice may be applied in our individual lives. Each one of us must do that. I cannot prepare the way into your heart. Only you can, just as only I can prepare the way for Him to enter mine.

"And if ye believe on His name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have a remission of them through his bmerits." (verse 13)

It's established that repentance is necessary. Beginning with a belief that He - because of his sacrifice - has the power to free us of pain caused by our sins as well as those of others, we repent. In other words, we change. Then, through His merits we receive that liberation.  I looked up the word merits, wanting to understand more because it was intriguing me so.

Merits:
-something that entitles reward
-state or fact of deserving well
-that which is deserved
-be worthy of; deserve

So....repentance allows us to receive a remission of sins through the merits of Christ. Repentance is somewhat like charging it to His pre-paid tab; it is His qualification in order to use his "tab", which tab is the entitlement to remission of sins. This tab is His worthiness to receive forgiveness. He deserves no guilt, no pain, no sadness because He is perfect. Because He was perfect, He gave His life to create that "tab". By doing what He asks (repenting) He allows us to receive what only He deserves - that which only He is worthy of.

Imagine walking into a restaurant. You are hungry. You need to eat in order to keep living. There is no other option for food. But, you don't have enough money for anything. You believe in the words of those who have told you that there is a tab that you can use. There is such a tab. The waiter needs to know that you are authorized to use that tab - he needs to know what kind of connection you have to He whose tab you intend to use. The waiter needs proof that you have permission to use Christ's tab. Christ has instructed the waiter that, in order to keep justice and order, people must show by their actions (repentance) that they have received permission. That is how the waiter will know. Then, you are given the menu of endless options. It doesn't quite seem like a fair trade; but, Christ wants you to use that tab in order to enjoy, progress, and be able to go forward. He doesn't ask much in order for Him to give you access to things that you and I don't deserve. Yet, through His mercy, he allows us the way to access His merits.

This way, justice is satisfied while Christ can still give us His mercy. It doesn't always seem easy - frankly, it isn't easy to follow what He has asked. But it is clear. The way He provides is clear. He's given us each step. Only you can move your feet. Only you can choose to follow the steps that He has shown you. Each step you take paves one more brick of the way - the way of the Lord-into your soul.

Love,
Leshelle

Woodstock Letter #12

Hermana Hoer & her district

Hermana Stuart is getting transferred this week. I'm really going to miss her, until we meet again, but I'm not sad because we are going to be friends for a very long time.  My new companion's name will be Hermana Rassmussen. Transfers will be tomorrow.

Zone Conference was great last week! They are every other transfer. So, I believe that I'll have one more Zone Conference before I return home. That's it. This one was great in general, and great personally.  Here is an excerpt from my notes when President Doll spoke to us:

"You may not be the best; but, you are good enough, and you know enough. What you're short on, the Lord will bless you with. He's blessed you with enough to do this.

Whatever "this" is for each of us will be different from one another. Your "this" may change monthly, daily, or hourly. You may have several in one day. Whatever "this" is right now, the Lord has blessed you with enough to do your personal "this".

If you've chosen to have faith in God, choose to have hope in His promise - choose to continue trying until His promises to you are fulfilled. They will be. This is possible."

I don't have much time today to expound on those notes, but hopefully each of you reading this blog can gain something personal from it like I did at Zone Conference.  Point is: the Lord can help each of us to be/do whatever we need to be/do.  If we do all that we can, He will make up the difference and qualify us.

I felt prompted to share the parable of the 10 virgins with a gal the other day. She's a single mom and just broke up with her boyfriend because he didn't have the same commitment to God and they really just weren't on the same page. We read the parable, thinking from the perspective of the five who had enough oil to attend the wedding. We often look at the parable from the other side, of those who didn't have enough oil to attend the wedding. 

Well, this is what came to me: those ten spent travel time together. They must have grown close. They could have been  blood sisters for all I know. I imagine that the five that did attend the wedding sat in their places as the festivities began, with a bit of sadness in their hearts. I imagine it was bitter sweet even walking through the door to enter initially, knowing that their siblings or their friends were not there. Those feelings would certainly be in my heart.

However, the Lord did not intend for the wedding to be a sad event. For those five who were not prepared, it was a hard lesson to learn - for us and for them. For the five who came prepared and entered into the wedding, there is another lesson to be learned: Enjoy the wedding. Leave the pain, stress, who or what may be lacking, outside. Set it aside. Enter the wedding and enjoy it. Experience it. Live it. Breathe it. I think that is what the Lord wants us to do. When we've done the right thing and when we prepared to arrive at a certain point, He wants us to enjoy it. So, I say: Enjoy the "weddings" that the Lord invites you to!

Love,

Leshelle

Woodstock Letter #11

 Hermana Stuart & Hermana Hoer



Hermana Hoer & Friend



Hermana Stuart and I spoke in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. I shared the story that Mom and Dad sent me, and a lot from the wars in Alma 40something to 50something. Here's part of my talk:

A man mowed half of his field when his mower broke. It took him a week to fix it, during which time the grass on the un-mowed portion had grown considerably taller than the mowed portion. As he began to mow the tall area, a little field mouse emerged from the tall grass. The man was concerned that if the mouse returned to the tall grass, he would go unseen and be mowed over. The man thought that the best way to save the mouse was to chase him away from the tall grass. So, chase him he did. With the mower blaring. As he was barreling along behind this poor mouse, he thought to himself "Does this mouse know that I am trying to save him?"

Much of life works the same way. God likely asks himself frequently, does he/she know that I am trying to save, not threaten? Sometimes all we see are giant lawn mower experiences, chasing us. We're tired, exhausted, confused, feeling that the world is working against us. When, in reality, God is trying to push us into a safe place - He is trying to save us.

President Eyring said: (excuse my translation if it's off) "If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the most difficult times of life, along with the easiest times, can be a blessing".  A giant lawn mower can be a blessing or a monster. A challenge can break us or build us. A tragic loss can drown us or breathe new life into us. An injustice can lift us or stomp on us. The choice is ours - the choice is faith.
If we spend our time and energy building a foundation of faith, we will be supported by that foundation even when we no longer have energy or time of our own.

Life will bring challenges. God gives us the way to turn those challenges, potential stumbling blocks, into stepping stones. The way is Jesus Christ. Faith in Him is the choice that determines whether those stones will be obstacles that stunt us or steps that lift us.

One of my favorite stories that illustrates this is in the Book of Mormon, in Alma chapter 57 (and 56). Helaman has an army of young, inexperienced soldiers - boys really. Though they were boys in age and experience, they were men of God. Why? Because they, with the help of great parents, had established a foundation of faith beneath themselves.

After an intense and bloody battle, Helaman "immediately gave orders that [his] men who had been wounded should be taken from among the dead, and caused that their wounds should be dressed" (Alma 57:24). He quickly learned that "there were two hundred, out of [his] two thousand and sixty, who had fainted because of the loss of blood;" (Alma 57:25). Here is the kicker:

"nevertheless, according to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment, and also the joy of our whole army, there was not one soul of them who did perish; yea, and neither was there one soul among them who had not received many wounds" (Alma 57:25).

Every single one of that army was wounded. Badly. Yet, every single one left that battle alive. This life is a battlefield. We will be wounded. We will lose blood. We will even faint at times because of the incredible challenges and wounds. However, so long as we have a foundation of faith in Christ, those wounds will NOT kill us. We will survive the battle because of our faith.

"And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power. Now this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually" (Alma 57:26-27).

That is what determines whether the lawn mowers of life will push us to safety or mow us down after exhausting all our strength.

We spoke with Jose' (investigator who was to be baptized but his wife said no). He'd not come to Church in a month, after attending regularly for 6+ months prior. Every time we spoke with him about it, he said he was busy with this or that (which he was, but it just wasn't like him). He admitted finally to us that someone at Church had offended him. I was so sad! Our mini missionary shared a beautiful testimony which really touched his heart. The following day, Jose came to Church! After more than a month of not attending, and a really hurt heart, he took it head-on and came back!

We've wanted to work on getting a semi-active couple to come to full activity and go to the temple. The father has come by himself with his daughter twice in the last month while his wife had to work! He didn't come often, even when his wife could attend. We'd done a little service at his house while he and his mother-in-law were trying to fix her car. The following day, there he was at church -by himself- bringing his daughter to Church. She "helped" me play the piano during Sacrament Meeting. Despite the distraction, I was just happy they were at Church.

We had three people in Relief Society yesterday...haha (six if you include us). 

Thank you for all of your love and support.

Woodstock Letter #10

 Hermana Delis (Leshelle's MTC companion), Hermana Stuart (Leshelle's current companion)

& Hermana Hoer

Watching the game!



Hermanas Hoer & Stuart at Wrigley Stadium in Chicago



Time is short today.  Here are some photos from our trip last week to Wrigley Stadium to watch the Chicago Cubs!

Heavenly Father answers our prayers. I asked such specific things, and I received them. He cares. He answers.

Thanks for your all of your love and support. Please keep it coming.  :)

Love,
Leshelle