Whooop whoop there are blessings that happen literally EVERY DAY here at the MTC!
First: Wael. OH MY GOSH WAEL!!! My whole district is like, "who's this random guy from Lebanon whaaat??" haha he gave me the biggest package of HEALTH FOOD! Like goji berries, golden berries, etc, and along with CORRINES food (yeah--ANOTHER box. with almonds and a whole bag of macadamia and MORE) I make my own trail mix every day!! SO AWESOME! ahh I can't believe how thoughtful everyone is! Seriously. I love it so much. Expect a note in the mail for them 2 for sure soon!
And mom, the ear plugs: THANK YOU. haha so happy. And my medallion?? Can't believe you foudn it! amazing!
So, I'm having so much fun here. Don't get me wrong, it's still a challenge for sure! but this challenge is strengthening me and changing me. Man, the purpose of life makes so much sense to me. God sent us to earth so we can experience life. So we can gain these experiences and grow and change and come closer to him! Notice, whenever you go through something hard, you learn from it. You become a better person. That is all part of God's plan. It's incredible!
I would honestly be nothing without prayer. It's been giving me so much strength!@
Here's an example of how awesome prayer is. our President basically told me that I need to "dig deeper" with each sister. I've been PRAYING every night for each of them and how I can serve them better, but I felt like I was getting no where! his message was just for me. I need to dig deeper. What island from Tonga is Tu'avao from? I didn't know (but now i know it's the main one, Tonga! haha. Btw, it snowed today, and we walked out of the temple when it was snowing and Tu'avao is SO HAPPY. she's never seen snow!) So his talk was just for me. Dig deeper. Know every concern. Well, I was in the bathroom, and I heard Sis Adams walk in. She's one AWESOME sister. She's gorgeous, hilarious, and just real. Love her. ANyway, I said a quick prayer, "please have the spirit guide me so I am able to know what to say to Sis Adams!" so we started talking about her bf who's serving in Samoa. Well we ended up talking for THIRTY minutes, past bed time and everything, but had this incredible deep talk where I learned so much about her! HOLY AMAZING! After I left her room, I just prayed and thanked Heavenly Father for guiding me in that conversation. I've tried and tried again to talk to her, but never really got anywhere, and this prayer totally provided that miracle! I'm so grateful for that!! I know without a doubt that Heavenly Father is always wanting to help us. All we need to do is sincerely ask. It's incredible. How lucky are we to have that knowledge? And sometimes I just feel so happy that I decide to pray and thank HF, and boom--even happier. Haha love it.
So I was reading during personal study in 3 Nephi 19. Whoa. This is when Christ came to the Americas and was teaching the people there how to pray for the Holy Spirit. Verses 20-26 were so beautiful! I just love the desire the people had to have the spirit with them, and even when Jesus went away to pray, they were all still praying with so much faith. "and they did not multiply many words, for it was given unto them what they should pray, and they were filled with desire." There's no feeling like that desire. There's no feeling like being lifted by the Spirit. After reading these verses, I thought, "My Savior must be proud of us." I apologize if you don't like the word "proud", but I think he is. When we have that desire to have the spirit and ACT on it, and do what the spirit prompts us to do, what could make him happier? When we act on the spirit, "we may be one" with our Savior. that's all He wants for us. And when we are One, then we become selfless, loving, respectful, patient, kind, happy...and any other Christlike attribute. Ohhhh boy does it take some work, but the work starts with prayer. "Pray on" Jesus says in verse 26. I love that, pray on, family! :)
Oh, one last thing. S Kartchner and I literally laughed for 3 hours one night. Like either of us couldn't breathe. We defintiely did NOT get our lesson planned at ALL, but the memory was so worth it! hahaha I don't even know what happened! But wow, every day we laugh so hard. She is so fun! Our whole district is so fun! Sister Tu'avao cracks me up all the time! One night she was singing to us in Tongan as we were going to bed and I said all sleepily and calmly, "sister tu'avao that was so beautiful. you should keep singing, I love it..." and she quickly says, "whyyyy--so yuu can faw ah-sleeep while i stay ah-waaaaake?!" Okay maybe it's not that funny but if you knew her and her thick tongan accent... man she's great! Haha she was so excited in the snow and at one point she stopped quickly and said, "ah!!! I see a snow!" and a snow flake had landed on her eyelash. Hahaha as I'm reading this it's really not funny but she's funny if you know her! She thinks i'm crazy for eating so healthy. Let me just tell you... the Lord knew I wouldv'e died serving in Tonga...
If there's something I could ask you all to do, then that would be to PLEASE "dear elder" sister kartchner random times throughout the week! She'll get it that day! just thank her for being such a wonderful example to me! On sunday, we got lost before Sacrament, and were FIVE minutes late. And I was super stressed and booking it from building to building, just quiet and upset. And she was still smiling and even said, "wow, look how beautiful the leaves on that tree are growing!" and i just shrugged it off. Why was I was stressed to get to church on time?Let's face it, it's beacsue I wanted to look good in front of the mission president. But she didn't care. She knows the Lord knew she's trying hard, and that's all she cares about. So here I was, stressed, late, and embarrassed, and there she was, just as late as me, but happy, full of the spirit, and doing what HF wants her to be doing. She's amazing! I apologized and will always remember her wonderful example. She reminded me of Natalie then. :)
claire.kartchner@myldsmail.net all her info should be the same as mine!
LOVE YOU ALL!!! Maybe if you could send something to Sister Tu'avao. Her unit box is the same as mine, but she never ever gets packages bc she's fromTonga. IMagine coming to a forgein country to learn ANOTHER foreign language?! she's incredible!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!! SERIOUSLY SO MUCH!!! I feel so happy when I get your emails and love! You make me so so happy! I'm so blessed to have you all in my life forever ;)
Love, Sister Bosler
