Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Week 4 and Some Words from Richard G. Scott

Week 4 for Sister Rossberg means that she's past half way, and leaving the MTC in only 2 weeks!  She wrote quite a bit about a devotional that Richard G. Scott gave last week on Personal Revelation.  He says, "Be careful what you do with impressions from the Lord."  The answers we receive from the Lord are our own personal scripture, and we should treat that revelation as such.  I know that I have had many more impressions or a-ha moments than I have recorded.  I think that when we do write down those revelations, it should be as often and as detailed as possible.  Many times I go back and re-read revelation I received and I not only remember what I learned at the time, but my knowledge is then added upon from my experience between the encounters.  Had I not written it down initially, I would have lost that added knowledge that came from my experiences.  
I have never seen Abbi write so eloquently as she has in her letters since leaving for her mission.   It is so amazing to hear about everything that she is learning, and the change that has already happened to her in four short weeks.  She is an amazing messenger of the Lord and blesses so many lives from serving this mission.  I'll be the first of a long list of people who have felt her Spirit from afar.  

Highlights from this week:
"My companion and I were able to leave the MTC for about an hour on Wednesday and she had a panic attack upon arriving back."
"I said, 'we would like to share a message with you.' But instead of saying message (mensahe), I said......" find out below :)
Sharna

Psssst: If you didn't know, all of Abbi's Mission Pics can be found on my Flickr account! This includes outtakes that didn't make the blog! (It's also on the sidebar if you want to check it out later)
Pre or Post panic attack??
I can only assume that this is the first picture taken using the camera I sent her.  Note the excitement. Or fear perhaps.
"I have no idea what this says." -Bro Ward
You can never have too many photos of Sister Jessica Gibbs on a blog.
Hello again!
This has been one long and amazing week!! So long that I almost forgot that Richard G. SCOTT came to speak at our Tuesday night Devotional last week, he is amazing and spoke very powerful words and of course I want to share a lot of them with you so here goes: 
He said that the choice to serve a mission will bless you and your families through the eternities because of the influence and effect it has on the person serving a mission, as well as all the people surrounding them. I love that promise because I know it is true; I have seen missions change people and change the way they live their lives. I hope that through serving the Lord for a short 18 months, it will make me want to serve him for the rest of my days on this earth.
But Elder Scott mostly talked about personal revelation and as we pray earnestly and sincerely, we will really be able to talk with Heavenly Father as if he were with us. And I realized that he is always with us, all we have to do is live worthily to be in God's presence. He cautioned ,"Be careful what you do with impressions from the Lord." It is through prayer and earnestly seeking his help that we can realize that we are totally dependent on the Lord.  I heard somewhere recently that Heavenly Father's plan isn't a back up plan, it is the only plan that will bring us back to our Father in Heaven and the way is stated [very clearly] in the scriptures. If we want to receive answers from our prayers, we must always be looking for answers in our lives in everything we do. "He seldom answer's prayers while on your knees." And how true is that!?  Elder Scott said that there are three answers that we will receive from the Lord: 1. Peace or confidence (or a yes) 2. Unsettling (or a no) and 3. No response- And I don't know about you but I get this most often. Elder Scott said that this is the Lord putting his trust in you and upon receiving this answer, we should proceed with faith. This gives us an opportunity to grow by exercising such faith in the Lord. No experience or answer will have such a great opportunity for growth as to take a step into the dark.  "In order for him to guide our steps, we must move our feet." 
I have a testimony that when use our agency to choose to do good, it is to help us grow and become closer to Heavenly Father. He knows what is best for us and he knows us better than we will ever know ourselves. Well, I wish you all could have been there to hear him speak and to bless us with strength and knowledge to feel the Spirit and to learn a new language. But I know this church is 100% true without a doubt in my mind! We are here to learn and grow and love and experience things that we couldn't ever imagine. Which makes me think of Elder Uchtdorf's talk from the Young Women session this last Conference, I would suggest you read it. it's way GOOD!! 

Okay well lets see what else; my companion and I were able to leave the MTC for about an hour on Wednesday and she had a panic attack upon arriving back. It was only then that we realized how very strong the spirit is here at the MTC, we are most definitely set apart from the world as Missionaries and I can't believe I've been here for less than a month and already forgot how different it is out in the world. I pray that each of you have the Spirit with you daily to help you in the forces against evil.  
Oh, and speaking of the Spirit, I heard something that was really interesting about the way that the Spirit and the body interact with each other, Brother Heiner (2nd counselor in my Branch Presidency) said, "The spirit always starts in the heart and if you don't push it back, it will lift you. Your spirit will push through your body and eventually pour out your eyes." (It obviously doesn't always have this effect) But his point was that our spirits and our bodies have only been together for less than a century, they are just getting to know each other, and will only be able to work in unison once the body is in a resurrected state. I just love that because you can just picture the spirit trying to figure out how to fit inside of an earthly body.

Well i just have one more story, i had my first embarrassing story of speaking Tagalog in a lesson. We went to talk to our investigator, "I said we would like to share a message with you." But instead of saying message (mensahe), I said 'message' (mesahe)- as in masseuse, or "I want to give you a massage" But I think that's it. I am learning heaps! and I can't wait to become fluent in Tagalog and I'm sure you will hear more embarrassing stories about me trying to speak but Sige! I hope you all have a fantastic week!! Mahal ko KAYO!!

Sister Rossberg

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