Great Letter from Kaeley May 13th 2013

Just a note from the "Mom"..... we got to Skype with her yesterday for Mothers Day, it was so wonderful to see her cute face and see the happiness and joy in her eyes !!  She is doing so good and is so happy in her service and loving the people in California that she is meeting and teaching. It is so great to see and hear her growth in her letters and see the blessings that are hers as she learns so much and immerses herself in selfless service for our Heavenly Father.  She has hit her half way mark this week WOW, hard to believe she has been out 9 months already. It has gone fast for her and all of us that miss her.  She told us that if she stays this next transfer in Lancaster, which will happen the first part of June and she thinks she probably will, that she will actually be in the new Bakersfield Mission that has been created as one of the new missions and will take effect July 1st.  So she will have started in the San Fernando Mission and end in the new Bakersfield Mission !  Kaeley and us thank all of you for staying part of her life through reading her letters and praying for her and for your love and support for her, we appreciate it very much !!!!!!!  


 May 13th 2013
 

Hello from me in another super sunny, hot week in good old California!

This last week was warm and it's only getting warmer! Triple digits are in the future and soon! It would be helpful to be a camel sometimes in the desert! :) Anyway, this last week was amazing! So many miracles and fun chances to serve the Lord even more fully!

This last week, my comp. and I just got called to be some of the new sister training leaders which is a new position that has been created with the number of sister missionaries coming out. We will be going on 24 hour exchanges and helping them with whatever they need help with and making sure their needs are met. I am so excited and so grateful for the trust the Lord is showing me to serve in this calling! It will be lots of fun to work more closely with the sisters and get to know them and learn from them! We had a training meeting for it on Thursday that was wonderful and helped us to understand exactly what we are doing!

We have a Baptism this Friday which we are super excited about. It was an investigator in another area but that had moved into our area and now we get to be apart of it and it is great! He is so ready and will be an amazing member of the church. He is already planning on serving a mission as well! So cool!

And,  on Saturday... we found a FAMILY to teach!!!! We are so excited. They are a part-member family and they are so open and willing to learn and we are excited because we know they will go to the temple after they get baptized!!! It was an excited week!

There is just this urgency I feel to the work at this time when the Lord is flooding the earth with missionaries! This is the final "inning" and we must stand strong!

  

I was reading a talk by Elder Holland and in it he said " In this church, what we know will always trump what we do not know. and remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith." I have been thinking a lot about that and how true that statement is and I would like to share some of my thoughts on that. For some reason, I feel very strongly about sharing this today and I know that it is true!

Something that has stood out to me since I first got on my mission was the fact that we are children of God. and with every passing week, my understanding and love has increased for the children of God and for the Lord and especially for myself.

I go back to what Elder Holland said..."In this church, what we know will always trump what we do not know."  One of those things we do know, is that we are children of God and with that comes specific responsibility and blessings.

That knowledge that we are children of a loving Heavenly Father can carry us further than anything this world has to offer. It can lead through difficult times, it can help us to understand why we go through certain things and we start to see what the Lord is trying to make of us. And a lot of the times, that knowledge of why and how are we going to make it doesn't come right away. But the knowledge that we are Heavenly Father's sons and daughters does and that gives us the understanding we need to finish our race of life.

I was reading in the Pearl of great Price and,  what a pearl it is!  In Moses 1. It is speaking of the experience Moses had first hand with the Lord and this is something that one of my MTC teachers pointed out to me but I am finally started to comprehend how Heavenly Father addresses Moses. In versus 4: "And, behold, thou art my son." and later in verses 6, 7,, "Moses, My Son."  Can you feel the Love that Heavenly Father has for Moses?   Later, after this amazing experience with the Lord, Satan comes, saying "Son of man, worship me."  Can you sense the coldness in his claim, son of man? Moses later replies with a "Who art thou? For Behold, I am a Son of God."

Do we know who we are to the Lord? When hard times and diversity come our way, do we respond with a "I am a son/daughter of God?"

There is power is those simple words. "I am a daughter/son of God." When we start to view ourselves as such, things change. Forgiveness comes a little easier because we are able to forgive ourselves but also forgive other sons and daughters of God.

Heartache, discouragement, and sorrow are put into perspective as we claim the title that is ours, I am a child of God.  

 

Disappointment and anger can be turned into love and peace.

Trials and temptations can be overcome through realizing our potential as the sons and daughters of God and we don't have to let those things make us think otherwise.

We start to see the big picture and things will change.

When we see through Heavenly Father's eyes as well as the Savior's eyes, we are able to see what we are becoming and we are able to live up to that potential. Without them, we are nothing, With them, we are everything!

It is amazing that the Lord, though we make mistakes, will always call us, " My son," or "my daughter." It doesn't matter what we have done or the mistakes we will make, that will never change and his love will never end or decrease for us. President Uchdorf said" Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without a compass, God's love encompasses us completely."

Moses wasn't perfec,t but he KNEW who he was and he was able to fulfill all the Lord has in store for him to do. We aren't perfect either. We must be patient with our selves as we overcome trials and difficulties and hardships. We must be patient with others are they are trying to do the same.  We must always remember who we are. That knowledge will Always trump anything this world has to offer. There is nothing in this world that is worth giving up our divine birthright nor that can stop us from reaching our potential! I know that this is true with all of my heart and soul!

If you don't know who you are to the Lord, Ask him. Ask him who you are to him and I PROMISE you will receive a confirmation that you are indeed a Child of God. He has great things in store for you as you hold on to that knowledge and you will be able to claim this title in the face of adversity with all your heart and soul, "For, Behold, I am a child of God," and nothing, nothing that comes your way will ever tear you down or keep you from going back to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I leave you my testimony that these things are true and that Heavenly Father is aware of each one of us and loves us more than we can ever imagine. We are his children and always will be. That will never change. Ever. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.