I'm halfway there!! (On Feb. 3rd to be exact)
Also, thanks to everyone for the Birthday cards and emails. I loved them, even if I didn't get around to responding individually yet!
Today, I want to talk about Moroni 7:6-8:
"...a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing. For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness. For behold, if a man being evil giveth a gift, he doeth it grudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God."
This one hits home as a missionary. Often I find myself counting down until lunchime, then until 9 pm. Life is rough and sometimes the days just don't end. But even though giving my time and talents and hard work will help others as the Lord works through me, it will only benefit me if my heart is there. When I feel love for the people I'm talking to and my companion, and when I am happy simply because I love the message I'm sharing. That's when it will do the most good for everyone.
My favorite Bishop once told me, "a good deed done with bad intentions is still a good deed." Or something like that. To be honest, that got me to mutual and seminary. I was murmuring (or sleeping) the whole time, but I did it. And since I have 20/20 vision in hindsight, I know I could have become a better person and done so much more good if my heart was in it too. I could have had great experiences, instead of just good ones.
I've put in 9 months and I have 9 months left to go. It feels like forever in both directions. It's a good time to reset my thinking to the way I did in my greenie days, yet take advantage of all the experience I've gained. It's going to be a good 9 months. Just kidding it will be a GREAT 9 months!
So I have resolved to be more focused on myself and live in the moment. Ok, let me clarify that. I will continually check my desire and where my heart is at. And not always be planning my next opportunity to sit down and eat.
It was a good week. Our investigators are doing well and Zone Conference was inspiring. Our district is composed of missionaries from: Virginia, Dominican Republic, Washington, Connecticut, Utah, Missouri, and Germany. So we've got quite the variety. We all get along for the most part, so that's good. We're having another card game/ sports P-day so I'll do that instead of boring y'all with details of the week.
I love you guys!!!
Sorella Rachel Riley
Zone Conference
Rome temple making progress (not in her mission boundaries, but they're all excited about having a temple in Italy!)
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