Bonjour à tous! I hope everyone is doing well. As you see from the title, I have officially been out on my mission for a full year! It has flown by so quickly and I've learned and grown so much and I'm super excited to see what this next year brings. If it's okay with all of you who might read this, I would like to make this email a little different from the others. I will share a few quick things that happen this week but then I would also like to share 10 things I've learned this last year.
First off, this week was pretty good. We were able to do a lot of service and help a lot of people in need. We helped people move and clean apartments. This week we also have a few really good lessons. We were able to share the Restoration in Arabic with our friend Rada. It was really cool and she was able to understand it a lot easier than when we tried in French. We also visited a lot of members and talked with them on missionary work and helping less actives. Speaking of less actives, we had two less active families say they would come try to come back to church this next week! So cool! We also had another reach out to us and ask us if we could come visit him. We went over last Wednesday and met with Dany and his girlfriend. They seem really cool and after asking a couple questions and talking with them, we found out Dany wants to start coming back to church and his girlfriend is not a member but is interested in learning more out the church! It was really cool to see even the less actives doing missionary work and seeing their desire to come closer to God. We have a lunch appointment with them tomorrow as well! Other than that our week was pretty normal.
Now to the good part ahah. Here are 10 things that I have either learned, gained a testimony that it is true, or strengthened my testimony of in this past year of serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. No particular order.
1. God is our loving Heavenly Father and we are his children. He is truly the Father of our spirits and loves us more than we can even imagine.God knows us personally. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. He knows the desires of our hearts and all of our thoughts. As we allow ourselves to be an instrument in His hands, He will use us to our fullest potential and wonderful things will start to happen.
2. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. He is our older brother and the one who died to save us all. He descended below all things so that He could know how to better succor his brothers and sister. He was truly the only perfect person to walk this earth. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the true reason for Easter and Christmas! I am so grateful for what He did for me and for everyone else.
3. Joseph Smith was truly called of God to be a Prophet and restore the true and full gospel back to the earth. He had a question when he was young and by turning to God, he found his answer and was willing to act on what he was told to do. He truly received the golden plates and translated them by the power of God into what we call now, The Book of Mormon.
4. If we look for it, we will see the Hand of God in our lives everyday. He is our Father and wants to bless us whenever he can. Sometimes we don't see it but Gob blesses us EVERYDAY with tender mercies and miracles! All we have to do is look for it. Even if it might feel like He has left us and everything is going bad, he is still there with his arms wide open just waiting for us to turn back to him. He is never the one to leave us, sadly its us who separates ourselves from Him. All we have to do is turn back to Him and he will gladly accept us and loves us!
5. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and helps us repent and it changes lives. It can change our lives if we allow it. Jesus suffered and died for our sins and we can repent daily and strive daily to become more like him. In doing so, we will receive so much more Joy and happiness in our lives. I have seen the atonement of Jesus Christ act in my life and it is the best thing that we could do in our life. As we repent and change and use His atonement, we will slowly become more like Him. I have also seen His atonement work in the lives of others and I know that it can truly change people who allow it to happen. The Atonement of Jesus Christ was the greatest thing that ever happened. He saved us all from our sins and weaknesses as we turn to him and repent.
6. The power of Prayer is real. We can communicate with our Father in Heaven through the power of prayer. If we pray for something with real intent, God will answer your questions. He will give you the comfort you need. He will bless the sick or afflicted. We also need to pray for the things that align with the will of God and then be willing and ready to act on the promptings we receive. God wants us to talk to him so we pray. He also wants to talk to us so we read the scriptures and will confirm to us the things we need to hear by the power if the Holy Ghost.
7. God has a plan for us. His plan started way before our life here on earth and continues for after this life. As we do as we are supposed to do, we are promised that we can be with our families forever. All the decisions we make is this short span of time we have here on earth will affect what happens to us in the Spirit world. The knowledge that as we do our best to stay on the straight and narrow path, we will be able to see and be with our family again even after death is very comforting and I'm so glad that it is true.
8. The Priesthood is the power and authority to act in the name of Jesus Christ. It is the same priesthood that Jesus gave to his apostles. With this we are able to baptize people into the church of Jesus Christ and also heal the sick and comfort those in need of comfort. By the simple laying on of hands many people have been healed or comforted by the power of the priesthood and I am thankful for every chance I get to be able to help others through the priesthood that has been given to me.
9. The book of Mormon is true. It is another Testament of Jesus Christ. We can always learn new things from reading the Book of Mormon and the stories and things written within apply to us personally. There is so much doctrine within and it as we truly study it, we will be closer to God. As we read the Book of Mormon daily, even if it is just one or two verses, it can help us with every aspect of our lives.
10. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church. It is the same church as that of which we read in the Bible. Jesus is truly the head and leader of the Church. Russell M. Nelson was called of God to be the Prophet and president of the Church. I know that everything that happens in this church is guided and inspired of God. I would not rather be in any other church than this one because I know this church is true. I love it with all my heart and am excited to be able to serve and teach people all about this.
That's about it for me for this week! I hope you all have a great week and keep having fun! I love you all!
Elder Beckstrand
Comp pic
Jimmy
The LaRoche family
Here are some picture's that Josh sent from his P-Day adventure with HIS DISTRICT at the Zoo de Granby. It was another miracle! His entire district got to go together! Josh said that he felt a little apostate being able to go do something on p-day besides just sit at the church and play board games or talk to us. He was in Heaven! He loves to be out and about with people. He did not look forward to p-days at all. Hopefully that will change now. This is one happy mom to see her son happy too!
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