Llamado a Servir en España: Goodbyes and Hellos

Family and friends,

I hope you all had a great week! This week at the Referral Center there were a lot of goodbyes said but also hellos (as the email title indicates) :) On monday we said goodbye to Elder Haskins who was here for a foot injury and is now back in his mission in Montana. He was the funny one of the group and was always talking and making jokes while we did chats here in the referral center. So since He left it has been a little quiet around here. Then on Tuesday Sister Earley finished her mission so her parents came and picked her up and she went home to Las Vegas. It was sad to see her go as well, but she will do great things in Las Vegas! On Tuesday night we welcomed our new companion... Sister Handley! She was serving in the Florida Tampa mission (just like Sister de Jesus) and has been having problems with her foot and ankle for 10 years. She thought it was better when she went on her mission but has found more problems since then. President Cusick sent her here to the Referral Center to see if she could get better. It has been fun having her here! She is from Tooele, Utah and is the middle of 5 kids! She is so sweet and I love working with her. Hermana de Jesus and I are teaching her Spanish and Portuguese :)

I have seen a lot of people this week that I know which has been really fun! I saw the Quigley family, Aunt Amy and Kathryn in Deseret Book today, Millie Goldrup (who is here in the MTC now and on her way to Taiwan), and then at BYU today for preparation day I saw: Mette Lawrence, Krista Hansen (I think- from the eaglewood ward), Sarah Kunzler, and Marrissa Brunner. It was so fun to see them all! For our preparation day activity the referral center missionaries went bowling which was really fun but I think I had a little anxiety and panic attack every 2 minutes being on BYU campus as a missionary. It was the craziest thing ever. But it was fun to be back there again. The sisters and I couldn't really bowl because we were all in pain... but we tried to kind of do it and then the elders kind of took over for us :)

This week I have learned a lot from my personal study and from Mormon messages that we get to watch while we bike in the mornings. I have been studying a lot about the will of God... I loved reading in 2 nephi 9:4, "For I know that ye have searched much, many of you, to know of things to come; wherefore I know that ye know that our flesh must waste away and die; nevertheless, in our bodies we shall see God". I am the type of person who has truly "searched much to know of things to come". I want to know what is going to happen and I want to know right now. However, I have learned a lot, especially in these last few weeks, that the most important thing is that we just continue to trust in Him and do what He has asked us to. We need to keep doing the little things everyday and serve Him with all of our heart, might, mind and strength. And that is all that really matters. Then we don't have to worry about what the future has in store because His arm and His plan will be revealed unto us. We don't have to worry so much about the temporal things... as long as we are doing the spiritual things then His plan will begin to unfold in our lives!

Going along with the Will of God... in the past few months I have felt at times that I have been "cut down" like a tree, when it begins to grow. I have started to grow and learn so much and then it just seems like I am being cut down again. However, if I can just take a step back I will recognize that I am being "cut down" so that I can "grow" into what heavenly Father needs me to be. Just like a gardener will trim the branches of a tree so that it grows into what He needs it to be. We have to trust Him and it will all be ok! We had a wonderful Tuesday night devotional from Elder Pino. (quick side note... he did it in Spanish and had an English translator and I understood the whole thing without the translator! It made me happy to know that I haven't lost my Spanish) :) Anyways, something he said really struck me. "Confia en Dios, y todo estare bien" Which means, "trust in God and everything will be ok". I loved that.... especially in Spanish! And it is so simple but true. When we will just trust in Him then everything WILL be ok. It might not turn out how we plan it to, but it will be ok because it will be how He planned it!

Trust in God this week. More than you did this past week! When something doesn't go exactly how you planned don't get frustrated or give up. Just simply remember that God sometimes cuts you down to help you become who He needs you to become! Here is a short mormon message from Elder Christofferson that I would love you all to watch...

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-014-the-will-of-god?lang=eng

Hopefully you all get a chance to watch it! But if not, here is the story of Elder Hugh B. Brown told by Elder Christofferson:

President Hugh B. Brown, formerly a member of the Twelve and a counselor in the First Presidency, provided a personal experience. He told of purchasing a rundown farm in Canada many years ago. As he went about cleaning up and repairing his property, he came across a currant bush that had grown over six feet (1.8 m) high and was yielding no berries, so he pruned it back drastically, leaving only small stumps. Then he saw a drop like a tear on the top of each of these little stumps, as if the currant bush were crying, and thought he heard it say:

“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. … And now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me. … How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”

President Brown replied, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’”

Years later, President Brown was a field officer in the Canadian Army serving in England. When a superior officer became a battle casualty, President Brown was in line to be promoted to general, and he was summoned to London. But even though he was fully qualified for the promotion, it was denied him because he was a Mormon. The commanding general said in essence, “You deserve the appointment, but I cannot give it to you.” What President Brown had spent 10 years hoping, praying, and preparing for slipped through his fingers in that moment because of blatant discrimination. Continuing his story, President Brown remembered:

“I got on the train and started back … with a broken heart, with bitterness in my soul. … When I got to my tent, … I threw my cap on the cot. I clenched my fists, and I shook them at heaven. I said, ‘How could you do this to me, God? I have done everything I could do to measure up. There is nothing that I could have done—that I should have done—that I haven’t done. How could you do this to me?’ I was as bitter as gall.

“And then I heard a voice, and I recognized the tone of this voice. It was my own voice, and the voice said, ‘I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.’ The bitterness went out of my soul, and I fell on my knees by the cot to ask forgiveness for my ungratefulness. …

“… And now, almost 50 years later, I look up to [God] and say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.'

I have a strong testimony that our Heavenly Father loves each of us and has a perfect plan for us... we just have to trust HIm... y TODO estare bien :)

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Hermana Eyring