Stand Tall With Christ

-started SYL(speak your language) meaning only speaking spanish this entire week! Its rough sometimes because i struggle expressing my feelings and what i actually want to say and i feel like I'm being silenced half the time but it already has been such a big learning lesson for me and our district! Trying and learning to be patient with myself!

-remember how i said last week that the other hermanas in my district and i sung a song in sacrament meeting with guitar?? Ya soooo we ended up auditioning for a musical number just to see what happens and we ended up getting chosen to sing in front of 1400 FSY kids yesterday and it was a PARTYYY it was actually so fun! Definitely something out of my comfort zone bc of performing and i had to memorize the words AND the chords but esta bien! It was fun!

-my comp is gone today in AZ to get her visa so I'm in a trio which is low key trippy but we got to go to the Provo City Center temple and we rode all the way there just to find out it was closed for pioneer day, ur kidding. But it's fine haha we just ended up walking around in 100° weather and the amount of people that talked to us was unreal! This one inactive lady came up to us and said some interesting stuff about her experiences with people in the church which was quite different and she told us to research more about something with Palestines and I was like okayyyy but she said that with most members, they don't smile at her so she never talks to them. But she said I smiled and made eye contact with her and that gave her the confidence to come talk to us! Still an interesting convo but it was a great first nonmember discussion I'd say!

-while on provo center street, we ran into SO many missionaries entering the mtc today and made lots of friends!! This one girl was taking pics with her family and I asked what her mission was and she said she's going to the Gilbert AZ mission WHATTTT?!?! And that the Hansbrows are her mission presidents! So shout out to one of my favorite families the Hansbrows, she is a lucky girl getting to serve with them!

QUOTES OF THE WEEK:

-all that the fall put wrong, jesus christ and his atonement put right

-ours is not a religion of rationalization nor a religion of perfectionism, but a religion of redemption

-we're standing with the best person in the world so STAND TALL!

-it is only through the temple where we can receive all that the father has

Devo thoughts!

Last night we got to hear from Elder Bowen of the seventy and not gonna lie, a lot of his talk was super hard to understand because it was so doctrinal for my brain to understand haha but I like a lot of it! He said these 5 point that I loved:

-without Christ, matter how good we think we are, we fall short

-when we understand who we are, we act differently

-you carry His name with you constantly so REPRESENT!

-your success is his success too

-when praying at night, you should able to say "father, I'm not much, but I've been obedient"

What I shared with my district last night in devotional review is that you should always always be obedient so that the Lord knows you to be an obedient missionary/person that never strays. No matter how perfect we follow the rules or follow the Spirit, we will always fall short and we will never be enough without the Lord in our lives. I was listening to a talk the other day by Michelle D. Craig called "Notwithstanding My Weakness" and she says, "In Ether 12:37 the Lord says to Moroni, "Because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong" He is not offering the change Moroni's weakness, but to change Moroni, because Moroni recognized his weakness and shortcomings. Those who do not see weakness simply do not progress. This awareness is a blessing; it keeps us humble and turning to the Savior." I LOVED this thought that we need to humble ourselves before the Lord and lay everything at his feet because He is the one that forgives, and without him, we cannot progress. We truly are standing with the most perfect person that walked this earth so STAND TALL!!!

Yo tengo una testimonio que Jesucristo is nuestra roca, el Salvador, el Redentor, la agua de vida, y mi mejor amigo. Yo se que sin la iglesia en my vida, no se lo que haria. Yo se que Dios querer nosotros a venir cerca a El. Digo estas cosas, en el nombre de Jesucristo, Amen.

Te amo mucho(love you all so much!) Hablamos luego! See ya in Ecuador!

-Signing out, Hermana Jones