Hi, Matt! How are you? Thanks for your letters. I am trying to figure out what your companion said to me in Spanish, and from what I can make out, he said that you are a good companion and that you two are going to have success. I can’t figure out what “no degale que” means. Did you spell it right?
I really appreciate your words of gratitude and encouragement. They mean so much to me! Remember that in letters, people can be their best selves, but in real life, I’m just the goofy old mom I’ve always been, ha ha.
I really liked what you said about “anything that is righteous will be given to us if we ask for it in the name of Jesus.” I think most of what I will write about this week demonstrates that to be true.
I also like what you said about a parent’s love. “…I think the love parents have for their kids is the thing that will draw them back at the end, because when someone is faced with that sort of love, they, in turn, will do something for them selves, not to help themselves, rather because someone who really loves them, asks them to change.” Thanks for that encouragement. I totally agree. Your Great Grandma Shumway had a saying, “Love them in to the family.” She worked hard to do this especially with her sons and daughters in law. It is a good example of what Heavenly Father wants us to do.
In a larger sense, your thoughts on a parent’s love also apply to our Heavenly Father’s love. As our heavenly parent, Father in Heaven loves and blesses us so much and he is hoping we will love Him back and do everything in our power to return to him. 1 John 4:19 says, “We love him, because he first loved us.” Also in the sacrament hymn, “O God The Eternal Father” is says Jesus ransomed himself in order “to win our souls with love.” Charity never faileth!
I like that you said your week was fun. It is good to see you finding joy in the work and that the Lord is guiding you and giving you success. You said, “we really hardly do anything in this work other than live worthily; study; repent, a lot; and follow the impressions that come from the Lord.” You are really getting the hang of missionary work, Matt, and I am so glad!
You also said, “It sounds so easy but, there is a constant enemy and we have so many imperfections that sometimes I just want to sit down and cry, but, I cant do that, so I just pray.” You sound like Nephi in 2 Nephi 4! His weaknesses made him sad, too, but he said, “Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation.” I know what you mean about having so many imperfections you want to sit down and cry. I especially hate it when I have been studying and learning about things that I need to do to improve, and then I go and make the same old mistakes again. That can be so discouraging, but we won’t be discouraged if we’ll just remember that God is at the helm, and he is perfect and will help us prevail if trust him and pray like you said and never give up.
You were so right when you said, “I know that we can improve, we are a long ways away from were we need to be, but I feel.... Secure in the future. I know that I'm gonna fall, a lot, but I know that the Lord will never let me down.” I feel that way, too, Matt. I love how you refer us to scriptures! It’s such a missionary thing to do and it means that you are really immersing yourself in living and preaching the word of God.
You said that anything that’s righteous will be given to us if we ask in the name of Jesus, and we have many prayers answered this past week. For one thing, Thomas went to football camp, and as you probably know, kids can make lots of bad choices at football camp, but I prayed about it and felt like he should go. I also fasted and prayed that Thomas would choose the right and that the experience would be a good one. Heavenly Father comforted me while Thomas was gone, and Thomas has talked quite a bit about camp since he’s been home, and I think it went well and that he made good choices.
Another real answer to prayers came with the help Miriam got on her trip to San Diego. She left with plans kind of up in the air. I fasted and prayed for her and also went to the temple, and everything worked out good. She was able to get safe transportation to and from the base to visit Preston and is currently on a plane to come back home. We will be picking her up at the airport this evening. I really feel like Heavenly Father was watching out for her and blessing her. Also, I have been praying that Jon will be able to progress in his life, and, as you know, he found an apartment to move into.
A smaller blessing is that we will be moving up into the room that Jon is vacating so that we can finish remodeling the downstairs. Dad moved everything to one side of our bedroom and started tearing down sheet rock on the other side, the day before Grandma had her stroke, and we have been living in one half of the room ever since. It will be nice to move into a real bedroom while we finish the one downstairs.
With Miriam working and Thomas gone, Katrina and I have spent a lot of time together, and I’ve really enjoyed it. I think she may be a bit tired of being dragged from store to store with me, though, ha ha. I’m a bit tired of it myself! We did get to visit my sister, Elizabeth, one day which we really enjoyed, and Katrina talked me into getting her a treat a couple of times, ha ha. The week is pretty much a blur without much else really happening. It rained a lot which is nice.
Poor little Lily has been sick ever since they got back home. I hope she gets better soon. Cassandra is taking her to the doctor tomorrow, and I hope they get things figured out. We haven’t been able to Skype with them since they left which is hard, but we have talked on the phone a bit.
Now it is Monday. Yesterday was a nice day. Nick's mom talked about his mission in church, and some youth talked about choir tour. It was nice to hear more about what Katrina experienced on tour since she’s not all that talkative, ha ha. We had a lesson on fasting in Sunday school where we read Isaiah 58. I love that scripture! In Relief Society we sisters had a lesson entitled, “With God, All Things Are Possible.” It was from the Teachings of the Prophets—Lorenzo Snow manual, and it was a really good lesson. It encouraged us to trust in the Lord completely, serve Him fully, and He will lend us the grace we need to do all that is required of us.
The teacher, mentioned the idea that being loved is good, but love along with trust is better. In other words, it is important to love God, but do we trust Him enough to put all we have and are into his hands knowing that He will sustain us? Along those same lines, I was thinking that we know God loves us because He loves all His children, but does He trust us? Can he trust us to do what he asks of us? It reminds me that our prophet, President Monson said he hoped the Lord knew that if He needed an errand to be done, Tommy Monson would do it! I want God to trust me like that.
Sorry this letter is so short, Matt, I don’t have much else to write. I am so glad you are progressing in the work, and we are trying to reach out to others here at home. We pray for you daily, and know that our prayers and being answered. I love you!
Love,
Mom
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