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| Sim's BBQ |
After the district meeting we wanted to go somewhere that we could only go in little rock. I decided I wanted bbq so we just picked a random one and thank heavens we picked the right one!! IT WAS SO GOOD. Sim's BBQ. They have this sauce that is to die for. I ordered a pulled pork sandwich :) the funniest though was sister ponce ordered a rib sandwich and she asked the very southern waitress if she could put slaw on the sandwich. .... "Slaw on a rib sandwich?.. We not gonna ruin our ribs like that." Hahahaha done learned our lesson! So funny. But seriously the best little hole in the wall.
We
had a great regional conference on Sunday. Something really interesting
is that nothing they said was new. The analogy of one percent off
course/standing too close to the edge is not a good idea. The prodigal
son. Keep the Sabbath Day Holy. Follow the prophet. Don't compare
yourself. Keep a worthy temple recommend. Work in unity. Especially
keeping the Sabbath Day holy is not a new concept ... that stuff is in
Exodus! That's an old commandment! And yet thousands of years later it
is still not being kept. It's just more worth it to show the Lord you
give Him one day than to not! :) Lots and lots of blessings in store for
us when we keep the commandments.
Which
is partly where the theme of charity comes in. This week we have talked
to a surprisingly large amount of people about charity. It is also my
Christ-like attribute for the month so that was cool to see it pop up so
much this week. I often feel kind of frustrated because it seems that
charity is something so unattainable for me. To have the PURE LOVE of
Christ is kind of a big deal and it's not something that can just
happen. It comes through prayer and great desire and more prayer. But I
was reading my Preach My Gospel again about it and it totally changed my
perspective. Still, it is something that I don't think one can be
perfect at and it is still something I need to pray for everyday. The
first part of the section in PMG mentions Matthew 22:36-39 "Thou shalt
love the Lord with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the
first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself." Then in the second paragraph it says
"When you are filled with charity, you obey God's commandments and do
all you can to serve others and help them receive the restored gospel."
Obedience + service. Love God + love your neighbor. = charity!! I think I
have been so caught up in the service and love your neighbor part that I
disregarded the love for God and keeping His commandments. When we have
charity, we are loyal to our Heavenly Father. Obedience blesses us and
those around us. Maybe this is old news to most people but my mind was a
little bit blown!! I love it. I feel like it is much more attainable
and tangible when it is put as obedience and service. I can always do
better at being more obedient and genuinely serving more. Ahhhhh.
Charity is the pure love of Christ!! (Also 1 Nephi 19:9, Ether 12:33-34,
Alma 7:11-13, Luke 7:12-15 are all awesome examples of Christ's
compassion and how charity is a power. It's the reason for the
Atonement-why and how!)
We
were trying to find more ways to find new people to teach that wouldn't
take months and is more effective than knocking doors. In PMG one of
the ideas is to teach members the Restoration and invite them to share
the gospel. So we started doing that yesterday and it was awesome!! We
have been using the (super great) pamphlet and going through the points
and noticing how the restoration has blessed their family, and the
gospel in general. Then we invite them to pray about someone they can
bring to their home for a dinner, FHE, snacks, whatever, that would let
us teach them a little bit about the gospel and help them to have the
same blessings that these families have. It's so cool. I am so excited
for the area to grow more and more! (Also it's nice because it's
something we can do with Spanish and English families.) It's interesting
that with both of the families that we did this with, the priesthood
and authority was something that we talked a lot about. Without it,
there is no church, no order, no blessings or healing. It's the way that
God blesses us and keeps us organized and happy. It's really such a
cool blessing to have worthy priesthood holders presiding in this part
of Arkansas. They both mentioned how hard it is to be without the
priesthood at times. I know the authority comes from God, and I have
been so blessed because of it! And it's only found in Christ's true
restored church. :)
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| The Countryside |
This
morning we went driving up to Mount Nebo where it was 28 degrees and
pretty much the air was just a giant ice cube. Haha it was so cold. But
it was really neat to see the "country side" as they call it from that
view in the winter. The Smith's (ward mission leaders) are so cute and
they drove us around and gave us all the details of the park and we got
cute pictures and got back in the car! Haha we are so well taken care of
here it's so awesome.
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| On Top of Mt. Nebo with the Smith's |
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| Cheesy souvenirs I would buy for you if I had money. |
Also
we "helped" some of the Spanish sisters make tamales for their sale.
Holy Hannah. They had all of the pork and chicken and flour stuff all
ready to go by the time we got there and it took us an hour and a half
to just fill the corn stuff. It's such a long preparation!! But it was
so fun. We weren't much help because we didn't know what in the world
was going on and our Spanish brains were off because it was early. But I
love tamales. :)
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| "Helping" make tamales |
I
am so so so grateful for President Monson! He has really been urging us
to keep the Sabbath Day holy. For whatever reason, we need to prepare
for it now so that whatever is about to happen won't shake our
testimonies. I know that he is guiding the church under the direction of
Jesus Christ! He cannot lead us astray. Really truly.
I love you all. I love being a missionary. Have a good week!
Hermana Macfarlane
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