Temples

Date: Monday, May 3, 2010


Family,

Well before I forget to mention it, I will be calling on Mothers Day around 9:30 am your time. It will be my first time calling out of the country so I will try to figure it out and call at that time. The order in which I will call everyone is as follows: 1. The family in Rexburg, 2. Candace and Evan in Arizona, and then 3. Dad. Um, I don´t know the time zone in Arizona so Candace and Evan just know I will call between 9:30 and 10:30 am MST. :) I hope that is OK. I wasn´t sure when your church was. Our is in the afternoon now, so yeah, I hope that all works out. If in case I can´t figure it out feel free to call me Mothers Day at (49)176-183-008-60. Sister Ashby called home for Christmas so she knows how to do it and can help me. :) I am looking so forward to talking with all of you. Will Sean and Kim be in Rexburg or Arizona, or Utah with Dad? I guess if not you can just give me their phone number on Sunday. YEA!

Ok, Mom I am so glad you got the chance to go to Women,s Conference. Sister Beck is amazing. You are amazing too. It sounds like are just bustling over there. In Tara´s email she talked about going back and forth to Utah and has only been home two days in the last few weeks she´s been at home. Wow, I haven´t left my city in the last 8 months, and you all are going cross country. :) But you do it to serve one another. I find that noble. That is what they say in German a lot, "I find that . . ." or they actually say, "Ich finde daß . . ." So yeah, anyway.

Mission life is completely wonderful!!!!!! I should also say before I forget, there was a surprise sister that came with all the other missionaries last week so we are still in a threesome. But Sister Cutler left us and now we have Sister Dexheimer. She is from Grantsville, Utah. And a very happy person. I love having her here. It´s funny because I knew her too in the MTC. She was the group right before me that left for Germany. The last few days have been pretty good.

We taught Peter the Word of Wisdom this week and we taught it at a convert families house. The spirit was so strong during the lesson and the members were so supportive. He was a little nervous about a few things but the members were a great help. They shared with him how they were able to overcome their challenges and that gave him hope. After everything was resolved he looked at us and said, "It´s not a matter of if, I will follow it, I just need to figure out how I can do it." MY heart filled with glee at his faith in the doctrine we taught. There is nothing I love more than to look into the eyes of a believing investigator and promise blessings that God has waiting for them. I love it! Well what I do love more is when they live it and tell us the blessings we promised came true, for they experienced it for themselves. Oh my goodness family, this church is true! And it fills me with hope and happiness inside and out! After we taught this lesson, the father of the family called us up the next morning and asked us for our investigators full name. This father was going to the temple and wanted to put Peters name on the prayer roll. I was so touched by the concern of the members for our faithful investigator.

That is the highlight of the week. And you know me, I like to say a few of my thoughts at the end of every email. :) and that is the temple. this week we taught a less active member about the temple. At the end we read in Doctrine and Covenants and all promised blessings that come from making the changes necessary in our lives so that we cango to the temple. The spirit was there because he said, "You know what you guys, I really want to find another job so I can go to the temple." (His job requires him to work every Sunday so he can´t go to church). We set up a temple tour and we will be going with him next week. As I have thought about the temple I have not been able to stop. :) IT carries me away to many other thoughts, that all help me realize that it is our destination. I have a strong testimony that baptism is the door to eternal life, but our destination is the House of the Lord, His Holy Temple. When I talk with people on the street they have so many concerns that need to be resolved. If they are humble and willing to try what we say (have faith), we can help them. If not, they continue in their sorrows and darkness. The gospel does bring light. Sometimes that light shows our weaknesses or mistakes, but then it helps us see where we can improve. When we rely on our Savior and do improve by making necessary changes, then we receive more light. And this process and light grows and grows until the perfect day, when we are full of light and have no more darkness or confusion or weaknesses or secrets. We can become totally clean and full of light through our Savior Jesus Christ. The guilt we have can be swept away, if we WANT it to be and SHOW that we WANT it by being humble and willing to submit to making changes. That is what I have learned on my mission. It has been a hard lesson. I had secrets like, "I actually don´t know how to teach, or I can´t actually speak German, but I will just pretend like I know until I figure it out." But then when people told me how I could improve it hurt, because it was true. And sometimes I wouldn´t follow their council and it would just keep coming up and bother me. Until I just decided it wasn´t worth it I should just try out what they said. So I would and at first it was still hard, but as I brought it to the light and asked for help, I was able to receive the help I needed either from my companion, my mission president or my father in heaven. Once they were fixed they didn´t bother me anymore. Then I could work on other things. I still have a lot to work on, but I am not the same missionary today as I was last year. I have learned a lot and have made a lot of changes. The more changes I decide to make that lead me to improving myself the happier I am, and the more confident I am. And yes, this all does go back to going to the temple. :) Like I said before thinking about the temple takes me away to other thoughts. :) But what I wanted to say overall is that the other day I read in the Doctrine and Covenants something like, Let us not glory in man, but let us glory in God. And I like that. Well, my time is officially gone. I just went off for a long time. I thank you all for your support.

I love you and I CAN´T WAIT TO TALK TO YOU!!!

Love,
Sister Melinda Fitzgerald