THREE WEEKS AND COUNTING

Well, three weeks from today, at this very time, we will be preparing to land in Salt Lake City.  Where has the time gone? Can that even be possible?  I am so glad we decided to serve a mission and that we were called here to serve in the House of the Lord.  I have gained so much insight that I didn't have or hadn't thought about before serving full time in the temple.  I have been able to rub shoulders with some awesome people of great spiritual strength.  I have also be here as young sisters in the gospel have been so excited to serve in the temple over and above their busy schedules at the University here.  Some of these sisters are recent converts themselves but have such a love for the gospel and the temple.  My testimony has grown right along with theirs.  The mission has been hard at times, even most of the time but it is another witness to me that I can do hard things and that I have chosen the harder right among the other things that I could have been doing.

Yesterday in Sacrament Meeting, we were privileged to have Elder and Sister Swinton speak to us.  They are serving as the directors of the Visitors Center here.  She has written several books for the church and was asked, while they were serving as mission president in the London South Mission, to write President Monson's biography.
I love her stories of him and the testimony she has of him being the Prophet for our day.
She asked us to think about promptings you have had to act on someone else's behalf.  I know that I have had some of those promptings and have not acted on them a few times and feel very bad about that now.  President Monson often speaks of listening to that quiet prompting but Sister Swinton told us that he was not always good at listening.  One story involved him being torn between doing what the spirit told him and visiting a man in the hospital or staying in a stake meeting that required him to sit on the stand.  He knew he would draw attention to himself and possibly offend the Stake President so he stayed in the meeting.  After, he hurriedly made his way to the hospital only to find that the elderly man had been calling for President Monson (then a bishop).  The man passed away minutes before President Monson's arrival.  He made a commitment to himself to never ignore the spirit again.  Today, he is a master at listening to those small promptings.  Again sister Swinton asked, "How are you doing?" When we follow the prompting and act, we are on the Lord's errand.  "Strive to be the one that the Lord knows He can call upon to do His work."  What a powerful statement.  I really have a long ways to go with this but I know that if I am prompted to do something, I will do my best to act on it.
Elder Swinton talked about the beauty of the Christus that he has the blessing to look at each day.  I will admit that when we walk past the visitors center, I look at it in awe too.  He made the comment that our whole purpose of our very life is to become like Christ.  Wow!  Do I have a ways to go.
Another interesting concept he talked about was the grand council in Heaven.  We know that Christ told God when asked who could come to earth and carry out His plan, "Send me and the Glory be thine."  Do you thinK that each one of us answered in that enthusiastic way? When I was asked who could come to earth and experience a certain set of trials, church callings, triumphs, etc., did I say "Send me, and the glory be thine."?  I hope so.  I also hope I will continue to accept those things that are in store for me whether I think I asked for them or not.  The way we handle those experiences in this earthly life will determine how much like our our Savior, Jesus Christ we will become.

Well, I had better close for this week.  Only two more posts will come having to do with our mission but I have become so accustomed to writing a few things each week for my benefit and those few members of my family that follow this blog, I will probably still write. I know this will be a good resource for me to look back on and reflect how I am doing in becoming more like Christ.