Alrighty guys, the clock has started. Seriously, p-day is kinda stressful, because you want to say so much in soooo little time. But I'll do my best, k? I got your package! It was fabulous and thanks so much . My district got a kick out of your missionary survival kit dad.....I would recommend using Tupperware for any food you send though hahaha, The cookies were somewhat resembling pancakes. They still tasted good though. It really just feels so good to receive a package and know how loved I am. Oh, and I trust that anything Machelle cooks would be amazing, but if she wants to get crazy, she could even send cinnamon rolls, and my district would be in heaven. Thank you all who are supporting me. It means the world. Also, Dad, Sis Kunkel gets a kick out of hearing about your garden. She makes me update her every time, so keep it up haha.
My foot is alright. I saw a specialist yesterday, which was weird because Sis Kunkel and i went into the "real world", which was Provo....so that probs still doesn't qualify as the real world, but it's a step away from the MTC. He recommended me to wear raised shoes and inserts, but nothing big. What a blessing. I keep waking up in the middle of the night with horrible foot cramps though, so I have been downing bananas as much as possible. No worries though. I'm so excited for Bresia to come. She gets here tomorrow right? Oh man, she is going to love it here. It is so awesome how strong the spirit is here. I know I'll see her. I've seen everyone I know like a million times. Maybe she will even be in my building!! Tell her to get pumped though. The greatest time of her life is about to start....or I'll just tell her myself tomorrow :)
Okay, so here's a cool update. Guess what! I got a calling. So, since getting here, I have been really praying and looking for ways to help uplift others and learn to be more selfless. I think that pride is really something that I need to work on and get rid of and service is the best way to that. Sis Kunkel and I have been trying our best to uplift everyone in our district and help them with the language and to bring all the girls together (you know how girls can have tiffs? well, the trio of girls in our district have a lot of tiffs, so we try to keep things positive and build them up). Anyway, we were doing our best, but I still felt like I needed to do more, like I needed to learn more. Then, this past Sunday, Sis Kunkel and I were asked by the Branch President to be the new Sister Training Leaders for our zone (it's like a girl version of zone leader). At first, I was super freaked out, because I haven't really been in a position like that in the church and I felt extremely inadequate, but of course we said yes.....then took some deep breaths. It's not really a big deal, but I want to do my best to fulfill every responsibility God asks me to do. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is an answer to my prayers, because now I have the chance to serve even more missionaries. I can help the whole zone instead of just my district. I don't think I'm any more qualified than the other girls, but hopefully I will learn a lot. I am finally understanding why it is so important to learn obedience in this life. The scriptures tell us that Christ gave His will to the Father and that is what gave him power. True power is only used for the improvement and uplifting of your fellow men. The more we learn obedience, the more power God can trust us with, and the more people we can help. You see, we don't lose ourselves when we submit our will to God. We actually become all that we were meant to be! We reach our full potential. Imagine if Christ had not submitted His will to the Father. The Atonement wouldn't have happened and He would not be our Savior. I still need to work on this quality... a lot....but I'm so thankful that I'm beginning to understand it, because it makes everything so much easier. In a devotional, we learned that God does not call us to repentance because He is angry with us. Yes, it is so that we can be clean and pure, but the real reason He calls us to repentance is out of love and mercy. He wants us to stop hurting. He wants us to let go of the pains and burdens of this life. Repentance is not for Him, it is for us. I can't wait to find out what Heavenly Father has in store for me to learn, and I know that the more I obey Him, the more I will see His love for all mankind in every moment. Oh here is one funny story real quick: so there are some words in the Portuguese language (PS, sis Wright and I are apparently having sleeptalking convos at night now, haha) that sound very similar, but have VERY different meanings. Today, our teacher told us some of the words that we have said that we should not say again......Parte means "part", but parto means "to give birth". Also, animado is how you are supposed to say "excited", but the literal translation of excited is "excitacao"......our teacher explained it DOES mean excited......but not how we want it to hahahaha. Oh man, we are going to make such fools of ourselves in Brazil. I cant wait!
Please pardon my horrible grammar and punctuation. Im typing as fast as I can.
Ill check here again later today, so hopefully you'll respond again. Life is so beautiful. Every moment of every day can be if we can but remember Christ. He can solve anything and fill us beyond our own capacity. I know this is true for all of us.
LOVE SISTER HUNTINGTON
