Dear Family and Friends-
It has been another wonderful, inspiring, delightful,
challenging, and beautiful week here at the MTC. Last Sunday, Elaine S Dalton
spoke to the Relief Society here!! I absolutely love her and I feel like I''ve
grown up with her in Young Women's. She said she loves to come to the MTC and
see the sister missionaries so that she can go back to Young Women's and tell
the YW that it is worth it and that it works! Before she spoke a sister sang
the hymn, Savior, Redeemer of My Soul. Sister Dalton started speaking and
invited the sister to sing it again and for us to focus on the words. Check out
this hymn in the hymn book as it is absolutely beautiful. She centered her
message on the Savior and on the power of the Atonement in our lives. I am so
grateful for the Atonement and it''s power in my life and it hasn''t been hard
to recognize it as a central force in the mission. I loved how Sister Dalton
spoke about the word ""chasten"- the root word being chastity.
The Lord chastens and refine us, in order to purify us to enter His presence.
She finished by giving us some quick pick-me-up scriptures.: D&c 38:7, Mark
9:23, D&C 25:3, D%C 24:8, D&C 84:88, D&C 64:33, D&C 6:36, and
D&C 68:6.
It kept getting better! Sunday night, Sheri Dew came and
spoke to the entire MTC! She shared a story of while she was in New York and a
man in front of a comedy club came up to her and invited her inside literally
saying, " It''s a party! Come on in, get drunk, than go out and make some
bad choices!" I was absolutely astonished, but that is actually the
world''s perspective isn''t it? She spoke on two points- First, Life isn't
about this life-it's about what comes next. And second- the worst thing Satan
can do is to get us to forget our divinity. Sounds familiar right? I mentioned
that as a major temptation several weeks ago. In order for us to stay focused
on what comes next and on resisting Satan, we must recieve and remember. We
must recieve the gifts of the Savior, the gift of agency, the gift of his
teachings and example, the gift of his infinite Atonement. We must choose to
recieve the spiritual gifts, the one we have and the others Heavenly Father
truly wants to give us. We must remember to keep recieving and renewing
covenants. We are not a church of one time events really, the cycle of faith,
repentance, baptism (or renewing through the Sacrament), and recieivng the gift
of the Holy Ghost should repeat itself frequently in our lives. Even in the
temple, we do not go once and never return just because we''ve now made those
covenants. We return again and again to worship and learn in the house of the
Lord. This church is one of processes and progression. D&C 76:1-10 for some
uplifting scriptures.
Tuesday night Elder Lynn G Robbins came and spoke to us-
remember his talk from conference -something about Becoming instead of Doing.
He spoke on the Lord''s method for us to recieve revelation. As outlined in 3
Nephi 17 we must pray, meditate, prepare (read), and then ACT!! He was a
whirlwind having us reference scriptures and Preach My Gospel throughout his
entire talk as he showed us where all of the answers and guidance he was giving
us could be found. And his wife who spoke briefly mentioned that when they
served as mission presidents they called their new missionaries ""Goldens"
instead of Greenies, that way focusing on the light and energy new missionaries
brought into the field. I loved how this inspires new missionaries to know that
they can be powerful missionaries from the very beginning of their missions. It
is a false statement to say that you can only be powerful or effective, or
whatever word you think you''re not, just because you are new in the mission.
I have treasured up the word this week including the word
""strive" found in nearly every page of Preach My Gospel and the
Handbook. It means so much more than try. I love you all! Next week will be the
mission presidents conference and so all the Brethren will be here in the MTC
and we''ve been told that we''ll hear from several of them! Have a wonderful
week and focus on partaking of the sacrament this Sunday!
Love,
Hermana Koerner
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