An Attitude of Gratitude

Hello!! 

This past week has been filled with spiritual enlightenment, if I do say so myself. 

On Saturday we had a training about Book of Mormon heros. It was awesome to talk about them and what amazing examples they have set for us! They didn't have to write it, we all know that they didn't write it for themselves but for US! Isn't that amazing?! I think so. 

Sunday is always a fun day....especially at a Spanish ward. We had 2 of our investigators come to church! They even came into Gospel Doctrine! I hope that what we are teaching them is sinking in. 

Monday was Zone Meeting where we talked about how important the Doctrine of Christ is in our lives. Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end is how we change and become better each and every day. We've been focusing on the "nitty-gritty" of what we want to change about ourselves while we are here.....how we want to be remembered. At first it was a little of a struggle to think about what I wanted to work on. My companion is focusing on Charity, which is amazing, but it just didn't feel right for me. My Zone Leader, Elder Lartey, helped me pick out what I desired so that I could better figure out where I needed to work. I told him how I wanted to be like my Grandma Jane and not complain as much as I do. So i decided my area of focus is GRATITUDE. I am seeking out all of the good that comes about so that I will bear my burdens without murmuring. (1 Nephi 16:1-3) :) 

Tuesday we had Zone Conference with President and Sister Morgan. I love when we all get together to talk about the Doctrine of Jesus Christ. We always have 4 talks, one about Courage, one about Obedience, one about Reverence, one about Effort which make up our motto: Loyal to the CORE. Cleaver because we live in the big apple no? ;) 

The talks were, wonderful. Courage was given by Elder Vanner who is from Kazakhstan. He came out with me from the MTC. He is one of about 100 members there. He told of the courage of some of the US embassy members who knew that they had to share the gospel. These members didn't necessarily know the language but he said all they had to do was share the Book of Mormon with them and that he and is family are the fruit of it. 

Obedience was given by Elder Pemberton who is from Payson, Utah! He gave a great example of how blessings and happiness come from being exactly obedient. 

Reverence was given by my zone leader Elder Lartey who is from Orem. He told the story of his father who accepted the gospel message while is family rejected it. He choose to go on a mission at the age of 21. While he was serving he was about to step on a bus, which he had been waiting for for 3 hours, when a voice said to him, "Don't get on the bus." He turned around to see who had said it but no one was there. He took another step, again the voice said "No." When he headed off the bus the driver said, "You know the next bus won't be here for 2 hours right?" and He said, "Yes, but I will wait." As he got on the next bus, he felt a calm and knew it was safe. 2 hours into their journey to the airport, they came across the first bus which had rolled, and there weren't any survivors. He then told us that we need to have reverence so that we can be able to listen to the voice of the spirit and be able to follow what it says. 

Effort was given by Sister Parkin from California. She is so awesome and talked about how we control the amount of effort we put in even though we can't control the outcome. 

I LOVE IT HERE!! It is seriously amazing to be serving a mission for the Lord at this time. :) 

I invite you all to read the Book of Mormon. I invite you all to pray about what the Lord needs from you right now. Apply the system of the Doctrine of Christ. Have faith to trust the Lord, that you can change. Repent, CHANGE. Take the sacrament with the knowledge of what it means. Listen to the spirit and endure! 

I love you all!! Have an amazing week!!! 

Love, Hermana Lancaster 

p.s. Sorry I couldn't send pictures again this week. I'm taking lots and will send them all at once.