Best Letter Ever! - MUST READ

Tuesday September 21st
Email from Jami

Hello everyone! Wow I cannot believe I have almost been here for a month now!!! Isn’t that crazy? It is going by SO fast, I never even know what day it is. I just want to start off thanking you mother :) for everything you have sent, and dad for all your dearelders- they mean the world to me; and all the of advice and scriptures and spirituality definitely pumps me up and helps, so I thank you so much! Also, thank you everyone that has sent me letters and dearelders - they seriously make my day here, and really inspire me, so keep them coming! ☺

Well it has been such a good week! Always!! I am learning SO much Spanish and just feeling the spirit so strong. Next week we are teaching the first lesson all in Spanish, so I am super excited about that.

Last week we had a really good large group meeting that was called “How Firm a Foundation,” and the subject was how lucky we are to have this truth and gospel in our lives, and how it keeps us on solid ground. The teacher had us imagine what it feels like to be in an earthquake, and how scary and shaky and unpredictable that can be. He said, Imagine if we did not have this gospel in our lives, that is what it would be like, and that we need to help people be calm and stop the earthquake they are experiencing in their lives, and give them a firm foundation to live on. He then made us all close our eyes and imagine as if we were in the time when Christ was on the earth, and he said picture that you are in a crowd that is surrounding Christ, and he is teaching you all. Then imagine that he looks right at you, and smiles and says your name, and you look directly in his eyes and he tells you that He loves you, and you just feel so comforted and you feel of his love in your life. The teacher then had us open our eyes, and we all talked about these pure endless feelings of being with our Savior in his presence and feeling of His love for us, and feeling like we are home.

Then he had us shut our eyes again, and he turned off the lights and he told us to picture ourselves at the Crucifixion of the Savior, and as he is suffering such pain and dying for us, He lifts his head, barely looking so weak and hopeless, and he looks you in the eyes, says your name and tells you He loves you. We all pondered on the thoughts of this moment and how hard it would be to see this occurring and know the intentions of our Savior and brother and know what He had to go through. Then the teacher had us, still with our eyes closed, think about the deepest most dark and hardest time in our lives, when we have ever felt the most pain. He said to try and think about what we would have done at that time without knowing about Christ, and not having Him in our lives to heal that pain, and help pull us out of it. I was just in tears as I was taken back to my down part of my life, and I distinctly remember that it was through Jesus Christ and me literally envisioning my self standing with Him, and Him literally healing me that made me whole again and come out of such a sorrowful and sad time in my life.

This is what it would be like for people that do not know of our brother Jesus Christ-and that is why it is SO important we need to find these individuals and give them the good news, and literally save them from their troubles and stop the earthquake they are living in and put them on such a solid strong and promising foundation. "We need to declare with courage and clarity the message of the restoration, and when we do, it will be a testimony like fire in your bones, and it will be a message of hope to people that will change them forever." (Uchtdorf). We then talked about how not only do we need to help others, but on our mission we change and help ourselves, "It is not just the doing and the knowing that leads us back to God, but its in the BECOMING. We need to become everything that we teach on our missions and continue our whole lives to do this to better ourselves. When you end your mission you go home but never leave the mission field.

In Relief Society they always have a sister speak first that tells their conversion story and it is always SO inspiring. A girl that is Bulgarian got up and told the most inspirational story. She talked about how missionaries taught her on and off, and it was eventually sister missionaries that truly never stopped teaching her, and they encouraged her to get baptized. She ended her testimony and said "Sisters, don’t you dare ever give up on anyone, because if it change can happen to me and happen to my brother, I know that it is possible to do anything." It was so neat to hear such powerful words, and see the change she has made in her life, that has lead herself to serve a mission to do the same thing that others have done for her.

On Sunday we watched The Testament, and my testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Savior was just totally lifted and so strengthened through this powerful movie. This movie is a story about a father and a son during the time in 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon and the father is trying to teach his son of his belief in Jesus Christ. The dad in the movie is such a hero and example and the whole movie he really stands up for his faith and continues to believe in Christ and presses forward with the things he is suppose to do. The son is doubtful and unsure of what his father believes. The ending is just so powerful when the Savior finally comes and is walking down the stairs, and everyone is just smiling and so happy and feeling of his love and touching the marks in his hands knowing He is the Redeemer of the world. I love right when the son almost loses hope and then he is touched on the shoulder and turns around to see his Savior smiling at him, and Christ heals his father and is no longer blind, and the dad looks the Savior in the eyes and is just so moved and so happy because this is the day he had been preparing for and waiting for. He has finally been able to look his Savior in the face with joy and happiness and love.

I love the scripture in Mosiah 2:41 with the promised blessing to us as we strive to be like Christ and as we live worthily and come unto him. I know that through faith and believing the things out of the scriptures, we will be blessed and feel all of this joy and blessings as we live happy and righteous lives.

I am SO excited for conference!!! There was a speaker that talked about how lucky we are to be a church on the earth that has a living prophet today to guide us and counsel us as members of the church and how we need to listen and follow the words from him! Mosiah 8:15-17 Revelations 19:10 and D & C 6: 14 all talk about the importance of the prophets and their roles, and I just hope that everyone is getting really excited to hear the words directly from our prophet soon, and I hope that we can take all of his counsel and apply it our lives to better ourselves and to feel more happiness.

Family and friends, I love you all with every part of me, and I hope you all know that I am beyond thrilled to be here serving a mission for the church and I hope you know how much joy my heart is filled with each day that I awake here in the MTC and how much excitement I get to do simple things like pray, read scriptures, and continue to learn and grow in my testimony. I know without a doubt that this is the true church because I have found that in my own life I have done exactly what Joseph Smith has done and followed James 1:5 and I prayed to know and I have gotten my answer, and because of this most wonderful and clear answer I am more than willing to tell others about it and spread it to the world! (Well at least in Argentina haha).

Have such an amazing week and know that I am healthy, happy, filled with the spirit, and praying for ALL of you daily. Keep up the spirituality and know that you all have a Father in Heaven that knows you personally by name, loves you, constructed a plan specifically for you before you came to this earth, and is excited for you to come to him to seek and find the things you are suppose to do on this earth life. He is ready to be with you the whole way to fulfill this divine purpose. Awaken to your Godlike selves and do the things you came on this earth to do. I know that this mission that I am on was pre assigned to me in heaven and I am so happy to be able to be here doing this work, and feeling my Father’s love for me as I work as hard as I can and obey with exactness. Te Amo!! Adioossss -Chao :)

Love,

Hermana Pond :)