There Can Be Miracles... (Feb 23 Email)

HOLY LLAMAS! This week has been crazy and spiritual and fun! I'm not really sure why it was so rocky for us to get to this point and I'm not sure I'll ever be entirely sure, but now that we've gotten to this point of "getting along" I literally don't ever want to leave! But I can honestly say that good things come to those who wait. Sometimes it take almost 2 1/2 months to get good, but they do come!

So, this week we did a mini photo shoot at our investigators house. (: They wanted to see how good we would look as Maoris. If ya'll didn't know...Maoris are brown and I am white, but Tainui did the photos in black and white so no one would know what colour I actually am. So, there are just a few from our day as Maoris. (:

So, I read this talk, it's called the Fourth Missionary and it actually change my life. Ya'll should read it because even not as missionary it will change the way you look at life. One quote that I really like from it goes as follows, "Just give it up. Surrender your will to Him. Unconditionally. Withhold nothing. Turn it all over to Him; all of your desires, wishes, ambitions, dreams and hopes. Be true and faithful in your head and in your heart, not just in your behavior. Trust in Him. Trust Him who knows all things...who has all power...whose love for you is perfect. Trust Him, who alone suffered, paid, and atoned for sins and for your weaknesses as well. Trust Him. That He will make of you, immeasurably more than what you will ever, ever, in all eternity, make of yourself. He will create of you a masterpiece. You will create only a smudge. You will create an ordinary man. HE WILL CREATE A GOD." And there is the easiest way to do things. The easiest way to forget about ourselves is to lose ourselves in the Lord's work. I haven't been out long, but for the amount of time that I have been out, I have seen it work time and time again. If I lose myself, I am happy. If I am focused on myself, I am miserable.

I think I have mentioned this before, but a mission is the hardest fun I have ever had. I have met so many amazing people that I never would have met if I wouldn't have come on a mission. The world is a much bigger place than I ever realized. Growing up in Utah, we kind of just live in our own little bubble of nothingness, but the world is a big as place! I am learning so many things and I feel like I am finally growing up a little bit...not much, but a little bit. (: I'm loving all the experiences I'm having, both hard and easy, both fun and scary.

KIA KAHA!!!!!!
Arohanui,
Sister Rachel Pearce

No Photo Descriptions this week, but at least we got photos: