This
week was insane! Why? Cause I didn't work at all. I was so sick! But I learned
sooo much. It's unreal. Last Sunday I got viral bronchitis and it knocked me
out! Hard. And then later in the week, I don't even know what happened... I had
bad stomach pains for a few days. As my companion, Sister Brown said,
"Wow, this is the worst you've been the whole time we've been
together!" and that is saying something! Yep, a different sickness. But as
I have found as a get different sicknesses one after another, I'm so grateful
for them! It's pretty hard to describe, but so true. I have really healthy
practices, I promise.
But Tuesday after
district meeting, when I couldn't go out to work, I felt super discouraged.
Like you just witnessed a miracle last week in your health and now you aren't
strong enough spiritually to see it again? Not strong enough to push yourself to
the level you need? Many people have told me that a mission is like a lifetime
of experiences wrapped into 18 months, and I totally get it now. The highs are
higher, the lows are lower not to mention happening so close together. Usually
I'm just used to be sick, going with the flow, I've learned well but after my
hopes had just been raised so high, it came down pretty hard. I blame it that I
was studying hope last week as my Christlike attribute and needed to REALLY
understand what hope was, or how to really conquer discouragement. And I'm so
happy to say that I totally did! While I was sick, I did nothing but sleep, eat
and read general conference issues of the Liahona looking for quotes on hope
and conquering discouragement and staying optimistic in trials and I found so
many! Man, I am SO grateful for general conference! It is exactly what I needed
this week and I could not have survived without it! Here are just a few of the
quotes I found:
"It is my desire
to be an instrument in bringing about a restoration of your faith in our loving
Father in Heaven, who knows all things and allows us to experience trials so
that we can come to love Him and understand that without Him we have
nothing."
-Elder Shayne M. Bowen
If there is one thing
I have learned through all this, it is just how nothing I really am. Without
Him, I don't even have the strength to get out of bed before 10am! But
with Him, despite our own nothingness, we can work miracles.
"When problems
come and questions arise, do not start your quest for faith by saying how much
you do not have, leading with your "unbelief as it were... I am not asking
you to pretend to faith you do not have. I AM asking you to be true to the
faith you DO have."
"Hope on. Journey
on. Honestly acknowledge your questions and your concerns, but first and
forever fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them
that believe."
-Elder Jeffrey R.
Holland
"There will
always be things to complain about. But that isn't the journey you had hoped
for, and it's not the journey Heavenly Father sent you to take."
"Look for the
happiness your Father in Heaven has prepared for you in EVERY step of your
journey."
-Pres. Dieter F.
Uchtdorf
I know that there is
always happiness, if you find it or make it! Even if it includes drawing
thought bubbles on a whiteboard (see the pictures) or playing with your
camera's settings or just telling funny stories. Laughter really is the best
medicine. And if you know me at all, it's something I'm way good at :)
"Trials may come,
and we may not understand everything that happens to us or around us. But if we
humbly, quietly trust in the Lord, He will give us strength and guidance in
every challenge we face. When our only desire is to please Him, we will be
blessed with a deep inner peace."
-Elder Neil L.
Anderson
"Though I
suffered then, as I look back now, I am grateful that there was not a quick
solution to my problem. The fact that I was forced to turn to God for help
almost daily over an extended period of years taught me truly how to pray and
get answers to prayer and taught me in a very practical way to have faith in
God. I came to know my Savior and my Heavenly Father in a way and to a degree
that might not have happened otherwise or that might have taken me much longer
to achieve... I learned to true the Lord with all my heart. I learned to walk
with Him day by day."
-Elder D. Todd
Christofferson
And then the entire
talk on Hope by Pres. Uchtdorf which I wrote down in my other journal. Life
saver! I know that we all stumble and fall whether physically, emotionally, spiritually,
etc. and can get discouraged but as we turn to Him, we can find the hope in our
lives once more and the peace the comes with it. The capability to overcome
every trial no matter how large or overwhelming. Kaya naton. We can do
it!
Many of you have
written me this week about my previous letter and about how it's helped you and
you've shared with others and I'm so grateful! Keep it up! I'm really grateful
that so many have fasted for me this past Sunday and I can definitely
feel of your spiritual strength and love. Thank you so much for all your
support and I couldn't have done it without you. I decided that even as the
sickest missionary ever, I'm still the happiest and there is nowhere else in
the world I would rather be. Missions are for the missionary and I feel that in
a very big way. Growing in a way that I never could've in a different
situation.
Yesterday, Sister
Brown counted down how many Sundays I have left, 8! That's so small! And it
kinda made me sick. Not that I don't love you and miss you and all that... but
I love my mission! And then I realized my feelings are like Rapunzel when she's
about to see the floating lanterns or fulfilling her dreams. It's been the
dream of her life for so long she doesn't know what she'll do when it's over!
And then I pondered, what did Rapunzel do after her dream was fulfill? She
found this boy then... oh. Turns out my life is more like Tangled then I
would've initially thought ha.
Love you all and hope
you have a great week!
Sister Pike
