Because I'm HAPPY

email 25 Jan 2016

This week has been great. A lot of ups and downs. But it has been great, nonetheless. :) First off, TRANSFERS! Sooooooo Sister Law and I stayed together! Yay! We're excited but we definitely have our plates full. We got 2 more companionships of English sisters so now we're STL (Sister Training Leaders - Ed) over 6 companionships. YIKES. I'm sure other missions have more sisters they're over. But for us, it's a lot! I kinda feel sorry for Sister Law that she's killing me. (Killing - last companion before a missionary "dies" and returns home. - Ed) I've killed 4 of my companions and it's not fun. But I'm so blessed to be with her! Seriously she's amazing. Let me just take a moment to tell you just how Christlike she is. So whenever we go to the bathroom in a church building, she always turns on the water while I'm going, so when I come out I get to wash my hands with nice warm water. I know it doesn't seem like much. But she's so sweet to just think of others in that way. She's taught me a lot and I'm excited for this next transfer together. :)

Well the broadcast was this week. Man, was it weird to see ourselves on the screen. First of all, I thought I was smiling. Turns out I wasn't. I just look terrified the whole time. haha. Second, they zoomed up on sister law and I A LOT OF TIMES. I don't know why! But I kinda wanted it to stop. Whenever we showed up on the screen, I would just act like I was taking notes and look down. It was interesting though to see the different revelation I received while I was there vs. watching it. It was an incredible broadcast that taught a lot of what President Jaggi has been emphasizing. He's inspired. :)

On Mondays we got to FHE (Family Home Evening - link) with our YSA (Young Single Adult) wards. So we went to one that was playing human Clue! It was actually a lot of fun! The Clue board was the church building and we had to walk around the building and go into the different rooms and guess. But before we do the activity, we always have the spiritual part of FHE. So they asked us what makes us happy. And of course we got a lot of answers like "Mountain Dew", "creative dates", & "cheesy fries". But we also got some good answers like "music", "family", &"Jesus Christ". Then we did the same thing with things that make us unhappy. Honestly, it was a lot harder to think of things that make us unhappy. After we formed the two lists on a whiteboard, they said to underline all the ones that are eternal. There were a lot of things to underline under the things that make us happy. But not one thing was underlined under the things that make us unhappy. I LOVED this activity. It really confirmed to me the reality of the plan of HAPPINESS! (The Plan of Happiness talk by Elder Boyd K Packer - link) The things Heavenly Father has made eternal are the things that make us happy. Sometimes in the moment, our unhappiness seems like it'll be for eternity. But that's not Gods plan for us. His plan is for Jesus Christ to take any unhappiness we have, so that it won't ever have to be eternal. :)

Something cool I learned this week is a little bit about silver. I learned some of how to purify silver. They put it into heat and slowly turn it while the impurities drip off. And they know it's pure when they can pull it out and see their face in the silver. It's like the question Alma asks in chapter 5:

"14 ....Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?" (Alma 5:14 - link)

We are as the silver. He puts us through the refiners fire. He turns up the heat a little bit. He gives us trials. But as the trials come, the impurities start melting away. And we know we are pure when we can see HIS image in us. When we become like Him. Of course, perfection is a long term goal. But we can have His image in our countenance all the time as we try our best through life! In addition to that, I think of Christ's love shining down on us into our hearts. The more we become like Him, the more our hearts turn into silver and as a mirror. His light will reflect out of us for others to see as well. He not only wants us to become pure for ourselves but for those around us so they may feel of His light and love, too.

Lastly, V. got baptized on Saturday! She's 73 and pretty much the cutest most delightful lady you've ever met. :) Her honey, L., is home bound. So he wasn't able to come to the baptism. But we got permission to Skype the baptism to him! It was such a tender mercy because he sleeps a lot, but when V. was baptized, he was wide awake! I said K.'s baptism was full. Well ... We had V.'s baptism in the chapel! And it was packed! So many people that love her and cherish her came down to see this wonderful day of hers. So we go in to have her be baptized and the font was DRAINING! It was about up to the calves. V. was just standing on the stairs to the font while we were waiting to fill the font again. And she poked her head out and waved to everyone there. Haha. She's so cute! She ended up having to kneel and then be dunked because it was so shallow.  But man, she was just beaming! We've been so blessed to have this journey with her. I don't know what we did to be blessed to be the ones to teach her. But it's been a wonderful journey. One of so much HAPPINESS!


I know this church is true. I know it's Christ's church. God's love for His children is so great.

I love you all!

Sister Sarlls