"Living the Gospel Joyful"

Haircut

March 30, 2015

Hello sweet fam!!! 

It´s been another great week in Juan Lacaze!  Hermana Jenkins and I are super excited because we´re going to have a big Family Home Evening in Hermana Alba´s house tonight!  When we asked her what theme she wanted us to cover, she said, "Yo quiero que todos los miembros en la rama pueden ver el lado bueno en todas las cosas!"  AKA "I want that all of the members in the branch can see the good in every situation!"  What a great theme she chose, no?

So this morning, as Hermana Jenkins and I were thinking about what we could share, we came across an AWESOME talk by President Uchtdorf, “Living the Gospel Joyful” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/living-the-gospel-joyful?lang=eng).  I would love to share a little excerpt that talks about the relation between the commandments of God and our blessings!

By choosing Heavenly Father’s path, you lay a divine foundation for your personal progress as a (child) of God that will bless you throughout your life.

"Part of our challenge is, I think, that we imagine that God has all of His blessings locked in a huge cloud up in heaven, refusing to give them to us unless we comply with some strict, paternalistic requirements He has set up. But the commandments aren’t like that at all. In reality, Heavenly Father is constantly raining blessings upon us. It is our fear, doubt, and sin that, like an umbrella, block these blessings from reaching us.

His commandments are the loving instructions and the divine help for us to close the umbrella so we can receive the shower of heavenly blessings."

We are just so excited because we´re going to do a little object lesson.  We´re going to cut out raindrops, write blessings on them, and pour them over someone who´s got an umbrella out.  And what´s going to happen???  They´re not going to receive the blessings.

During some points in my mission, you can bet I´ve had my umbrella out blocking some of the blessings God was raining down on me.  I am such a weak servant and there have been times when I´ve felt afraid, when I´ve felt doubts, and when I haven´t lived the gospel joyfully!  But you know what?  Our Heavenly Father is so patient with each one of us and little by little, He helps us overcome our weakness.  He takes our hands and helps us shut our umbrellas!

I´ve seen so many blessings in my mission this past week, and I would just love to share a couple of the little raindrops God has given me the opportunity to see!

1) Maria Ínes and Florencia!!!  Remember how one time I talked about that cute grandmother and her granddaughter who cleaned their house for our visit!?  We´re still working with them and they´re doing great!  Maria is awesome...she didn´t go to school so reading is really difficult for her.  BUT...she´s been reading and studying the Book of Mormon and her reading skills are totally improving!  She loves sharing her notes about the Book of Mormon every time we visit her, and she came to church for the first time yesterday!  She really enjoyed it and asked for the general conference schedule, so we´re hoping she´ll be able to see conference as well!

2) Hermano Poses.  Hermano Poses is an awesome member who accompanied us for a lesson about the Book of Mormon this past week.  His testimony of the Book of Mormon just touched my heart.  He testified that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, that it is a book filled with power, and that it can give us strength!  He said the Book of Mormon is like a magical pill that can help fix all our problems, we just have to reach out and take it…in other words, reach out, open it, and STUDY it!

3) Hermana Teresa.  We live next door to Hermana Teresa and she is such a sweet lady!  I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but she is a haircutter and this past Monday, she cut my hair!  I think I chopped off about fourteen inches or so!  This past week, she had us over for lunch for tacos!  I gave her my Cincinnati chili seasoning and she used it to season the taco meat.  It was just so delicious and reminded me of my Cincinnati roots.  I love how generous Hermana Teresa is!

Well, that´s it for now!  I sure do love you lots; always look for the blessings our Heavenly Father is raining down on us!

Hermana Dixon