Well just as the title says! I am in a great big place called Little Neck! It is crazy! I thought that I would stay in the City for almost my entire mission! Well I guess not! However I am so happy to know that this is where my Heavenly Father wants me to be for a specific purpose. It was a tough goodbye with Elder Martinez! I love him with all of my heart and I will never forget the time that I spent with my best friend and companion in this mission here in New York, but I am here and I am ready to start anew once more!
I figure that I should say who my new companion is! I am now with Elder Schreiner! He is great! I served with him when I was in Zone 1! So that was a sweet surprise to be able to get a new companion who I already knew! I am so grateful to be with him! I am excited for the time that I am going to be able to spend with him. I always learn so much from my companions so I am grateful to be with Elder Schreiner and to be able to learn and grow with him here in this part of New York where the Lord has trusted us to work.
It is an amazing area here! Wow! I love it already! I have missed nature so much and it is here! The trees are so beautiful with the fall colors on the leaves. It is just these little things such as the seasons changing that just makes me so grateful for all of God's creations; little and large no matter what they are.
Transfer meeting was so great and inspiring! I always love being able to hear from our mission president and his wife. They are such wonderful people and so loving. We all feel a sense of urgency for this work of salvation that is happening here in New York and also all over the world. I know that it truly is the work of our Heavenly Father to share this wonderful knowledge that we have as missionaries and as members of this incredible church. I know that it is true. Not because someone told me it was or because other people have told me it was. I know that it is true by the power of the Holy Ghost. That is what I love about our Heavenly Father so much. He could give us all of the facts that we want to prove something was true. But yet he doesn't. I had always wondered why there weren't things that could prove the church was true specifically and something that could just say "HEY THIS IS THE TRUTH!!!" and then we would accept it and know. Now I can say I understand why. Because we wouldn't be living by faith. It really is that simple. If we didn't live by faith and trusted man and material means to prove these things to us, we wouldn't be fulfilling our purpose here on the Earth. We came here to learn and to grow and to live by faith! That is why we are here! To become like our Savior and our Heavenly Father.
One analogy that I always love to think about is this: Being here is like taking a test. If we are sitting in a room and taking a test and all of the answers are up on the wall, the only thing that we are going to do is copy the answers down turn it in and say we are done. Then we know it is an instant pass and 100%! Yeah sure that is great and all but in the long scheme of things did we learn anything? The answer is no. BUT. If we go to the other way of going through the same experience, as we are taking the test and trying our hardest to get things right and to get the best grade that we can, at the end of it we really have learned. Yes it was hard, but when we come out of the experience we are so grateful when we see that the efforts that we have put in to prepare and during the test were worth it.
Life can be the same way and so can be trying to figure out what God's plan for you is. I love it. I love our Heavenly Father. He is so good to us. Yes sometimes change comes and we are not happy about it, but we end up finding that the change was to benefit us, even though at first we fought against it. I am grateful for trials and for change. Not because they are easy but because I learn so much through it and and grow closer to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Also I learn so much about myself and the eternal potential that I have. I am so grateful to be here in New York. It is the experience of a lifetime. I am grateful for faith. I am grateful to have a loving family. I am grateful for the spirit and communication that I receive through this great gift in my life. It is something that is so wonderful! I am grateful to be here! I am grateful for all of you! God bless you all and remember to walk by faith, even in the hard times.
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