NOVEMBER 11, 2021 -- TRANSFERS

Hola mis queridos! 

I am so filled with love this week. With a joy I never thought was possible. With such gratitude and appreciation for our Savior. For the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It changes lives.

We have met so many people this week. It seems as though the Lord is putting people in my path that were meant specifically for me. SO MANY SPANISH PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ON TEMPLE SQUARE LATELY and my Spanish is exponentially better than it was when I started. I'm gonna eat those words though when I'm in Argentina and a total "gringa" :)

We taught our friend Ron this week and we talked almost exclusively about the Atonement. We read an excerpt from the talk, The Atonement: Our Greatest Hope together and I'm not a crier but when I read this for the first time I was just an absolute water fountain. It gives a really beautiful analogy about the Savior that really connected with Ron and reaffirmed our knowledge and testimony of Christ.

"Some years ago, President Gordon B. Hinckley told something of a parable about a one room school house in the mountains of Virginia where the boys were so rough no teacher had been able to handle them.

Then one day an inexperienced young teacher applied. He was told that every teacher had received an awful beating, but the teacher accepted the risk. The first day of school the teacher asked the boys to establish their own rules and the penalty for breaking the rules. The class came up with 10 rules, which were written on the blackboard. Then the teacher asked, ‘What shall we do with one who breaks the rules?’

‘Beat him across the back ten times without his coat on,’ came the response.

“A day or so later, … the lunch of a big student, named Tom, was stolen. ‘The thief was located—a little hungry fellow, about ten years old.’

“As Little Jim came up to take his licking, he pleaded to keep his coat on. ‘Take your coat off,’ the teacher said. ‘You helped make the rules!’

“The boy took off the coat. He had no shirt and revealed a bony little crippled body. As the teacher hesitated with the rod, Big Tom jumped to his feet and volunteered to take the boy’s licking.

“‘Very well, there is a certain law that one can become a substitute for another. Are you all agreed?’ the teacher asked.

“After five strokes across Tom’s back, the rod broke. The class was sobbing. ‘Little Jim had reached up and caught Tom with both arms around his neck. “Tom, I’m sorry that I stole your lunch, but I was awful hungry. Tom, I will love you till I die for taking my licking for me! Yes, I will love you forever!”’”⁸

President Hinckley then quoted Isaiah:

“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. …

“… He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” 

This touched my heart on a different plane this week. Ron even told us, "I don't know where you came from! You are answering questions I've had for my entire life." God is working harder than ever to bring His children to a knowledge of His love for them and their divine heritage. The understanding that you are a beloved child of God and that Christ came to earth FOR YOU changes your perspective and in turn can change your life. I've seen that this week and the sheer joy I feel is incomprehensible. This truly is the Lord's work. 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2001/10/the-atonement-our-greatest-hope?lang=eng

The link to that talk^^

I have a new companion and I love her very dearly already. Her name is Sister Garmon.  She is from Georgia and she is an absolute sweetie. If you feel so inclined, send her a kind email at gillian.garmon@missionary.org

Thank you for your love and prayers. I feel them every single day and know that they are coming right back your way from SLC, Utah. <3 

Pics include my old companion Sis Munns, my new companion Sister Garmon, and Christmas beginnings at Temple Square...!