Taking on Tacoma: Another Week

Happy Monday!

A few things that happened this week:

On Tuesday, we were surprised to find an extremely long line of cars on the main road through town. The traffic was crazy, the seniors were standing on cars, and yelling and honking, and walking in the road, it was crazy. Turns out it was "Senior Slow Day" which happens every year on the last day of school. The seniors get out and drive 1 mph on the road all the way to Safeway, then back to the high school, then back to Safeway, and back and forth for a few hours. Making it almost impossible to get anywhere on that day. Which, we didn't know about. But we made it. I drew a picture in my journal, and I took a picture of it to put in here.

On Thursday we were knocking a street and ended up finding a member of the ward and her husband who is Catholic, but super nice to us missionaries. They gave us some really good fresh strawberries and water.

On Friday we did service at Zion's camp, we pulled "noxious weeds" from the garden. (Sister Noel calls them noxious weeds) The weather has been SO beautiful this week, so it was nice to be out there helping in the garden. They fed us lunch, as always and I got a picture with all the missionaries there before I left, just in case I don't see them next week, and get transferred after that.

The missionaries at Zion's Camp! The Newmans, Noels, and Bishops. They spoil us!

Later that night while we were knocking we met, Otto. He's a Jehovah's Witness. And, whoa! They believe some very similar things to us! And he was super nice too!

They believe that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings. One in purpose/united, but different people. They believe in baptism by immersion, they believe in faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. They believe that you aren't just saved by accepting Jesus Christ, you have to repent, and follow the commandments and do everything you can and let Grace take over the rest.

Pretty much, they believe in following Christ's church from the New Testament, just not the fact that it was restored through a modern living prophet, and they don't believe in the Book of Mormon. Which is a pretty big chunk, but STILL! I thought they were crazy! Otto was so nice, he's like 75, he's from Hungary. He moved to America when he was 16. He's always smiling. He has a bible that is 110 years old. and he has this cool light house thing in his front yard that he made.

Otto and his lighthouse waterfall thing!

Saturday was AWESOME! We went to a baptism for Lincoln Molina. He's the cutest 8 year old ever. He is technically a Child of Record, so he didn't "count" as a convert baptism. But, I taught him and his family, and Sister Harris and I were the ones that invited him to be baptized, and if it hadn't been for Sister Kramer and I, it probably wouldn't have happened yet. It was such a special baptism. Lincoln's mom just recently started coming back to church and her kids aren't baptized. Lincoln loves church and loves reading the Book of Mormon. He reads it to his grandma who is Catholic and wants him to be Catholic. We had 8 sister missionaries come to the baptism, 6 of them were missionaries who had helped teach the family. His dad, who isn't a member was there, and his grandparents too. Also, his sister, who is 16 (we've also been teaching her, she isn't as ready as Lincoln was) was there and she started crying when she saw all the sister missionaries there. The spirit was so strong. Bishop Wing baptized Lincoln, and Brother Thomas confirmed him. I'm considering it my "first baptism."

Sister Kramer, Sister Diener, Sister Harris, Sister Bishop, LINCOLN!, me, Sister Smith, Sister Lee, and Sister Evans

Me, Mariela, and Sister Harris at Lincolns baptism. Mariela is his older sister. She is so cute. I look high. And Sister Harris looks troubled. Also, look at how fun the gradation of skin colors is! We didn't plan that!

We went to another baptism in Shelton later that night.

Last night Sister Kramer and I knocked into an old couple that is in our ward that we hadn't met yet. They only come for Sacrament meeting. They are so cute! They're both like 4'10'' and in their mid 80's. She is from Liverpool, England and she has the same accent as my grandma! She grew up there and joined the church when she was 23. It took her 3 years to agree to be baptized! She moved to America to go to the temple and met her husband in Salt Lake. It was so fun to listen to their stories!

So, that was my week. This is the last week of this transfer. I'll find out on Saturday if I'm staying or going somewhere else. Hopefully staying, but I guess I should let someone else have a chance to love Belfair the way I do. I'm hoping that I can come back at the end of my mission for a transfer or two. And I'm going to move here after college. So, I'll be back in Belfair before I know it! :)

For my Spiritual thought:

I read Alma 34 this week, and I love reading these chapters, because Alma and Amulek are so in tune! But I especially love the way Amulek explains the Atonement in Alma 34.

He says: "And now, behold, I will testify unto you of myself that these things are true. Behold, I say unto you, that I do know that Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon him the transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

"For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made." (v. 8-9)

"And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance."

"And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption." (v. 15-16)

My companion says that the Old Testament prophecies of Christ coming, The New Testament talks about what Christ did, and the Book of Mormon explains why he did it.

The Atonement is the most amazing, most undeserved, beautiful gift we have and will ever receive. There must have been one, because of the Fall. We are all fallen, we are all lost, we are all imperfect. There is no way we can return to live with God in His kingdom without being perfectly clean, and that is impossible.

But, through the Atonement, our Savior was able to feel our pain and our sins, and he was so filled with love and mercy that it CAN overpower justice.

Justice says that we cannot return to God.

Mercy says that we can, IF we turn to Christ, accept His Atonement, and try to be our very best.

I love in the last verse how it says "and thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety." As long as we have faith, repent and use that Atonement.

I also love this quote from Boyd K. Packer last conference that says "The Atonement, which can reclaim each one of us, bears no scars. That means that no matter what we have done or where we have been or how something happened, if we truly repent, He has promised that He would atone. And when He atoned, that settled that."

So, as a missionary, I have to always leave you with a commitment and a promise.

Go home today and read Alma 34, and think about what the Atonement means to you. My testimony of the Atonement is what convinced me to come here on a mission. So that I could help people use that Atonement and have the happiness and peace in this life that I do. I promise that as you study and ponder the doctrine of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, you will come to love Him more than you did before. You will understand how it can apply to your life, and you will be happy.

I hope you all have an amazing week! I love you!

Sister Warburton

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