I love you all so much! It was so good to talk to you on Thursday. Don´t worry Mom, even though I was emotional at the end, talking with you didn´t ¨throw me off¨ or even make me sad. It actually helped me a lot to be able to talk with you. I was feeling so content and so complete after talking to you and that feeling lasted for the next couple days. It was definitely the best part of my Christmas (:
I can´t believe in just a few days it will be 2015! I was thinking the other day about New Year´s Eve last year (remember watching Shark-nado Dad? I was laughing at that memory. That´s a New Years Eve we´ll never forget!) and I remember that I kept thinking that night about how I would be on a mission the next year, and wondering where in the world I would be. Now I´m here in Mexico, seven months in to my mission, and I can´t believe the time has gone by so quickly!
I wanted to share a thought with you on goal setting. I had no idea when I started my mission that goal setting is such a big part of missionary work! We are constantly setting and adjusting and changing our goals, and I know that the personal growth I´ve experienced in this time is in large measure due to the many goals I´ve been able to set. I love what Preach My Gospel says about goal setting: ¨Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish. Through goals and plans, our hopes are transformed into action. Goal setting and planning are acts of faith.¨ Elder Ballard also said, “I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.” As you all make your New Years Resolutions, I invite you to set goals that will help you to achieve what God wants you to acheive in this year and become what He wants you to become. Say a prayer and ask Him what you should set as a goal this year, and set those goals together. I promise that if you set your goals with His will in mind, you will achieve more this year than you have in years past.
One of my goals this year is to do this work in the Lord´s way. I´m going to achieve it by setting a lot of little goals and working to improve how I go about doing the different parts of missionary work day by day. I hope that at the end of my mission I can say that I grew in the ways God wanted me to on my mission. Elder Worthlin once said, ¨Heavenly Father sees us as the glorious beings we are capable of becoming.¨ Ask Him to help you become that glorious being. I know that when we invoke His divine help, we can reach our full potential.
I think I told you on Thursday that we were going to have a baptism this weekend. Rosa was baptized on Saturday and confirmed yesterday! Her baptismal service was so special for me. Her brother Carlos, who is also a recent convert, shared his testimony in the baptismal service and talked about how he had prayed for his sister to join him in the Church. And then Rosa shared such a beautiful and heartfelt testimony that really touched my heart. It is such a priviledge to know all of these wonderful people, and to see the people I´ve taught progressing.
I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week! 2014 was a great year for me, and I know 2015 will be even better, because the majority of the year I´ll still be a full time servant of the Lord. I love it!
Love,
Hermana Southard
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| Rosa´s baptism on Saturday! |
