August 23, 2021 Bellevue

 Wow, this week has been a blur. It's crazy to think that I have less than eleven months left. This mission has flown by. We've started (finally) to get really busy in this area. One day we had eight lessons scheduled! 

I'm really beginning to see the fruits of my labor and it's been miraculous. We found three people to teach this week and two of our friends joined us at church. 

We were teaching this family. We were sharing the message of the Restoration with her and her four year old daughter runs into the room and grabs my purse. She unzips it and pulls out my mints. It takes her a couple of seconds to open the package with her teeth, but when she does, she opens her mouth and empties the contents inside. My companion and I bust out laughing while the mom pleaded with her to stop. The little girl (Ashley) grabs my companion's purse and starts rifling through it. Sister Pace doesn't have anything that resembles food in it, so we try to focus on the lesson.

Seconds later, we see the daughter opening her chapstick and trying to bite it. Sister Pace rescues it barely and we tried to focus on sharing the truths we know about how much God loves us. I'm in the middle of testifying "And we know that God loves you and He is aware of-" 

Something cold was placed in my hand. I admit I flinched. The little girl had given me an ice cold mountain dew. I looked at it and then at her. She screamed and put her teeth on the lid. I glanced at her mom.

"Do you want me to open this for her?" I asked. Looking somewhat defeated, April shook her head. Ashley screamed again and placed my thumb on the lid. I told her sorry. 

She took it from my hand and placed the can in Sister Pace's. We kindof started playing a pass-off game while continuing on with the lesson until Ashley randomly left the room. A few seconds later she returns, chewing on something and hiding something red in her hands. April reaches for her daughter and snatches a red eos chapstick from her hands. 

"This is not yours." April chastised, unscrewing it and groaning when the contents were completely empty. "You didn't eat it, did you?" 

Her daughter screeches like a banshee (I'm not entirely sure that she was capable of human speech) and returns to chewing. April sniffs the eos, staring at her daughter in horror. 

"It smells sweet. She did eat it." April tells us, groaning. 

A couple of minutes later, as I am in the middle of talking, I jump again as something soft touches my cheek. Innocent eyes stare up at me as the four year old smiles at me and then shrieks into my ear.

Luckily, April ended the lesson with telling us that she had read parts of the Book of Mormon and she knew that it was true.

Something that I have been really pondering this week is the idea of 'finding your own truth.' Because while we all have our own stories, experiences, with different cultural and diverse backgrounds which need to be recognized and acknowledged, truth is not relative. Truth doesn't depend on circumstance or individual experience. Truth is eternal and it doesn't change. Doctrine and covenants 93:24 states: "And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come." 

And I was really thinking about how this truth pertains to the doctrines and principles that our prophets teach. Doctrine and covenants 89 is about some revelation referred to as the 'Word of Wisdom' which tells members to abstain from taking certain substances. And, I'm going to be honest, I don't understand why we are asked to follow some of the commandments that we have been asked to follow. I don't know what the eternal principle behind multiple piercings or coffee or tattoos, but I really liked what one elder in my mission said:

"I don't know why these commandments are in place. I don't understand them. But I do know that what the prophet says is what I want to say. That's what I want to eat, that's what I want to become, and that's what I want to do.

Sometimes, we might not understand what we are asked to do or why we are asked to do that. Honestly, sometimes it doesn't make sense. It might feel dumb. But I've found that the real question I need to ask myself is if I believe this man or woman is from God. If they are, then it doesn't matter what my doubts are. I know what I'm supposed to do. And I know that as you act in faith, you will understand. Doctrine and Covenants 93:27-28 promises "And no man receiveth  a fullness unless he keepeth his commandments. He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things."

I promise that as you act in faith, you will deepen your testimony of that principle. 

I love you all. Don't forget, there's nothing you could do that would make Jesus Christ love you any less. But He loves you too much to let you stay there.

Love,

Sister Brice