Sister Bailey Guthrie: I Didn't Throw Up, So That's Good

Southern America

This week has been so odd (but still so good). The south is a whole other world I swear. I've been pretty sick this week but I'm starting to feel a lot better. We met a great guy on Tuesday named Brian, who lives across the street from Ranly. He really knows his bible and has investigated a lot of different churches. He was verryyyy open minded and told us that he wanted to read the Book of Mormon before we even got the chance to invite him to. Love that. On Wednesday we committed a sweet woman named Norma to be baptized. We are excited about that. I learned a great lesson this week about forgiveness and letting hurtful things go like "water off a ducks back". It reminded me of the talk "The Healing Ointment of Forgiveness" by Elder Kevin R. Duncan from conference in April. Elder Duncan says, "Even though we may be a victim once, we need not be a victim twice by carrying the burden of hate, bitterness, pain, resentment, or even revenge. We can forgive, and we can be free!" I love that it's always our choice to forgive, and it's our choice to be ok. Like he said, we don't have to be the victim twice.

Back to the weirdness of this week. On Saturday morning we got a call from President Lamb (branch president) telling us to meet at the church because of a MAGGOT INFESTATION. I'm not joking. We had maggots. Hundreds. All over the church. We got the situation under

control after a significant amount of time searching and vacuuming. I

didn't throw up, so that's good. Our AC also went out on Saturday. Our

apartment was 85 degrees and humid. I'm probably being dramatic but it

felt like a really weird week. Saturday night made up for it all. We

watched women's conference which was the best.

Get lost, take pictures

The elders call General Conference the super bowl of the mission, which is an accurate

comparison. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf was the last to speak. As he

began his address I had the thought, "I want to feel the spirit

My dear friend, Sister Emma Jane Thompson

stronger" run through my head (selfish, haha). But alas, Heavenly Father was aware of me and the desires of my heart. President Uchtdorf began speaking about God's will. Man, I swear he was talking right to me. The spirit overwhelmed me and every word made my heart swell. President Uchtdorf said, "The purpose of faith is not to change God’s will but to empower us to act on God’s will. Faith is trust. Trust that God sees what we cannot and that He knows what we do not.. Faith means that we trust not only in God’s wisdom but that we trust also in His love. It means trusting that God loves us perfectly, that everything He does, every blessing He gives and every blessing He, for a time, withholds, is for our eternal happiness.. With this kind of faith, though we may not understand why certain things happen or why certain prayers go unanswered, we can know that in the end everything

will make sense". In the gospel principles manual it says, "Jesus Christ was the sublime example of obedience to our Heavenly Father. He of him that sent me” (John 6:38). His whole life was devoted tosaid, “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will obeying His Father; yet it was not always easy for him. He was tempted

in all ways as other mortals (see Hebrews 4:15). In the Garden of

Gethsemane He prayed, saying, “O my Father, if it be possible, let

this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39)." I have a strong testimony of aligning our will with God’s. "Yea, even so he shall be led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father" (Mosiah 15:7). Until we allow our will to be "swallowed up in the will of the Father" we won't find true peace and joy. I've learned to thank Heavenly Father for my unanswered

prayers and to follow Him blindly. As President Wakolo would say, "I will never doubt Him; I will never question Him".

LOVE YOU MUCH,

Sister Bailey Guthrie