So transfer calls came late last night and it looks like I'm goin down to GOUDA. Now, I know that people are grossly mispronouncing this name right now, so I'm going to give a pronounciation guide. Gouda is not pronounced like gooo-duh. It is, infact, pronounced *phlegm*-ow-duh. Finally somewhere that's not an hour or more away from EVERYTHING. Behold, the tender mercies of the Lord are upon all.
This past week we had interviews with President and while I was talking to his wife, she committed me (as she said that she was going to commit all of the missionaries) to living the white handbook--or as Tad R. Callister would call it--the book of blessings. As I started calling it the book of blessings a while back, my companion asked "do you think it has more blessings than rules? Maybe we should count" and I came back with "well, every time we keep a rule, we recieve blessings." I was thinking of how obedience is kind of like God's "currency." In heaven, money isn't really going to matter. And even here on earth, it doesn't really matter to God how much money we have. What does matter is if we are obedient. Money wont always make us happy--and it wont ever make us truly happy. Obedience, however, and the blessings and confidence that come from being obedient, will. And so if we stretch this metaphor out a little bit--we can see that the more hours somebody works, the more money he or she recieves from their boss/company who has given them the hours. Well, it follows then that the more commandments that we obey, the more blessings we recieve from our Heavenly Father who has given us the commands. I was thinking about the rules in the white handbook--this handbook that has been written especially for missionaries--and I was thinking about how some of the rules are definately ones that I regard as rules--things that we need to do--for example, don't go swimming or participate in water sports. Don't wear skirts with a slit that comes about the knee. Don't But then there are other ones that I always read over and think "oh that's just a suggestion" such as speak your mission language as much as possible, don't use slang even in letters home, call all of your investigators by brother and sister last name. And it's just really interesting to see how we "rank" the commandments sometimes as some of them being more important than others. We do act like it's a pick and choose "buffet" and that's not the way that they were intended. My companion told me about the quote that says "the most important commandment is the one that keeps you furthest away from God" meaning that whichever commandment you are having the hardest time with is the most important at that time. But as I've found myself hearing about other people's disobedience and "judging them because [they] sin differently than I do" I have realized that I have problems too. And I'm thankful for the atonement. But I'm also thankful for my weaknesses because not only do they humble me, but they allow me to feel empathy.
This is Nothern Downpour--sending my love for the last time
xoxo
Zuster Hoff
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