The Prince of Peace!

Dobro jutro!

It's hard to ever know what to write when I sit down here each week. So many things have happened! I ran into so many people I knew this week: President and Sister Pitcher! My friends who I worked with over the summer (Brandon, Denis, and Joseph), my AWESOME visiting teacher from last year (Stef), Ashley Stewart and Chip Harbin, Anna Sue, who else...? A bunch of people! 

Next week will be final email from the MTC which means that we should be getting our flight plans tomorrow! Things are starting to get really real. Eek!

What did you learn from General Conference last weekend?? It was so wonderful. My tush could hardly feel that it had been sitting in those terribly uncomfortable chairs for ten hours during that last session because the spirit was so strong and we were being taught such beautiful things!

What an incredible blessing that we have a living prophet today! As President Uchtdorf was speaking and sharing gratitude for and his testimony of President Monson, I just felt so much gratitude for a Father in Heaven who loves us and knows us and wants to lead us home to him. 

I set three goals after listening to conference:

1. Be grateful. My life has purpose when I am actively trying to live more like Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ has pure love for all people. I want to develop that kind of non-judgmental and non-circumstancial (is that a word?) love. I realized that if I want to have that kind of love for others then I need to be more humble and being grateful is an essential part of being humble. I want to try to be more grateful for the things I have been blessed with, but also in all the circumstances where I am placed. President Uchtdorf taught us a few years ago to "be grateful in any and every circumstance." Gratitude is a state of being. Heavenly Father is good. Life is a blessing that is worth living and loving. Jesus Christ is our Savior and has made it possible for us to live again after our time on Earth. What incredible knowledge.

2. Be confident in Jesus Christ. I loved Sister Burton's talk about 'Certain Women.' I find in my life that sometimes (often) I falter in my belief that I can make a difference for good. But I can! I can be an instrument in Heavenly Father's hands to bless the lives of those around me. I want to trust that as I turn to him, he will lead me to help others. And he will lead you too! Heavenly Father knows his children (each one of us) and he wants to help us feel his love. You can be an instrument in his hands to help another person feel his love today! Choose to reflect the light of Jesus Christ and to let it shine through you.

3. Listen for and follow the voice of the Holy Spirit. I believe that if we will listen and act, we will always be led to do good things that help others. Heavenly Father wants to provide us with opportunities to serve and he absolutely will when we show him that we will act on those opportunities. In the Book of Mormon we are taught that "all things which are good cometh of God" and that the devil, who is an enemy to God, "continually...inviteth and enticeth to sin and to do that which is evil...BUT that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually." We always have a choice between making good choices or bad choices. And sometimes the choice is between a good thing and a better thing. Choose to follow that voice which invites to do good and bless those around you. 

It is an amazing blessing that we can each listen to general conference and the Spirit can testify to our hearts individually of different things we can do to come closer to our Savior. I'm so grateful for that! 

If you don't know what General Conference is, take a look at https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017?lang=eng! 

How can I email on April 6 and not make mention of the glorious day that it has been throughout history? In a world so full of hard and sad things, I am so grateful for Jesus Christ who came to Earth to show us how to live and how to love. He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane long ago to make it possible for every one of us to change our hearts and become more like him. He died on the cross and was resurrected, so that we also will live again. On April 6 long ago, Jesus Christ rose from the grave and overcame death! He truly in the Prince of Peace and has brought joy and peace to my life. I am so grateful to know that I can be forgiven of my sins and mistakes, strengthened in my weakness, and live again after I leave this earth because of Jesus Christ. I invite you to watch this beautiful illustration of his life and purpose and to let him bring peace to your life. I promise you that He can and He will.

I love you!

Sestra Brown