Dear Family and Friends,
Another week has brought another lot of blessings. This week has been another witness of the Lord working in the details of my life, and I'm sure he has worked in yours as well! I finally finished the book of Isaiah, great book when you have a manual! I recommend it!
This week my habit of sleep talking has returned with a vengeance, but apparently I'm pretty polite! Last Sunday the power was out in Santa Maria and so we were unable to use our electric fans at night. Well, during during the night the power turned back on, and my companion woke up to me saying "Chong (a Philippino nickname), you want your fan on?". He said he was fine and went back to bed. Well a couple hours later he woke up again to me saying "No no no no no, don't do that! That's messy, and its getting everywhere. Close the shampoo!". I am confused just as much as you are, I don't know if it's something I eat, or if there's something in the water, but it looks like it's here to stay!
Now for a quick thought. I spent a day a week ago while my companion was sick watching a giant wasp make its nest. Now this thing is huge, no joke, it's about an inch and a half long, and it decides to make its home on my window. In my head I thought about how dangerous this thing was, how many week I would be in the ER if this thing stung me, how gross looking it was, and I eventually was so creeped out I froze and decided it was best just to wait for it to go away. Well it didn't go away, it kept leaving and coming back to work on its home. But then I took a moment to look closely at what it was doing. It was building its home layer by layer using mud. I got to see the detail of its wings, and during the next 30 minutes I watched it finish it home and lay eggs. After it finished I thought to myself "Wow, that was cool, I would watch that again anytime!". I think we can relate this to moments where we may be down in the dumps a bit. Its so easy to get stuck in a trap where we refuse to cheer up. I had that moment this week. I think we often feel like we must be sad for a set time before we are "allowed" to be happy again, and if we try to avoid it and leave the situation, we can lose a great opportunity to learn and change our attitude for the good. Sadness is not a frame of time, but a frame of mind. We do not see sadness, or happiness, rather we perceive the two. As children of God, we all have the Light of Christ which in my book allows us to the see good in everything. When we use this, we can see more than a killer wasp, but a fascinating creation of God. We all have times of sadness, but we don't need to have them linger, we do not have to sit and wait for it to go away, because most likely it won't "just go away", instead try to find something praiseworthy. There is always good to be found, never forget that.
Well that about sums up the week! Things are still hot, and getting hotter!
Mahal ko kayo!
Elder Trevor Kent Johnson (The Weirdest Missionary You Know)
Another week has brought another lot of blessings. This week has been another witness of the Lord working in the details of my life, and I'm sure he has worked in yours as well! I finally finished the book of Isaiah, great book when you have a manual! I recommend it!
This week my habit of sleep talking has returned with a vengeance, but apparently I'm pretty polite! Last Sunday the power was out in Santa Maria and so we were unable to use our electric fans at night. Well, during during the night the power turned back on, and my companion woke up to me saying "Chong (a Philippino nickname), you want your fan on?". He said he was fine and went back to bed. Well a couple hours later he woke up again to me saying "No no no no no, don't do that! That's messy, and its getting everywhere. Close the shampoo!". I am confused just as much as you are, I don't know if it's something I eat, or if there's something in the water, but it looks like it's here to stay!
Now for a quick thought. I spent a day a week ago while my companion was sick watching a giant wasp make its nest. Now this thing is huge, no joke, it's about an inch and a half long, and it decides to make its home on my window. In my head I thought about how dangerous this thing was, how many week I would be in the ER if this thing stung me, how gross looking it was, and I eventually was so creeped out I froze and decided it was best just to wait for it to go away. Well it didn't go away, it kept leaving and coming back to work on its home. But then I took a moment to look closely at what it was doing. It was building its home layer by layer using mud. I got to see the detail of its wings, and during the next 30 minutes I watched it finish it home and lay eggs. After it finished I thought to myself "Wow, that was cool, I would watch that again anytime!". I think we can relate this to moments where we may be down in the dumps a bit. Its so easy to get stuck in a trap where we refuse to cheer up. I had that moment this week. I think we often feel like we must be sad for a set time before we are "allowed" to be happy again, and if we try to avoid it and leave the situation, we can lose a great opportunity to learn and change our attitude for the good. Sadness is not a frame of time, but a frame of mind. We do not see sadness, or happiness, rather we perceive the two. As children of God, we all have the Light of Christ which in my book allows us to the see good in everything. When we use this, we can see more than a killer wasp, but a fascinating creation of God. We all have times of sadness, but we don't need to have them linger, we do not have to sit and wait for it to go away, because most likely it won't "just go away", instead try to find something praiseworthy. There is always good to be found, never forget that.
Well that about sums up the week! Things are still hot, and getting hotter!
Mahal ko kayo!
Elder Trevor Kent Johnson (The Weirdest Missionary You Know)