Wow! It's crazy to think that I am already halfway through my last full week of the CCM! I still don't have my flight plans from here to Honduras, so I don't know exactly when I am leaving. The day before I leave I think I get to email again. Hopefully they'll let us know soon what is going to happen.
Thanksgiving dinner turned out so much better than I was expecting! They went all out! Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, pie and ice cream, and table cloths to dress it up a little! We all cried a little when we saw it all laid out.
As we finished up our Thanksgiving dinner they started putting out the Christmas decorations :)
Right after I got my mission call I began reading the Book of Mormon over again. This time I got a cheep blue copy and wrote the date and my testimony in the beginning blank pages. This week I finally finished it and I wrote the date and my testimony now in the last couple of pages. It was so neat to be able to visably see how my testimony has grown and deepened in the last couple of months. Flipping through the pages I read some of the insights that I had had while reading. One of my favorites though was in Moroni 10:32-33. These verses talk about the Atonement, and I highlighted every unto, in, through, and by I could find. Looking at those little words made a difference in how I viewed the Atonement. It clarified what is my part and what is the Savior's part. I learned that my job is to come unto Him, leave behind all ungodliness and to love God with all of my might, mind, and strength. When I do this His grace is sufficient to make me ''perfected in him,'' ''sanctified in Christ,'' and ''become holy, without spot.'' As I keep His commandments because I love Him, I can be changed by His grace and become who He wants me to be.
I also learned some neat things about grace. I was reminded that grace is ''divine means of help or strength.'' The part that was new was that it also is the ''strength and assistance to do good works that [you] otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to [your] own means.'' Most often I forget that grace or divine help is something that I need every day. I tend to trust in the arm of flesh and my perceived means of perfecting and saving myself all by myself. I think that if I just can get to this point then I can ask the savior to help me out and finish the rest. However, I need His help every step of the way and He is willing and wanting to give it to me. I need to turn to Him every single day and repent every single day, and His grace is sufficient to help me do the things He's asked me to do. It is hard, but so worth it!
I love my Savior so very much! I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve Him and to learn how to become like Him. I love how ''beautifully simple and simply beautiful'' this gospel is. I know that it is true, and it totally worth sharing! I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and that only through His Atonement can we progress at all! I know that we have a loving Father in Heaven who orchestrated this entire plan because He loves us. Being here I've come to understand how central that is to our entire message! It is the reason any of this matters.
I love you all!
Thank you for your love and support and emails!!
Con cariño,
Hna. Thacker
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